Select Staffing going-public deal shelved
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 22nd, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Select Staffing going-public deal shelved
With its public option off the table, Santa Barbara-based Select Staffing is returning its focus to family ownership and a fundamentals-first approach to growth. Select, a temporary staffing firm, is the largest private company in the Tri-Counties, with revenue last year of $1.5 billion. Saddled with $535.5 million in debt and facing pressure from lenders Read More →
A flurry of transactions
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 22nd, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on A flurry of transactions
It’s still not clear whether the real estate market will thaw in 2010, but the South Coast scene is certainly heating up. After months of sluggish sales volume and anemic pricing, credit lines seem to be loosening up and organizations big and small are looking for their own slice of the South Coast. Among them Read More →
Spotlight on innovation
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 15th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Spotlight on innovation
The Santa Barbara area is emerging as a hub for light-emitting diode technology, from practical lighting designs on the market now to the cutting-edge laser technology of tomorrow. LEDs are taking hold in the lighting industry and have the potential to use 15 times less energy than incandescent bulbs. At the steel-in-the-ground level, Carpinteria-based architectural Read More →
PG&E spells out plans for wave project
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 15th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on PG&E spells out plans for wave project
Pacific Gas & Electric has unveiled crucial details about its proposed wave energy project off the coast of Vandenberg Air Force Base — a major step toward alternative electric power generation for the region. PG&E said the project could be operational by 2014, generating as much as 100 megawatts of power and providing permanent non-fossil-fuel Read More →
Nobel laureate kick-starts CSUCI institute
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 8th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Nobel laureate kick-starts CSUCI institute
California State University, Channel Islands, is launching a new social business institute it hopes will revolutionize its curriculum — and it has a Nobel laureate as its pitchman. CSUCI will feature Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank, in a keynote event on Feb. 26 that also launches the university’s new California Institute for Social Read More →
Expanding made easy
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 8th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Expanding made easy
British-owned grocer Fresh & Easy is invading the Tri-Counties. It’s only been two years since the grocery chain landed on the West Coast, but the company has already opened six markets in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and has aggressive expansion plans for the area. Fresh & Easy is developing a handful of locations along Read More →
Recession
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 1st, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Recession
The faltering economy continued to devastate air travel totals in 2009, but one regional airport said the economic tailspin may have actually helped it in the long run. Year-to-date declines in tri-county passengers ranged from 25 percent in Oxnard to roughly 9 percent in Santa Barbara thanks to higher fuel costs, flight cutbacks and fewer Read More →
