North Bay Business Journal

Home-improvement retail chain Orchard Supply Hardware, which has six North Bay stores, today filed for Bankruptcy Court reorganization protection and has inked a $205 million tentative deal with Lowe’s Home Improvement, which has four North Bay stores, to acquire many of the OSH stores.

NAPA and VACAVILLE — The United Kingdom-based parent of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which has two North Bay stores, today said it is considering options for the struggling startup chain of small-format grocery stores, including selling all or part of the roughly 200-location chain or bringing in a partner to operate it.

Anheuser-Bush’s round-the-clock Fairfield brewery has cut energy usage by 30 percent since 2003. …

Investment in California- and Massachusetts-based Blu homes has doubled. …

Three years after first announcing its plan to develop a new all-electric vehicle in California, Coda Automotive’s first five-seat sedan rolled off of the final assembly line. …

Fairfield-based Partnership HealthPlan of California is expanding significantly. …

Vacaville-based Travis Credit Union has increased business-lending efforts. …

Sutter Solano Cancer Center in Vallejo announced it is installing a dynamic targeting image-guided radiotherapy with real-time position management from Varian Medical Systems. …

WomenCertified, a collective voice for the female consumer and a trusted referral source for top businesses and brands identified among women, is recognizing Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital as a region’s best hospital for patient experience based on female patient satisfaction. …

Hawk’s Tavern in Mill Valley has completed what they describe as a substantial realignment of their menu, moving from a small plate focus to a traditional starter/entrée format. …

SunLink Corporation’s complete line of roof and ground mount solar racking systems has been certified by ETL as conforming to the integrated grounding and bonding requirements of UL Subject 2703. …

Blue Star Gas has partnered with Wine Country Balloons to launch the largest hot air balloon in Sonoma County. …

TSYS announced the formation of a 60-40 joint venture with San Rafael-based Central Payment Co., LLC, which will continue to do business under its current name. …

AMERICAN CANYON — Plans are under way to build the largest solar interconnect project in the North Bay at a closed regional sanitary landfill adjacent to the City of American Canyon. This landfill once served the Cities of Napa, Vallejo and American Canyon, as well the County of Napa.

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.

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

A federal judge in Sacramento today sentenced a 63-year-old Sausalito man to 27 years in prison and ordered him to pay $70.3 million in restitution related to the October 2005 fire at a Vallejo warehouse that destroyed an estimated $200 million to $250 million in wine.

NORTH BAY — The National Union of Healthcare Workers is holding a day-long strike at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout Northern California, including hospitals in Santa Rosa, San Rafael, Vallejo and Vacaville, as the union negotiates a new contract with the health system.

SANTA ROSA — Stevenson Supply, which specializes in products to manage rainwater runoff and the dirt it moves, made its a further step toward expanding sales further into the Bay Area by acquiring Al Ruoff & Son in Vallejo.

VALLEJO — Massachusetts-based Blu Homes today opened a 250,000-square-foot factory in Vallejo, where the company plans to eventually employ 500 and turning out that many of the company’s high-tech, high-green manufactured dwellings annually.

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.

Sonoma County job growth is leading that of other counties in the state, observed Al Coppin, president of commercial real estate brokerage Keegan & Coppin Co. Inc. He pointed to major leases in the Highway 101 corridor in Sonoma and Marin counties in the past several months: Cyan Optics, Calix, Métier, Central Payment Corp., BioMarin Pharmaceutical, ProSight Specialty Insurance and Amy’s Kitchen.

1st Pacific Credit Union, headquartered in Vallejo, merged with the North Carolina-based Self-Help Federal Credit Union group and will operate under the name Community Trust. … Hennessy Advisors announced an increase in the annual cash dividend from $0.09 per share to $0.10 per share for 2011. … Presidio Bank reported net income of $901,023 for 2010, a significant increase compared to the $3.13 million loss reported in 2009.

Agriculture Sotoyome Resource Conservation District received an award from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for protecting agricultural land and promoting viability of the farming community. The district was nominated by Supervisor Mike McGuire along with three other groups in his district. He called out Sotoyome RCD Executive Director Kara Heckert for her leadership and [...]

Sonoma County Economic Development Board Executive Director Ben Stone this morning noted that Santa Rosa ranked 39th nationwide in a measure of educational attainment.

The multifamily housing investment market has significantly improved from 2009 in terms of transactions closed and purchase prices.

[Updated: 4 p.m.] CALIFORNIA — Kaiser Permanente employees throughout the state voted to remain with the Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West instead of joining its rival offshoot, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

NUHW is considering a legal challenge to the election.

NORTH BAY – Kaiser Permanente employees throughout Northern California begin voting today in a costly, high-stakes election that will likely determine the influence of two quarreling unions, each seeking to represent nearly 44,000 workers.