North Bay Business Journal

ROHNERT PARK — Efforts continue to secure full funding for constructing an outdoor pavilion at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center, one of a number of construction projects at the school that include a new student center that is nearing completion, according to the university.

Joe Hasson is the newly appointed general manager of the Graton Resort & Casino currently being constructed by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in northwest Rohnert Park.

He is set to speak on Graton Resort project progress at Construction Conference 2013, hosted by the Business Journal in Santa Rosa on May 15. His team and he responded to Journal questions about the project and employment opportunities.

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. …

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.

ROHNERT PARK — Station Casinos recently unveiled early drawings of the forthcoming Graton Resort & Casino, offering a glimpse of what the $800 million project will look like upon completion of construction.

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.

ROHNERT PARK — Tourism in Sonoma County continues to rebound at an encouraging pace, with revenue and hotel occupancy rates besting those of the previous two years, experts said Wednesday at an annual meeting on local tourism.

ROHNERT PARK — Amy’s Kitchen brought the convenience of frozen vegetarian meals to the grocery aisle 25 years ago, and now the Petaluma-based packaged-foods company wants to do the same for the fast-food drive-through.

ROHNERT PARK — In roughly a year’s time, Sonoma County will be home to the Bay Area’s largest casino, a prospect that has some people and businesses anticipating a significant economic boon to the region while others still vow to block a project in the making since 2003.

ROHNERT PARK — The massive $800 million Graton Resort and Casino today reached a key phase in construction, as hundreds of workers and officials involved in the project celebrated a “topping out” ceremony.

More than a dozen North Bay companies undertook major expansions or moves: TricorBraun WinePak, Raydiance, Enphase Energy, General Dynamics, Langers of Sonoma, Anette’s Chocolates Napa Valley, Marmot Mountain, Wineshipping, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, EO Products, Birkenstock USA, Toys for Bob, Adventist Health, Amorim Cork America, SPG Solar, Biosearch Technologies and Telltale Games.

SANTA ROSA — Snoopy’s Home Ice arena seems an unlikely spot for a flash of innovation, but that’s what happened when Ralph Haney, skating with his wife and daughter, idly turned on an LED pen-light he had in his pocket.

And that was the beginning of Glo-Blades International. Incorporated in mid-2011, the company has patents pending in the U.S. and Canada, an advisory board listing former U.S. Olympic team skaters and an office at the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster in Rohnert Park.

ROHNERT PARK — After three years of work, ThumbsUpWine has released a smartphone app packed with hundreds of video reviews, up-to-date price comparisons and the startup’s own value-for-the-price comparisons, features the venture aims to be an in-aisle guide for the perplexed aspiring wine consumer.

Sonoma State University Assistant Professor of Economics Merlin Hanauer was awarded the Cozzarelli Prize. …

James Minnis joined the Prima Medical Group after completing fellowship training in critical care at Stanford University. …

AvroKO Hospitality Group for its new Napa restaurant, The Thomas, appointed Jason Kupper chef de cuisine, Cory Colton pastry chef overseeing dessert and the daily bread program, and Napa Valley resident Bradley Wasserman sommelier. …

Santa Rosa-based Tonnellerie Radoux USA, Inc. hired Greg Sitton as the newest member of its sales team. …

Frank Howard Allen Realtors announced that Sonoma County real estate agent Daniel Casabonne ranks among the top 1 percent of all real estate agents nationwide for 2011 closed transaction volume. …

Rohnert Park-based Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, host of the North Bay iHub, named J. Roy Martinez as interim executive director. …

ROHNERT PARK — In an executive shuffle at the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster and iHub in Rohnert Park, Michael Newell has left the position of executive director, replaced for the time being by a mentor and financier of startups.

PETALUMA and SANTA ROSA — From its 1970s beginnings in the nascent cluster of Petaluma technology companies that became Telecom Valley, Basin Street Properties was a major developer of commercial space for North Bay technology and other companies in Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Novato and Napa. After shifting its investments to markets outside the North Bay in much of the last decade, Basin Street is getting back into acquisition mode in the North Bay. According to real estate sources, Basin Street is still actively pursuing North Bay commercial buildings to acquire. …

PETALUMA and SANTA ROSA — Cornerstone Properties owns nearly 300,000 square feet of space in Petaluma and another 157,000 square feet in the industrial area near the entrance to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa. …

PETALUMA — In the largest amount of North Bay commercial space purchased since 2005, Napa-based PB&J Acquisitions, LLC, and New York-based Investcorp International Inc. in February purchased 842,000 square feet of office, industrial and retail space in 14 Petaluma and Rohnert Park buildings for $65 million. …

Summit State Bank hired Peggy Wyman as its new branch manager in Rohnert Park. …

Sanovas Inc.appointed Stephen C. Schimpff, M.D., a former University of Maryland Medical Center CEO, as chairman of its scientific advisory board. …

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company appointed Leslie Rippley to the position of commercial insurance zone executive for the West. …

Allen Gummer is stepping down, when his term ends in August, after serving on the Redwood Empire Food Bank’s board of directors for six years. …

Grace Chen has been named director of marketing at the raceway in Sonoma. …

Joseph Phelps Vineyards appointed Will Phelps as sales representative. …

Londer Vineyards in Anderson Valley announced Eric Stern as its new consulting winemaker. …

PlumpJack Winery hired Aaron Miller to the position of head winemaker. …

Christopher Hansen has been promoted to general manager of Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage. …

While insurance exchanges are poised to dominate health care discussions in the near future, another set of health information exchanges are arguably more important for providers across the state, particularly as independent physicians and health systems alike ponder implementation of electronic health records.

Redwood MedNetThis and other topics were the center of discussion of Ukiah-based Redwood MedNet’s sixth annual conference, Connecting California to Improve Patient Care, which included discussions on electronic health records, personal health records and health information exchanges.

ROHNERT PARK — Mastercard Worldwide has entered into a $15 million sponsorship arrangement with Sonoma State University’s Donald & Maureen Green Music Center, the largest such sponsorship secured by the university in its history.

ROHNERT PARK — The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria today announced construction has started on the tribe’s resort and casino project just west of Rohnert Park, although the tribe and casino backers are still waiting for formal federal approval on the controversial project.