North Bay Business Journal

The proportions of homes in foreclosure in the North Bay last month was below the state average in four of the six counties, and the number of properties at risk of going back to lenders fell in all but Lake County over the past six months, according to data released today from foreclosure data compiler RealtyTrac.

The State Public Works Board in Sacramento today approved acquisition of three Santa Rosa properties needed to build a $178.7 million new Sonoma County criminal courthouse. It’s one of an estimated $380 million in projects for two new courthouses and one major renovation in North Bay counties in the next few years.

NORTH BAY — Employers in Sonoma County are more confident about the prospect of hiring in the second quarter compared to last year, with 13 percent saying they expected to increase staffing levels, according to a quarterly survey by ManpowerGroup, an international staffing firm with a Santa Rosa location. And overall in the North Bay, employers are generally more confident about the economy than they have been, suggesting that a slow but steady economic recovery is wending its way through region, employment experts said.

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

VALLEJO — Two East Coast investors today said they purchased Park Place, a 150,766-square-foot neighborhood shopping center in Vallejo, as part of a $68 million acquisition of 837,183 square feet in five properties across the country.

NORTH BAY — A majority of new voter-approved sales tax increases taking effect in California on Sunday are in the North Bay.

NORTH BAY — At a time of historic strain on funding for schools in California, a number of local and national efforts are underway to support training in what many say is an important and often overlooked life skill for young adults — personal finance.

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

Sutter Health, the parent company of Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa, today said today its 2011 net income dropped to $634 million from $878 million the previous year across the 24-hospital system, a decline of nearly 28 percent.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates across the North Bay remained high in February and were barely changed from January, but all six counties had considerably lower rates than a year before, according to state figures released this morning.

NAPA and VALLEJO — A new phase of North Bay home manufacturing is rolling out of factories in Napa and Vallejo.

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

NORTH BAY — The proportions of homes in foreclosure in the North Bay last month matched or were below the state average in four of the six counties, and the number of properties at risk of going back to lenders fell throughout the region in recent months, according to a report released today from foreclosure data compiler RealtyTrac.

FAIRFIELD — Vehicle salvage and reseller Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) announced today that the company’s board of directors has approved a two-for one split of its common stock, a change that will double the number of shares to approximately 126.8 million.

NAPA — A new survey found that nine out of 10 physicians across the country are unwilling to recommend the profession to others, while 43 percent said they are contemplating retirement as a result of “transformative changes” in the health care system — results that will likely exacerbate a well-documented nationwide physician shortage.

SOLANO and NAPA COUNTIES — The industrial real estate markets of Solano and Napa counties showed modest improvement in 2011 over 2010, as several significant leases were completed and some significant buildings sold.

NORTH BAY — Shopping centers in Marin and Napa counties have very little available space overall, moving rents higher. Larger-population Sonoma and Solano counties have vacancy rates two to four times as high, but the markets are expected to stabilize.

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

SACRAMENTO — Retail sales activity grew at a slower rate in the North Bay than in the rest of California in the final quarter of 2010 versus the same period in 2009, according to the most recent data made available today by the California State Board of Equalization.

NORTH BAY — Unemployment rates in early 2012 remained near where they ended in 2011, although every county saw a drop from the previous year, according to state figures released this morning.