North Bay Business Journal

SAN RAFAEL — The Marin Community Foundation will no longer be involved in a proposal to construct an affordable housing project at the site of filmmaker George Lucas’s Grady Ranch outside San Rafael, citing uncertainties in obtaining federal and state financing necessary to bring the project to fruition, according to a joint announcement today by the foundation and Mr. Lucas’s real estate company.

NAPA — After years of intense discussion about how the proposed 154-acre redevelopment of the former Napa Pipe plant would unfold, the Napa County Board of Supervisors today passed General Plan and zoning provisions considered key to allowing the commercial and residential project to move forward.

Work remains to finalize specific design guidelines and an outline for the project’s relationship with the adjacent city of Napa.

BENECIA — A much-heralded electric car assembly plant in Solano County sputtered and died quietly earlier this year when Coda Automotive declared bankruptcy.

SONOMA — Sonoma Valley Hospital has notified 1,350 patients that their information was inadvertently posted on its website, hospital officials confirmed.

SANTA ROSA — Some 640 union nurses at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital said they would go on strike for a fourth time in less than a year, as the St. Joseph Health-owned hospital and the local union continue tense negotiations over unresolved labor issues.

The Staff Nurses’ Association, an independent union based in Santa Rosa, issued a statement saying the strike, planned for Thursday, May 23 at 5 a.m. and ending May 25 at 5a.m., is in response to “onerous, sub-market proposals” from Memorial. The union has been in negotiations with the 278-bed hospital since last August.

SANTA ROSA — GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (GTAT), a U.S. supplier of manufacturing equipment for solar and energy-efficient lighting products, has announced the acquisition of Thermal Technology LLC of Santa Rosa in a deal that values the supplier of high-temperature furnaces at more than $14.7 million.

SANTA ROSA — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) reported today that its Electronic Measurement Group (EMG) saw second quarter revenues drop 13 percent since the same period last year. The loss was attributed to continued weakness in wireless manufacturing.

HEALDSBURG — The California Lottery, one of the fastest growing lotteries in the United States, announced today their partnership with project portfolio management (PPM) firm, Métier based in Healdsburg. California Lottery selected Métier’s PPM-as-a-Service and PMO-as-a-Service offerings to enhance visibility and drive PPM maturity within the organization.

The deadline for nominations for the North Bay Business Journal’s 2013 Best Places to Work is Friday.

To nominate your company, use the online form at www.NorthBayBusinessJournal.com.

SANTA ROSA — The outlook for residential construction plus striking examples of a rebound in North Bay construction activity — the Bay Area’s largest casino project, an intercounty commuter rail line, one of Petaluma’s big shopping center projects and infrastructure for a local water and energy supply — will be the focus of the Business Journal’s Construction Conference the morning of May 15.

NOVATO — Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq: RPTP) today said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug designed for the treatment of nephropathic cystinosis, a rare and possibly life-threatening metabolic disorder.

It’s the first FDA-approved product for Raptor, started in 2005 by former executives and researchers of Novato-based BioMarin Pharmaceutical, itself a developer of treatments for rare diseases.

U.S. commercial launch is expected by July. FDA approval triggers the second of two $25 million payments to Raptor.

As Sonoma County’s political leaders continue to move forward with the process of setting up a county-wide public power agency, many in the business community are examining what the renewable energy-focused proposal would mean to their operations.

NAPA — Napa Valley hosted 2.94 million visitors in 2012, generating $1.4 billion in direct tourism spending, and more than three-quarters of them come for dining and wine tasting, according to results from two studies released Thursday.

Unemployment rates across the North Bay in March dropped several percentage points, and Sonoma County had its best year-over-year job growth in 12 years, according to state figures released this morning.

Unemployment rates across the six North Bay counties ticked up in January, according to state estimates released Friday, a rise attributed to staffing reductions after the year-end holidays.

NORTH BAY — The Business Journal released the names of the winners of its seventh-annual Forty Under 40 awards today.

The winners, selected from more than 130 nominees, were chosen on the basis of their leadership in companies and organizations as well as their participation within the community across the North Bay.

A new office for the federally administered Small Business Development Center program opened Friday in Santa Rosa, expected to be joined by a first-ever Marin County office later this year. The two locations boost the physical presence for the national program along the Highway 101 corridor in the North Bay.

NAPA — Tapp Label Technologies Inc., a printer of wine and spirits labels from plants in Napa and Canada, today said it acquired Ben Franklin Press & Label Co. of Napa.

SANTA ROSA — Agilent Technoloies Inc. (NYSE: A) reported today that the Santa Rosa-headquartered Electronic Measurement Group (EMG)’s revenues declined 7 percent in the first fiscal quarter of 2013 compared with the prior year.

KENTFIELD — The accreditation agency overseeing College of Marin has lifted a warning it issued the college a year ago, citing marked accomplishment in addressing issues that could have lead to loss of accreditation.