North Bay Business Journal

SANTA ROSA — SenarioTek has been able to survive economic slumps over its 10 years in business by diversifying target markets for its products used in testing wireless communications systems.

Given continued uncertainties around immigration policy in Washington and Sacramento and the budding of a 2013 crop that could be decent-sized, North Coast winegrape growers are looking for ways to stretch labor farther so they aren’t as short-handed as a number were during the record-volume 2012 season.

SONOMA COUNTY — Offering the clearest picture yet of expected pricing from a renewable energy-focused power agency under development in Sonoma County, a new report shows that a typical business customer in the launch phase of Sonoma Clean Power could expect to pay between 3.1 percent less per month and a half-percent more than conventional utility rates.

BODEGA — Patty Karlin’s Bodega Artisan Cheese for nearly 30 years has helped put the North Coast on the map for handcrafted quality foods, but when faced with mounting costs of keeping her small-scale goat dairy in business, she turned to a startup funder of artisan food startups to take her products to a wider market.

SANTA ROSA — Telephone and Internet service provider Sonic.net is rapidly expanding its business connections, including a major sales push in Southern California and a planned fiber-to-the-business network in Santa Rosa.

PETALUMA — Cyan, Inc., a Petaluma-based designer of telecommunications network equipment, has filed its intent to raise $75 million in an initial public stock offering.

GEYSERVILLE — Francis Ford Coppola Winery today confirmed it purchased the Geyser Peak winery facility and surrounding vines in Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley winegrowing region to expand wine production.

What started as a fairly benign Sonoma County multifamily income property market recovery turned into a full-blown juggernaut, as 2012 closed with a surge in sales and rental prices.

Going forward, expect more apartment investment as buyers are drawn to returns with solid growth potential.

The economy continues to recover slowly, but we are experiencing positive growth in Petaluma. 2012 was a critical year. It appears to have been a turning point for Petaluma commercial real estate.

The North Bay’s low vacancy rate — not as much as the economy — is the biggest challenge to North Bay retail property. Increasingly rare available quality retail space and soaring rents for it are discouraging retailers.

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.

After being largely vacant from commercial property sales at the height of the economic recession, investors in North Bay multifamily complexes are moving back into the market.

Russian River Brewing Co.’s cult-like Pliny the Younger, a rare triple IPA, has received yet another accolade, this one coming from state Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. …

The Napa Winery Inn has joined the Ascend Hotel Collection, a portfolio of independent hotels from Choice Hotels International, giving the portfolio its first property in the Napa Valley. …

Passenger volume at the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in January was 2.4 percent higher than a year before and up 33.9 percent since the same month in 2008 after airline service returned. …

La Condesa, a farm-to-table restaurant in St. Helena, hired Chris Mortenson as its new executive chef. …

A website has been launched to promote downtown Napa’s riverfront, www.NapasRiverfront.com, including information on everything from retail promotions and product offerings to special events and lodging information. …

SANTA ROSA — A training center for North Coast apprentice electricians is getting a major upgrade as the skills needs grow to work on increasingly advanced automation, alternative-energy and energy-efficiency systems.

SANTA ROSA — Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and Advanced Surgery Institute, LLC, entered a joint venture on operations of a central Santa Rosa ambulatory surgery center, where 19 local surgeons from a wide range of medical specialties have performed outpatient procedures since its opening in 2010, it was announced today.

SANTA ROSA — January commercial passenger volume at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport was up 2.4 percent versus the same month in 2012, and up 33.9 percent since flights were first offered during that month in 2008.

Volume was nearly equal for flights that originated in Santa Rosa and flights that originated elsewhere. Airport officials have said the rising proportion of inbound flyers could point to an improving local economy and appeal for tourism.

William “Bill” Price III, co-founder of private investment company TPG Group and a financier of North Coast wineries such as Kosta Browne, purchased the 138-acre Gap’s Crown pinot noir and chardonnay vineyard in the Sonoma Coast appellation east of Rohnert Park.

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.

SANTA ROSA — Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital recently unveiled a new $3 million MRI scanning system that the trauma center says will significantly improve patient experience while making the jobs of physicians easier.

Securing enough North Coast grapes to supply growing consumer demand for wine is spurring growth in staffing and services among some North Bay law firms that serve the industry, all of which is helping the legal industry rebound after several years of static business.