North Bay Business Journal

SANTA ROSA — The Howard residence in the Mayacama Timbers Resort community in the Shiloh Hills is a magnificent single-family home built on a two-acre lot that has been sited to maximize valley vistas of Windsor and Santa Rosa.

PETALUMA — Vintage Chateau II, featuring 68 affordable housing units in a community designed for seniors 55 and older on low or fixed incomes, was opened for occupancy in September.

GUERNEVILLE — An effort to bring long-term affordable and assisted housing to western Sonoma County came to a close in March, as Luther Burbank Housing and its development partners cut the ribbon on the 48-unit Fife Creek Commons project in Guerneville.

Glassdoor, based in Sausalito, released a survey that reveals employees’ work-related resolutions for 2013, preferences for holiday perks from employers and expectations for holiday time off and bonuses. …

Superior Farms, the nation’s largest lamb producer, unveiled its first onsite large-scale wind turbine at the company’s Dixon processing facility. …

Praxis Capital of Santa Rosa launched a third real estate investment fund to purchase single-family homes in Northern California. …

The board of directors of Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT) approved a cash dividend of 26 cents per share of common stock. …

PNI Sensor, a Santa Rosa-based geomagnetic sensor manufacturer, introduced SpacePoint Scout, a development module that offers video game application developers nine-axis motion tracking technology in one reasonably priced, integrated circuit board module. …

NORTH BAY — The North Bay housing market continues to show improvements, including rising home prices and a decrease in the number of new foreclosures, according to reports released today by market tracking firms RealtyTrac in Irvine and San Diego-based DataQuick.

NOVATO — Marin Community Foundation today said it is seeking a developer to build affordable housing on filmmaker George Lucas’s Grady Ranch, a property north of San Rafael once pegged for a sizable state-of-the-art digital movie studio.

On Oct. 29, 1975, the New York Daily News carried this headline after President Gerald Ford gave a speech denying federal assistance to keep New York out of bankruptcy: “Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

For Santa Rosa and its 13-year effort to rebuild Railroad Square, the headline could read: “Gov. Brown and Sacramento to Santa Rosa: Drop Dead.”

NAPA — The city and county governments of Napa today said they have begun to jointly develop an agreement to address concerns related to the city’s potential future annexation of the planned commercial and residential development known as Napa Pipe, along with the sharing of tax revenue and service responsibilities at the site.

NORTH BAY — Foreclosure rates are falling across the North Bay, California and the United States, according to a report today from Irvine-based real estate data tracking and listing firm RealtyTrac.

Home sales and median prices in October continued to rise in the North Bay and the rest of the Bay Area, according to a report released today.

Pisenti & Brinker LLP hired Jodi Shubin as director of client services and community relations. …

Julia Pauksta joined the Petaluma staff of Pisenti & Brinker LLP as a senior associate. …

Sonoma- and San Francisco-based Duskie Estes was the official winner of Food Network Road to Redemption Web Battle and is competing on the television network’s The Next Iron Chef: Redemption series. …

Eileen Massa joined Wells Fargo Insurance Services in Petaluma as an account executive. …

Tracy Sesky joined Wells Fargo Insurance Services in Petaluma as a senior claims consultant and in a business-development role. …

Recognized at the American Institute of Architects Redwood Empire chapter design awards on Oct. 27 were Jaime Stich and Nate Bisbee, AIA, both of TLCD Architecture in Santa Rosa. …

Ernest Berghof of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage has earned his California real estate broker’s license and has been named broker associate in the Santa Rosa office. …

SANTA ROSA — As a 13-year project to transform the historic yet vacant cannery area around a planned downtown commuter-train station reaches a critical point to start construction next year or lose critical funding, the city of Santa Rosa plans to plead its case in Sacramento later this month for the release of redevelopment funds considered key to starting the $200 million-plus project.

Isaac M. Gradman joined the law office of Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz LLP in Santa Rosa. …

Santa Rosa-based Loring Smart Roasters hired Robert W. Austin as its new chief executive officer. …

Gayle Stephens joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage as a sales associate in its Santa Rosa office. …

Jeff Kreutz joined MarketLive of Petaluma as senior vice president of product management. ,,,

Napa winemaker Aaron Pott was named a 2012 “Winemaker of the Year” by Food & Wine magazine in its November issue. …

Corte Madera-based Message Bus, a developer of a cloud-based software behind messaging and email, closed an $11 million round of growth funding.

The average cost of apartment rent in the third quarter rose year-over-year in Sonoma and Napa counties, according to Novato-based real estate data firm RealFacts. …

San Diego-based Sunrise Management has expanded its Northern California office with the addition of two new Sacramento-area properties to their portfolio, including one in Santa Rosa. …

Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority announced the approval of Sonoma Flex Package, a new incentive program that enhances the current Energy Upgrade California program. …

Petaluma Educational Foundation is calling for support in its effort to raise an additional $50,000 to fund its grant programs for Petaluma educators. …

The number of North Bay homeowners entering default fell markedly in the third quarter of the year, part of a statewide trend that has brought defaults to their lowest level in more than three years.

The median price paid for a home in the North Bay continued to rise in September.

Local real estate leaders in the region have expressed increasing confidence that housing is starting to recover from the crash of 2006.

Share your thoughts in this week’s NBBJ Pulse Poll: “Is the North Bay housing market recovering?”

NOVATO — Blu Homes, a Vallejo and Massachusetts-based manufacturer of energy efficient, prefabricated homes, has entered into an agreement with Homeward Bound of Marin to construct a $4 million affordable and supportive housing project in Novato.

The number of North Bay homeowners entering default fell markedly in the third quarter of the year, part of a statewide trend that has brought defaults to their lowest level in more than three years, according to a new report by San Diego-based real estate data tracking firm DataQuick.

NORTH BAY — The median price paid for a home in the North Bay continued to rise in September, with prices in the Bay Area climbing to the highest level in more than four years, according to San Diego-based real estate data tracker DataQuick.

California Small Business Association announced Leland Fishman, owner of the Petaluma-based Fishman Supply Company, joined its board of directors. …

Mark Friedman, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in shoulder and knee arthroscopy and shoulder, hip and knee replacement, has joined the practice of Sebastopol Orthopedics and the medical staff of Palm Drive Hospital. …

The Tug McGraw Foundation appointed Tom Higgins to its board of directors. …

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage announced that Kacie Ricker, senior marketing manager for the company, has been named the new regional vice president of marketing. …

Calix of Petaluma announced the addition of telecommunications industry veteran Kevin DeNuccio to the company’s board of directors. …

Jordan Vineyard & Winery has appointed Greg Miller to the position of director of wine. …

Sonoma State University Assistant Professor of Economics Merlin Hanauer was awarded the Cozzarelli Prize. …

James Minnis joined the Prima Medical Group after completing fellowship training in critical care at Stanford University. …

AvroKO Hospitality Group for its new Napa restaurant, The Thomas, appointed Jason Kupper chef de cuisine, Cory Colton pastry chef overseeing dessert and the daily bread program, and Napa Valley resident Bradley Wasserman sommelier. …

Santa Rosa-based Tonnellerie Radoux USA, Inc. hired Greg Sitton as the newest member of its sales team. …

Frank Howard Allen Realtors announced that Sonoma County real estate agent Daniel Casabonne ranks among the top 1 percent of all real estate agents nationwide for 2011 closed transaction volume. …

Rohnert Park-based Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, host of the North Bay iHub, named J. Roy Martinez as interim executive director. …