North Bay Business Journal

Industrial real estate of Solano and Napa counties showed significant improvement in 2012 over 2011, as several significant leases were completed and some significant buildings sold. The overall industrial vacancy rate in Napa and Solano counties dropped for the seventh consecutive quarter at the end of 2012.

With the economy continuing to show signs of improvement, we expect continued demand and activity in 2013.

Novato-based Winery Exchange continues to expand beyond its roots as a worldwide creator of wine, beer and spirits brands with the acquisition of a portfolio of certified-organic and sulfite-undetectable wine brands, led by Our Daily Red and Orleans Hill, from Nevada County Wine Guild. …

St. Helena-based Trinchero Family Estates on Wednesday announced a strategic alliance with vintners Charles Smith of Walla Walla, Wash., and Charles Bieler of New York City to manage sales, distribution and marketing of their joint-venture brand Charles & Charles. …

Safe Harbor Wine Storage (707-252-9690, safeharborwines.com), a bulk cellaring business opened five years ago by two notable Napa Valley winemakers and two owners of Sausalito-based oak stave insert maker StaVin, has outgrown its 50,000-square-foot south Napa winery and is moving forward with plans to expand down the street. …

Because the original comment period for the proposed vineyard waiver program for rainwater runoff in the Napa River and Sonoma Creek watersheds ran through the winter holidays, the State Water Resources Control Board extended the comment deadline and rescheduled the public hearing. …

DH Wine Compliance of Windsor this month launched Wine Compliance Academy. …

After two decades as president of Lake County Winegrape Commission, Shannon Gunier left the organization this month. … To replace Ms. Gunier, the board of the Lakeport-based trade group chose Debra Sommerfield from more than 30 applicants. …

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.

For more than six decades, the Trinchero family have been leading development of the wine industry, from attracting more consumers acquire and refine their tastes in wine to providing wine in something other than a glass bottle to reducing the impact of wine production on the environment.

Following are profiles of the top day-to-day leaders from the Business Journal’s lists of the largest independently owned wineries under 100,000 cases, published in March, and the largest wine companies, published in May.

ST. HELENA — Trinchero Family Estates has been harvesting water, energy and cost savings from a more than $2 million new process wastewater treatment system at its main St. Helena winery, where Sutter Home and other wine brands are made.

In an effort to gauge how the region’s major employers are dealing with continued economic uncertainty, the North Bay Business Journal reached out to major companies with a series of employment-related questions, in addition to identifying the top human resources professional at each organization.

The results, from tech to health care, to hospitality to manufacturing, show that many of the major players are faring better, some even thriving, but challenges nonetheless remain.

The North Bay Business Journal is proud to present the 2012 Top Manufacturers Awards to 13 North Bay companies.

“We want to recognize the contribution all North Bay manufacturers add to our local economy, through high-wage jobs, training and exports that bring critical dollars back into our economy and communities,” said Business Journal Editor and Associate Publisher Brad Bollinger. “They are terrific employers and members of the community. And they bring innovation to our region in a big way.”

The Trinchero family has been producing wine in Napa Valley since acquiring Sutter Home Winery in 1947, but they waited until just the past several years to find the right home for their luxury brand, Trinchero Napa Valley.

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, [...]

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?

NORTH BAY — The Business Journal’s inaugural Healthiest Companies Recognition Awards will be presented to 14 companies at its Health Care Conference.

See profiles of the Inaugural Business Journal 2011 CFO Recognition Awards winners.

Editor’s note: This is the Business Journal’s first Spotlight on Facilities Managers in the North Bay. According to the International Facility Management Association, professionals in this job usually are responsible for compliance with laws and regulations on real estate, efficient operations of buildings to limit waste in natural and human resources, safety for employees and environmental sustainability.

“People, place, process, technology,” is the association’s catchphrase for such a position. The following are facility managers identified from among the largest public and private North Bay employers.

Following are profiles of the top day-to-day leaders from the Business Journal’s lists of the largest independently owned wineries under 100,000 cases, published in March, and the largest wine companies, published in May.

Industrial markets in Napa and Solano counties overall continued to be sluggish throughout 2010 because of poor economic conditions. While several significant lease transactions were completed during the year, a number of large new vacancies nullified any real traction.

News submitted by North Bay businesses for publication in the Business Journal.

News submitted by North Bay businesses for publication in the Business Journal

North Coast “marquee” wine labels and cash-flowing brands and other assets are more dominant in the deals getting done these days than discount transactions on troubled assets, according to a top wine industry transaction adviser.

About 265,000 square feet in wine warehouse deals were inked recently in the south Napa area, with 164,000 square feet of that being net market absorption. … Hundreds of thousands of square feet of big-box retail space has gone dark in the North Bay in the past two years, but a number of the spaces are getting scooped up by retailers looking to reduce the cost of expanding into the market. … Four agents and brokers affiliated with Orion Partners, which closed earlier this year, have landed new associations. … As the city of Healdsburg narrows its list of consultants that will prepare long-range land-use plans for the central part of the city, longtime lumber vendor Nu Forest Products is vying to be considered as a transit-friendly mixed-use redevelopment site about a block south of the Plaza. …