North Bay Business Journal

SACRAMENTO — Covered California, the state’s online health exchange established under the Affordable Care Act, today announced that 13 commercial health plans will take part in its individual marketplace, while introducing premiums that vary from region to region.

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.

ST. HELENA — Bloom may be still a few weeks away for local winegrape vines, but economic conditions for the industry’s key consumers appear to be in full bloom, given the record-fast sellout of tickets to the upcoming 33rd annual Auction Napa Valley fundraiser (auctionnapavalley.org) May 30–June 2 and brimming guest logs at area hotels, according to organizers.

NORTH BAY — As median home prices climb sharply in the North Bay, a recent report by real estate data tracker RealtyTrac shows that the Santa Rosa-Petaluma market is one of the most profitable nationwide for “flipping” homes.

Unemployment rates across the North Coast continued to fall, with every county improving its jobless rate over both the last month and over the year, according to figures released by the Economic Development Department.

A Sonoma County-based nonprofit and several others with ties in the North Bay are among 48 organizations across the state to share in $37 million in outreach and education grants from Covered California, the state’s online health exchange developed under health care reform.

Petaluma-based Redwood Community Health Coalition received $830,000. Catholic Charities of California, which has a presence in Solano, Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties, received $859,000. California Rural Indian Health Board, which has a presence in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, was given $300,000. The California NAACP, which has locations in Sonoma and Solono counties, received $600,000 and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Solano County received $100,00.

NORTH BAY — More capital is flowing to North Bay small businesses through loan programs backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, with a 10.4 percent increase in dollar volume funded in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties comparing the first half of the administration’s fiscal year to the same period one year ago, according to data from the SBA.

Spotlight on leading SBA lenders in the North Bay

Diana Brennan, who has worked in Sonoma Raceway media relations since 1999, was promoted from director to senior director of media and community relations. …

Altus Equity Group in Santa Rosa hired Kristy Brooks as operations manager. …

Kyle Young is the newest agent of commercial real estate brokerage Keegan & Coppin Company, Inc./ONCOR International’s Santa Rosa office….

Novato-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc., appointed Eric Yuen, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president. …

Marla Carroll was named winemaker at Franciscan Estate Winery in St. Helena. …

Commercial real estate leases and sales in the north San Francisco Bay Area

From Marin to Mendocino, current hospital projects represent at least $550 million worth of combined construction spending.

And it’s a number that will double if and when one of the largest projects — the $500 million rebuild of Marin General Hospital — gets off the ground.

Building a better community is key to the Chamber of Commerce’s success in fostering the growth of local businesses.

One way we focus on our local community each year is by honoring the local heroes who make the Napa Valley an extraordinary place to call home.

For the seventh year, we invited the public to nominate individuals and nonprofit organizations demonstrating outstanding commitment, creativity and leadership to the valley. And their stories remind us why Napa Valley is such an incredible place to live and work.

NAPA COUNTY — Founded five years ago with a startup grant from the Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation and support from other partners, Sustainable Napa County helps local nonprofits conserve energy and water. But this is just the beginning.

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. …

Commercial real estate leases and sales in the north San Francisco Bay Area

Massage Envy Spa’s Santa Rosa location hired a certified massage therapist in March, Susan Losinski. …

The Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa hired an additional group sales manager, Mary Jo Baird. …

Jen Birmingham, a sales associate in Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage’s Petaluma office, has been awarded membership in the company’s International Sterling Society, an honor bestowed upon the top Coldwell Banker sales associates worldwide. …

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage announced that Gary Sumner, a sales associate in its Santa Rosa office, earned membership in the company’s International Diamond Society. …

Sonoma-based marketing agency V2 Wine Group appointed industry veteran Ken Meyerson director of national retail accounts. …

Kaiser Permanente employees in California, including about 4,700 in the North Bay, voted to stay with their current trade union, rather than switching, according to results announced Thursday afternoon by the National Labor Relations Board.

NAPA — Sixty-four percent of registered nurses at Queen of the Valley Medical Center who voted on Tuesday whether to affiliate with the California Nurses Association, an affiliate of National Nurses United, chose to do so.

After returning from the annual executive conference for Western Independent Bankers, a community bank trade group, Russell Colombo, president and CEO of Bank of Marin, said that leaders in the industry are starting to express greater optimism after a historically challenging economic period. …

Loans and deposits have grown at Bank of Napa, N.A., with net assets growing 8.2 percent over the course of a year and approaching $150 million as of March 31. …

The Northern California Center for Well Being is expanding its wellness services into Petaluma. …

Sausalito-based Sanovas Inc. announced the launch of MicroCam, its micro imaging platform for endoscopic device applications. …

Rick Jones of Jones Family Vineyard and the E. Richard Jones Family Foundation joined the board of directors at Clinic Ole in Napa. …

St. Helena Hospital Napa Valley was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review with the fifth-lowest rate of serious blood clots after surgery of over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals in the U.S. …

Ukiah Valley Medical Center’s Family Birth Center has received the IBCLC Care Award by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners and the International Lactation Consultant Association. …

Santa Rosa-based REACH Air Medical Services announced it received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to use its own GPS approaches and routes, directly to hospitals and landing sites in Western Oregon. …