Napa – North Bay Business Journal - North San Francisco Bay Area, Sonoma, Marin, Napa counties

LeDrew to head Treasury Wine Estates’ Napa-based unit

January 10th, 2012

NAPA — Australia-based Treasury Wine Estates, whose North Coast wine portfolio includes Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean and Stag’s Leap Winery, today said it named Sandra LeDrew to lead its operations in North and South America.
Major private construction projects on tap in 2012

December 19th, 2011

A number of major private-sector construction projects will be under way or are set to begin in 2012: Grady Ranch, San Rafael; Madera Vista, Corte Madera; East Washington Place, Petaluma; Marin County Emergency Operations Facility, San Rafael; Safeway expansion, Petaluma; Bell Village, Windsor; Multitenant warehouse, Napa; Kaiser data center expansion, Napa; The Barlow, Sebastopol; and Napa Century Center, Napa.
Bay Commercial Bank plans Napa branch in Q1 2012

December 14th, 2011

NAPA — Walnut Creek-based Bay Commercial Bank (OTCBB: BCML.OB) announced this week that it has received regulatory approval to open a full-service branch in Napa.
Auto body chain installs $2 million in solar on three shops

December 12th, 2011

Santa Rosa-based G&C AutoBody is spending $2.09 million installing photovoltaic power arrays on three of its seven locations to write off the whole project cost in one year under a special 2011 tax incentive for capital investments.
Tyler Florence Rotisserie & Wine: The Parisian experience

December 5th, 2011

NAPA — Tyler Florence Rotisserie & Wine, a bistro that replicates an authentic Parisian experience complete with a sidewalk café and retail shop is at 720 Main St. in the Napa Riverfront complex.
Morimoto Napa: Sixth signature restaurant with Wine Country touches

December 5th, 2011

NAPA — When “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto opened his sixth signature restaurant at 610 Main St. in Napa’s Riverfront complex, he was greeted by a long list of fans with advance reservations.
Trinchero Family Estates: Preventative care as a core value

November 28th, 2011

ST. HELENA – Trinchero Family Estates is on the leading edge among North Bay wineries when it comes to developing and implementing successful wellness strategies. The company’s health focus has been part of its culture since 2003 when they partnered with Weight Watchers for an on-site program. The program continued to expand and Tony Torres, [...]
Queen of the Valley Hospital: On a wellness mission

November 28th, 2011

Having opened its 59,000-square-foot Wellness Center back in 2006, long before wellness became seamlessly interwoven in the corporate business lexicon, it’s perhaps not surprising that Queen of the Valley in Napa extended the concept to its workforce.
Corporate wellness taking center stage

November 14th, 2011

NORTH BAY — As wellness emerges as a key business strategy in containing health care costs, questions often arise on what, exactly, the term means — what works for one company or one industry won’t necessarily work for another, and how do you define wellness to employees? More importantly, how do you get a staff to fully buy-in to the concept?
Winery Exchange revamps Echelon with North Coast grapes

November 14th, 2011

After acquiring the Echelon Vineyards brand from Diageo Chateau & Estates Wines early this year, Novato-based Winery Exchange has revamped the brand inside the bottle and out. … Boisset Family Estates, whose U.S. portfolio of brands includes DeLoach, Buena Vista and Raymond, formed a “strategic partnership” with 75,000-case-a-year Lockwood Vineyard in Monterey County. … Part of the makeover of the Main Street Exchange building at 1040 Main St. in downtown Napa, are tenant improvements to accommodate 22 employees of Huneeus Vintners. The Huneeus family wine company plans to relocate accounting, sales administration and marketing personnel from the Quintessa winery in St. Helena to 5,800 square feet in Napa around the beginning of next year … What started as a novel packaging idea to distinguish their 400-case-a-year Rua wine brand has turned into a business in its own right for Windsor-based wine sales and marketing veterans Máire Murphy and her husband, Walt Averill. In the past year since launching CapaBunga — a surfer-esque play on “capsule” and wine barrel “bung” — they’ve sold 117,000 of the stretchable food-grade silicone bottleneck capsules. … Tony Linegar, 46, Mendocino County agricultural commissioner and sealer of weights and measures for nearly three years, will move to that role in Sonoma County on Jan. 3. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved his appointment Tuesday. … With harvest mostly over in the North Coast, it’s the start of wine business conference season.
Deadline approaches for Napa’s $38 million downtown plan

November 7th, 2011

Napa residents have until Friday to send in their comments on the city’s draft Downtown Napa Specific Plan, a comprehensive document that will coordinate development in the area over the course of two decades.
Napa’s Vino Bello completes $10 million expansion

October 31st, 2011

NAPA — Vino Bello Resort in Napa has completed a $10.1 million, 66-room expansion, bringing the total amount of rooms to 182 across three buildings.
Bank of Napa third-quarter earnings more than double

October 27th, 2011

Bank of Napa, N.A., reported a net income of $249,000 in the third quarter of 2011, a $176,000 increase over the same quarter last year.
Napa downtown continues as center of ‘excitement’; wine industry driving many deals

October 24th, 2011

Napa County’s office and industrial markets had more activity in the first half of 2011 than in 2010, but a more dramatic than normal summer slowdown has some wondering whether the market improvement will continue.
CalPERS in talks to exit vineyard partnership

October 17th, 2011

Part of the multibillion restructuring of hard-hit real estate investments over the past few years by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) are potential changes to a joint venture with Premier Pacific Vineyards of Napa to acquire up to $200 million in West Coast vineyards. … Part of the $1 million-plus invested in production and distribution of the Napa Smith beer brand since it was acquired is a tasting room opened this month at the specially designed south Napa brewery-winery, located at 1 Executive Way. … St. Helena-based ETS Laboratories is now offering free same-day results on common analyses such as juice panels for San Joaquin County vintners. … As part of a mergers-and-acquisitions panel at the recent Wine Industry Financial Symposium in Napa, Jeff Menashe of Demeter Group observed four trends among active buyers of wine businesses and successful sellers.
One steel-frame factory shuts; others expand

October 10th, 2011

ROHNERT PARK — Codding Enterprises LP shut down a 5-year-old Rohnert Park factory for making light-gauge steel framing panels for rapid construction, but panelized construction ventures in Napa and Vallejo are expanding.
Pacfic Union College offers nursing classes in Napa

October 10th, 2011

NAPA – Responding to continued demand for nursing degrees Pacific Union College is now offering both a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and a registered nurse program for adults in downtown Napa.
Mood Bender Tea moves to Napa, adds bottling plant

September 12th, 2011

NAPA — Mood Bender Tea, Inc., a startup with a vision to create a market for a new line of unique hybrid tea beverages freshly brewed in the Bay Area, is moving from an office at 201 Spear Street in San Francisco to a new location in Napa that will become the firm’s headquarters and bottling plant.
Hospital projects highlight local adoption of BIM

September 12th, 2011

NORTH BAY — In less than a decade, building information modeling (BIM) has become a major construction simulation and visualization process, and it’s being employed heavily on two large hospital projects now under construction in North Bay counties.
Napa Valley Marriott acquired for $72 million

September 1st, 2011

NAPA — The Napa Valley Marriott Hotel & Spa has been acquired by an Illinois-based real estate group for $72 million.