North Bay Business Journal

ST. HELENA — Blicker Pierce Wagner Wine Merchants, an online retailer of fine and rare collectibles that is better known as BP Wine, and the owners’ “flash” online wine sales venture Last Bottle Wines are growing so quickly that they are have secured a much larger south Napa warehouse.

NOVATO — Blu Homes, a Vallejo and Massachusetts-based manufacturer of energy efficient, prefabricated homes, has entered into an agreement with Homeward Bound of Marin to construct a $4 million affordable and supportive housing project in Novato.

Santa Monica-based game software maker Activision Blizzard expanded its Toys For Bob development studio at Hamilton Landing in Novato as the team there released a latest installment for one of the hottest-selling games. …

Third-quarter vacancy and absorption figures for Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties have been released. …

Shiloh Oaks Co., owned by the Caletti family that operated Standard Structures in Windsor, has been transforming 300,000-square-foot complex of lumber millwork and storage buildings into a multitenant industrial, warehouse and basic office property called Standard Industrial. There are now more than a dozen existing industrial-use tenants and four newcomers. …

GREENBRAE — Marin General Hospital recently unveiled a newly built emergency department that the 235-bed hospital said will significantly improve care and patient satisfaction.

NORTH BAY — The Business Journal has selected 17 companies for our second annual Healthiest Companies Recognition Awards to be honored at the North Bay Business Journal’s 2012 Health Care Conference.

Events in the north San Francisco Bay area of interest to the business community

Assemblymember Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, honored students from Sun Valley Elementary School for their successful effort to urge the makers of felt-tip markers to develop a recycling program for their products.

The Chiligods, a chili sauce company based in Healdsburg, received one of the highest honors — “double gold” — at this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair.

ET Water Systems, Inc., a Novato-based “smart” irrigation management systems developer, significantly upgraded its award-winning ETwater Manager web-based system to accommodate rain forecasts.

NonProfitEasy, a technology startup and winner of the North Bay Business Plan Competition, announced a Series A equity funding commitment.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Envolve Winery in Sonoma will be promoting their campaign “Real Men Drink Pink” to help raise awareness and funds.

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

Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation, part of the Sutter Health network, announced the addition of dermatologist, Helena Longin, M.D., to its roster of doctors in Santa Rosa. …

Brannan’s Grill in Napa appointed Thomas Hartwell as it’s new chef. …

Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty Tom Adams has joined Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty as senior counsel in the Land Use department in the firm’s Napa office. …

Michael J. Fish has joined Merrill, Arnone & Jones as a partner. …

The board of tustees of the Land Trust of Napa County appointed Douglas Parker as president and CEO, succeeding Joel Tranmer as the resident & CEO and John Hoffnagle, who served as the executive director of the Trust for 24 years. …

Tiburon resident Erik Zech has joined Pearl.com as chief financial officer, where he will lead the company’s finance, accounting, investor relations, treasury and corporate finance functions. …

CADE Estate Winery appointed Danielle Cyrot to the position of winemaker. …

Sept. 12, 2012: Bank of Marin held their annual Shred Day event at the Napa Branch office. Event attendees also brought school supplies of notebooks, packs of crayons, pencils and pens, glue and reams of copy paper. Bank of Marin will match the donations with a $5,000 contribution to the Napa Valley Education Foundation. / Aug. 10, 2012: Smith Dollar’s 3rd Annual Contractors BBQ & ECA Monthly Mixer

The number of North Bay homeowners entering default fell markedly in the third quarter of the year, part of a statewide trend that has brought defaults to their lowest level in more than three years, according to a new report by San Diego-based real estate data tracking firm DataQuick.