North Bay Business Journal

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.

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

SONOMA — California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, in Sonoma for a speaking engagement, continued to apply public pressure on Blue Shield of California and other large insurers for recent rate hikes, saying the increases will negatively impact individuals and small businesses disproportionally and that the increases aren’t in tune with national medical inflation rates.

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.

State water-quality regulators this afternoon announced the withdrawal of a proposed conditional waiver program for vineyards in the Napa River and Sonoma Creek watersheds from state-set limits on erosion and plans to regulate vineyard water runoff under more general requirements.

SANTA ROSA — February commercial passenger volume at the Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport declined by 0.3 percent compared to the same month in 2012, but has increased 15.5 percent since February commercial flights returned to the airport in 2008, according to the airport’s monthly passenger report.

SEBASTOPOL — FlashCo Manufacturing, a fabricator of roof-penetration details with integrated flashing designed to trim installation time and enhance waterproofing, is doubling the size of its headquarters plant in a move to Santa Rosa.

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.

ROHNERT PARK — Opening the 2013 Economic Outlook Conference at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center on Wednesday, Sandy Weill, former chairman and top executive of Citigroup and a major donor to the project, pointed to the upper seats of the concert hall that his contributions had helped to complete.

Executives of Sonoma County businesses are more confident about the current and near-term future prospects for the local economy than 2006, when the local economy started slowing, and are even more positive about their own industries, according to report released today.

And the business outlook over the next six months for Sonoma County is positive in several industries, according to a periodic survey commissioned by the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

Kaiser Permanente has earned accreditation for its Santa Rosa Medical Center Family Residency Program, which was developed to attract and retain more physicians to the region in lieu of national shortages.

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.

U.S. wine exports, 90 percent from California, last year increased 2.6 percent in winery revenue to a record $1.43 billion from 2011, but at the same time, shipment volume dipped 4.9 percent, a major wine trade policy advocacy group announced today.

Throughout the debate and the recent implementation of health care reform, health experts and politicians alike have touted the shift away from the fee-for-service model to more coordinated care, leading to better outcomes and lowered spending.

Beginning this year, however, the financial health of hospitals will likely depend on just how well care is coordinated, as a relatively little-known yet critically important piece of the Affordable Care Act is enacted: the “Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program,” overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

New California legislation known as the “homeowner bill of rights” helped the rate of new foreclosures to plunge in the North Bay and beyond in January, while home prices and sales in general continued a steady upward climb, according to reports released today by Irvine-based foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac and San Diego-based real estate data service DataQuick.

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.

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.

ROHNERT PARK — As construction of the $800 million Graton Resort and Casino project in northwest Rohnert Park speeds toward a planned opening late this year, the developer on Monday ramped up the marketing campaign with the release of architectural renderings of the forthcoming facility and a website for the forthcoming facility.

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.

NORTH COAST — Many wine industry experts figured the 2012 winegrape harvest was going to be the biggest in several years and refill grower pockets after two smaller crops, but the first official tally of the crop released Friday suggests it was the biggest ever, even crushing the giant 2005 harvest in value and tonnage.