North Bay Business Journal

NAPA COUNTY — The groundbreaking for a 154-acre mixed use development near the city of Napa, Napa Pipe, moved a few steps closer Tuesday, after the Napa County Board of Supervisors voted to close public comment and have county staff spend the next two weeks ironing out a few final details for special zoning measures that would help facilitate the project’s construction.

Construction FARROW Commercial Construction has completed renovations for a homeowners association of a well-known shared ownership resort in Scottsdale, AZ. FARROW’s portfolio includes the award-winning Hilton Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Hilton Atlanta the Hyatt House Sorrento Mesa, Stonebridge, Marriott Palm Beach Gardens, and Holiday Inn Baltimore among others. Some of FARROW’s current and recent vacation [...]

SAN RAFAEL — Korean food has been topping trendy cuisine charts for the past few years, and now the Marin County natural foods entrepreneur who helped make it a household staple is getting national retailer attention for her new venture in seaweed snacks for the uber-health-conscious.

Allen Wine Group, LLP, a Calistoga-based wine industry business advisory service and CPA firm, now offers bookkeeping services. …

Nine Marin County communities recently qualified for national “Green Power Community” recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the countywide switch to renewable electric service from Marin Clean Energy. …

Rohnert Park-based sheet metal engineering and fabricator ASM Precision, Inc., purchased and installed a new AMADA EMLK 3610NT punch and laser combination machine. …

Zap Jonway Automobile (ZAAP), manufacturer of electric vehicles and other new energy vehicles with operations in Santa Rosa and China, is exhibiting at the 15th International Shanghai Automobile & Manufacturing Technology Exhibition. …

The city of Santa Rosa earned the highest achievement for its economic development programming — the Award of Excellence — from the California Association of Local Economic Development. …

Healdsburg’s SHED, a multifaceted market, café, coffee bar, fermentation bar and “modern Grange” event center is now open to the public. …

NAPA — La Saison Napa Valley opened a commercial kitchen in Napa to support its custom-events business as well as produce specialty foods.

Site preparation for new academic center at College of Marin in Kentfield has begun. …

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of one of the largest residential real estate services company in the Bay Area, raised $95,570 for Habitat for Humanity in Northern California. …

Sonoma County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, in collaboration with the county Department of Health Services and the University of California Cooperative Extension, announced the launch of an online program to allow local gardeners to sell or donate their eligible produce. …

Petaluma-based Emma at Home (emmahome.com), retailer of modern home décor by Emma Gardner, has partnered with International Checkout to handle the retailer’s operational aspects of serving online customers outside the U.S. …

Green Key Commercial, based in Petaluma, received the Green Company Innovator award at the Infusionsoft Innovation Summit in San Francisco. …

REACH Air Medical Services of Santa Rosa earned the Diamond Certified rating for the third consecutive year. …

San Rafael-based 10,000 Degrees announced that two grant awards will help kick off the organization’s 14th year of providing the 10,000 Degrees Institute — a wrap-around approach to college success for low-income students. …

This month, Mollie Stone’s Markets will note the 25th anniversary of its Sausalito location. …

SONOMA — The Cline family who make two Sonoma Valley wine brands purchased The Olive Press, an olive mill that produces gourmet oil, food and personal-care products from olives.

The business has its mill and a tasting room in Sonoma and a tasting room at Oxbow Public Market in Napa.

Several large retail construction projects are reaching completion or getting started in Sonoma County this year in Petaluma, Sebastopol and Windsor.

SANTA ROSA — McLea’s Tire & Automotive Service plans to open its fifth location this spring as the family-owned company tries to capture more Sonoma County commercial and retail business as well as increase its purchasing power.

Agavé Garden (agavegarden.com) is not grape wine, but it is fermented in local wine country and shipped in wine bottles. It’s not distilled like tequila, but it is made from organic syrup of Agavé tequilana weber, or blue agave. This “fine agavé wine” is the work of custom vintner Owl Ridge Wine Services of Sebastopol. …

Large-scale custom winemaking company The Vintners Group, which operates Carneros Vintners, purchased a 600,000-gallon winery it had been renting from the VinREIT division of Entertainment Properties Trust since the middle of last year. …

Karissa Kruse, who has been marketing director for Sonoma County Winegrape Commission since August and instrumental in the rollout of the Sonoma County branding campaign, is set be the 1,800-plus-member organization’s next president on May 1. She replaces Nick Frey. …

The anticipated Kendall-Jackson bistro and tasting lounge is coming to the Healdsburg plaza area around the end of this month. The 55-seat restaurant, called Partake by K-J (partakebykj.com), is set to open March 25 at 241 Healdsburg Ave. …

La Follette Wines (lafollettewines.com), launched in 2010 by Tandem creator Greg La Follette, is set to open a tasting room with private and public tasting events March 15–17 at The Barlow industrial-retail redevelopment in Sebastopol. …

The 17th annual Premiere Napa Valley charity auction by Napa Valley Vintners in late February took in $3.04 million, nearly matching last year’s record. …

A total of $483,500 in proceeds from the 2012 Sonoma Wine Country Weekend charity food and wine events. …

A 9-liter bottle of 2010 Williams Selyem Westside Road Neighbors pinot noir was auctioned for a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo record $205,000. …

It is becoming increasingly more difficult for small wineries to navigate the business terrain in light of the continued consolidation that is taking place among wholesalers, and the escalating operating-cost structures that have resulted from a supply shortage of grapes and bulk wine.

Before jumping ahead with the purchase of a large acre estate, it is essential to assess the marketplace and strategy for your potential brand.

PETALUMA — Bringing the paper-based practices of the California Department of Motor Vehicles into the digital age has put startup software developer AVRS in the fast lane toward growth.

ROHNERT PARK — Amy’s Kitchen brought the convenience of frozen vegetarian meals to the grocery aisle 25 years ago, and now the Petaluma-based packaged-foods company wants to do the same for the fast-food drive-through.

Unemployment rates in the six North Bay counties edged upward or remained unchanged in November, according to state figures, as lower employment in farming and processing winegrapes after the harvest helped offset hiring in retail for the holidays.

Despite the dip in farming employment, Sonoma County continued to have among the fastest annual job growth in the state last month.

Buyers and store managers from Whole Foods Market, which has 10 North Bay stores, plan to meet potential new vendors for Northern California and Reno, Nev., storeis via an event in Oakland in early February.

The hot sectors for North Bay construction in the coming year will continue to be education, affordable-housing and health care, but retail and hospitality work is making a comeback.

OAKVILLE — In an effort to highlight the past and preserve historical features of a popular landmark that first opened for business as a general store in 1881, the Oakville Grocery was completely renovated between January and May 2012 to upgrade the building’s infrastructure and to create a fresh interior look for this premier gourmet destination.

YOUNTVILLE — The renowned proprietor of The French Laundry, Per Se and Bouchon Restaurant and Bakery opened his fourth venue, called Ad Hoc, on Yountville’s Washington Street.

HEALDSBURG — A nearly 10,000-square-foot modern glass-and-steel farm produce store, café and meeting center two blocks northwest of the Healdsburg Plaza is set for completion early next year.