North Bay Business Journal

Chief executive officer, PDI Surgery Center, Windsor.

Listen to your heart as much as your brain. Win on your own terms, not someone else’s. Be true to how you want to show up as a business person; just because someone else does it a certain way doesn’t mean you have to “because they do.” Intelligence, knowledge and training can only take you so far; some business decisions truly are based on intuition and emotional intelligence. Dare to take risks that feel right. Dream big.

SANTA ROSA — Jackson Family Wines today unveiled a 241,000-kilowatt-hour solar energy cogeneration array atop the main Kendall-Jackson Kittyhawk winery in Windsor.

Nov. 20, 2011: The El Farolito Mexican Restaurant and Bar in Windsor held their grand opening and rippon cutting

A number of major private-sector construction projects will be under way or are set to begin in 2012: Grady Ranch, San Rafael; Madera Vista, Corte Madera; East Washington Place, Petaluma; Marin County Emergency Operations Facility, San Rafael; Safeway expansion, Petaluma; Bell Village, Windsor; Multitenant warehouse, Napa; Kaiser data center expansion, Napa; The Barlow, Sebastopol; and Napa Century Center, Napa.

Santa Rosa-based G&C AutoBody is spending $2.09 million installing photovoltaic power arrays on three of its seven locations to write off the whole project cost in one year under a special 2011 tax incentive for capital investments.

NORTH BAY – This week will see the kickoff for enrollment in “100-in-100,” an innovative program to put high school students up close with local manufacturers.

Starting her own wine sales compliance firm in January 2010, Drea Helfer plans to expand DH Wine Compliance next month with a larger office and two other compliance specialists on board by year-end.

NORTH BAY — Regularly scheduled freight rail service is once again a reality in Marin and Sonoma counties bringing with it a lower cost alternative for businesses compared to trucks for shipping raw materials in, and finished goods out, of the region.

Walter Eagan, a Russian River Valley appellation grower of zinfandel and chardonnay grapes east of Windsor, was surprised to get a three-year zin purchase grape contract from St. Helena-based Duckhorn Wine Co. earlier this year.

[Updated: July 19, 11:25 a.m. with further lawsuit details and a link to the complaint] ROHNERT PARK — A Windsor-based waste and recycling company has filed a lawsuit against the city of Rohnert Park, alleging that its recent requirement of paying a “buy-in” fee to conduct business in the city “is tantamount to a bribe.”

SANTA ROSA — G&C AutoBody is on track to a have a 50 percent increase in revenue this year to $30 million with the opening of three new shops along the Highway 101 corridor.

WINDSOR — Multi-Contact USA is rapidly expanding its manufacturing capabilities here to produce a greater percentage of standard and custom products in North America. Today some 75 percent of MC-USA’s output is standard products, while 25 percent is devoted to custom solutions.

WINDSOR — A major Italian manufacturer of winemaking equipment plans to build a North American distribution and light production facility in this Sonoma County town.

WINDSOR — Founded in July of 2003, Northgate Ready Mix concrete is partnering with the BoDean Company’s line of local sustainable rock, gravel and sand products.

SONOMA COUNTY — The Sonoma County Economic Development Board, in partnership with city councils and chambers of commerce, has released a new series of City Economic Reports for each of the nine incorporated areas in Sonoma County. Areas covered by the reports include employment, demographics, residential and commercial real estate, consumer spending, and education.

HEALDSBURG, WINDSOR — Alliance Medical Center has just released a comprehensive Resource Guide for Healdsburg and Windsor residents.

While the Santa Rosa north corridor real estate market saw an increase in vacancy rates in 2009, during 2010 there was a decrease in the industrial vacancy for the region and office vacancy remained flat.

The Sonoma County Economic Development Board, in partnership with city councils and chambers of commerce, has released a new series of City Economic Reports for each of the nine incorporated areas in Sonoma County.

WINDSOR — As the developers of the 14-acre Town Green Village mixed-use community in central Windsor work to finalize a deal to sell two buildings left partly built because of the economy and complete a workout of $15 million in loans, they are facing a new round of default notices totaling $1.54 million in due balances on a half-dozen properties.

The governments of Napa and Windsor are asking their residents to submit their ideas for upcoming long-range planning sessions. Windsor residents are set to receive 17-question surveys this week, and extras are available at the Town Hall, located in Building 400 at 9291 Old Redwood Highway.The town would like the surveys returned by Jan. 18. [...]