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IN PROGRESS ONLINE |
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Office of Economic Development, Placer County, California |
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Vol. 9, No. 11 |
November 2008 |
Ÿ NEC Doubles Capacity of Semiconductor Manufacturing Line
Ÿ Placer County Helps Local Companies with Small Business Success
Ÿ Sutter Auburn Faith Installs Solar Power System
Ÿ November Weekend Celebrates Placer County’s Culture & Heritage
Ÿ Irish Pub to Punch Up Old Town Roseville
Ÿ Loomis’s High Hand Nursery Opens Café and Conservatory
Ÿ Kodak Opening Branch at Creekside in Auburn
Ÿ New Penryn Gym Offers Fitness Around the Clock
Ÿ New Hwy. 49 Eatery Serves Southern-style Dishes
Ÿ Placer County Arts Organizations Meet to Discuss Audience Building
Ÿ Downtown Auburn Clothing Store Puts Retro in Spotlight
Ÿ What’s in Your E-Mail Newsletter?
NEC Doubles Capacity of Semiconductor Manufacturing Line
NEC Electronics America Inc. is expanding its eight-inch wafer line at its semiconductor plant in Roseville. The Santa Clara-based company is adding capacity to its 0.15-micron process. The eight-inch wafer line will reach full production in March 2009. It hit full production on its current capacity in April. The eight-inch line was created in response to demand for its 0.15-micron-based products from customers in the automotive industry, and from designers using semiconductors in consumer devices such as digital cameras, memory sticks, and mobile and handheld products. NEC employs more than 800 people in Roseville. For more, visit the Sacramento Business Journal at
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/10/06/daily18.html
or NEC at http://www.necus.com/necus/media/press_releases/
Placer County Helps Local Companies with Small Business Success
On Wednesday, November 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the county’s Business Advantage Network will host a seminar along with the California Department of Transportation to assist small businesses with connecting to county and state agencies to increase their business. The event will feature presenters from the California Department of Transportation District 3, the state Department of General Services, and Placer County Procurement. The seminar includes instruction on how to become a certified small business with the state of California, how to do business with Placer County, and how to market goods and services to the state and county. The Caltrans Small Business Liaison from District 3, and Placer County Purchasing Manager will also be on hand to meet individually with business owners. The seminar is free; attendance is limited to the first 75 registrants. The event will be held at Maidu Community Center, 1550 Maidu Dr., Roseville. For details, contact Kris Fuentes at (916) 784-6140 or kfuentes@placer.ca.gov
Sutter Auburn Faith Installs Solar Power System
Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital plans to install a 736-kilowatt solar power system to meet 50 percent of the hospital’s electricity needs. San Francisco-based SPG Solar Inc. will design and build the system, which will include a parking lot shade structure and a ground-mounted system with tracking that aligns panels with the sun. Tioga Energy, based in San Mateo, will finance, own, and operate the system. Sutter Auburn Faith will purchase the power it produces. For the system, Thompson Technology Industries of San Rafael will provide precision automated tracker controls; Advanced Energy of Fort Collins, CO, will provide photovoltaic inverters; and Sharp Electronics Corporation of Huntington Beach, and/or Schott Solar of Roseville will provide industrial grade solar power modules. The solar projects should be completed in the first quarter of 2009, said Sutter spokeswoman Robin Montgomery. For more, visit the Sacramento Business Journal at
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/10/06/daily23.html
or Sutter Health at http://www.sutterhealth.org/about/news/news08_solar.html
November Weekend Celebrates Placer County’s Culture & Heritage
The weekend of November 7, 8 & 9 features three of Placer County’s signature events: Placer Arts’ Annual Autumn Art Studios Tour, the Cowpoke Fall Gathering, and Placer Hills Fall Winery Tour. The three-day, self-guided Autumn Art Tour of 55 studio locations winds through the county’s back roads and rural communities. The 86 participating artists will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss their diverse artwork and techniques. Traditional cowboy poets and musicians bring their Western brand of humor, storytelling, rhymes, and song to the Cowpoke Gathering, to be held in Loomis November 7 & 8. The Winery Tour, November 8 & 9, noon to 4 p.m., connects patrons directly with winemakers, who will share their reflections on recent releases and favorite vintages. For details, visit PlacerArts at http://www.placerarts.org/calendar/ or PlacerWine and Grape at http://www.placerwineandgrape.org/ or South Placer Heritage Foundation at http://www.soplacerheritage.org/
Irish Pub to Punch Up Old Town Roseville
The latest entrant in Old Town Roseville’s burgeoning entertainment scene is Boxing Donkey, an Irish pub opened in a renovated historic building by Kyle and Kendi Schubert and Kyle’s father Carl. The owners’ vision is of a daytime-through-late-night hangout; a lunch crowd pleaser serving up traditional Irish fare and American favorites; a comfortable after-work haunt; and a hip nightspot. The pub will also house a microbrew operation. “What we’re trying to create is a place where people can come again and again,” Kyle said. The business marks the latest step in the district’s continuing transformation from one of the city’s most depressed areas into a regional entertainment destination. Earlier this year, the city completed work on a $13 million redevelopment agency project that brought in new lighting and landscaping, new sewer and electrical lines, and several architectural centerpieces. For more, visit the Roseville Press Tribune at
Loomis’s High Hand Nursery Opens Café and Conservatory
Last month, High Hand Nursery, in Loomis, added a café and conservatory to its complex of gardens, trees, winding paths, and koi ponds. The café, which has ample seating under a high, enclosed glass dome, serves California fresh cuisine prepared with locally grown ingredients. Visitors can also order to-go food from the deli kitchen and eat at tables outside in the garden. Opened in 2003, High Hand offers consultation, design, and construction services for landscaping and aquatic gardens; professional planting crews, and a blacksmith shop for custom ironwork. The nursery sells trees, plants, bronze statues, decorative iron, designer palms, and glazed and rustic pottery. The nursery has been featured in several local newspapers and Sierra Heritage magazine. In 2004, High Hand was honored with the Loomis Basin’s Business Hall of Fame Award. For more, visit High Hand Nursery at http://www.highhandnursery.com/ or the Auburn Journal at
Kodak Opening Branch at Creekside in Auburn
Kodak is coming to Auburn. An auxiliary of the national digital photography and printing company will move into a 7,500-square-foot, high-end office space at Auburn’s Creekside Business Park by the end of this year. The facility will be used for software and engineering development. The Eastman Kodak Company facility will house about 34 employees, said Kodak representative Dave Glover. The $17 million Creekside Business Park, located on Blocker Dr., off Nevada St., sits on 8.16 acres and consists of six two-story buildings totaling 106,000 square feet of office and business space. Glover said representatives from Kodak looked at 80 sites throughout the region and settled on Auburn because of its access to transportation and the attractiveness of the facility. For more, visit the Auburn Journal at
New Penryn Gym Offers Fitness Around the Clock
For Ron Texeira and Mary Arbegast of Loomis, bringing a gym to Penryn has been well worth the effort. Their Anytime Fitness franchise opened in late July and has already proven to be a popular draw. “We opened the doors with 109 members,” Arbegast said. “Now we have more than 250.” The 2,900-square-foot facility features state-of-the-art equipment for strength training as well as cardio. One of the most popular items is the All Motion Trainer, or AMT, which gives a long-range stride like a treadmill and has handles that work the arms. Every piece of equipment has a viewing station so exercisers can watch TV while working out. Members get a key fob that allows anytime access to the Penryn gym as well as to the chain’s other 1,000 gyms across the country. For more, visit the Auburn Journal at
New Hwy. 49 Eatery Serves Southern-style Dishes
Builder Frank Welch and his wife Teresa recently opened OakFire Grill, housed in the old Pasquale T’s building on Highway 49 in Auburn. The eatery offers fresh-from-the-smoker dishes such as tri-tip and pulled pork sandwiches. “Everything is true Southern style,” Welch said. Specialty pizzas, sandwiches, salads, and burgers round out the menu. Children dining at the grill receive a free dessert. OakFire Grill features a main dining room, indoor/outdoor patio seating, and a projection room for sports fans. An on-site brewery and a to-go counter are in the works. The Placer County Redevelopment Agency recently provided OakFire Grill with a Business Improvement Loan. For more, visit the Auburn Journal at
http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail/91135.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=Oakfire+Grill&search_filter_mode=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=stories&town_id=6 or OakFire Grill at http://www.oakfiregrill.com/
Placer County Arts Organizations Meet to Discuss Audience Building
Eleven nonprofit arts organizations met in Loomis recently to discuss ways to build new and bigger audiences. The discussion centered on a demographic analysis citing a 27.7 percent growth in population by 2017, the majority projected to be new, younger families moving to Placer County for a better quality of life. The arts organizations considered the question of how to make the newcomers aware of their programs with their limited marketing budgets. Paid for by a grant from the Placer Community Foundation, the Nonprofit Resource Center of Sacramento hired Louise Stevens of Arts Market Inc. to conduct the workshop. Known nationally for her work in audience development, Louise focused on developing joint marketing strategies to promote the county’s unique and varied arts groups, while reducing costs incurred by them individually. One idea has already been put into action. Patrons of the arts can see a calendar of each organization’s events at http://www.placerarts.org/calendar/ To learn more about how to support the arts in Placer County, visit Placer Community Foundation at http://www.placercf.org/
Downtown Auburn Clothing Store Puts Retro in Spotlight
Two devoted secondhand store shoppers have opened a store in Downtown Auburn selling used and renovated clothing and accessories. CounterCulture Couture is the first business venture for Mary Holstead and Melissa Swenson from Cool, who have been friends since they were five years old. “We decided we wanted to go out and find the nicest stuff and put it in one place,” Holstead said. The shop also offers massage therapy and make-up artistry. The friends spent three months transforming a former hair salon into a place that reflects their retro sense of style. For more, visit the Auburn Journal at http://www.auburnjournal.com/detail/91585.html?content_source=&category_id=&search_filter=CounterCulture+Couture&search_filter_mode=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=1&sub_type=&town_id=6
What’s in Your E-Mail Newsletter?
In Progress Online (IPOL), our monthly economic development e-mail newsletter, covers the latest news on Placer County business and industry, agriculture, tourism, and the arts. It reports on new projects in our cities and towns and keeps readers up to date on the state of the region’s economy. IPOL posts news of state and local training, incentives, and loan programs that benefit business. It provides links to more information on each item. News about your business is always welcome. Please send items, questions, comments, or suggestions to the Office of Economic Development at econdev@placer.ca.gov or visit the OED Web site at http://www.placer.ca.gov/CEO/EconDev.aspx For past In Progress Online newsletters, go to Placer County Biz News at http://www.placer.ca.gov/CEO/Econdev/business%20news.aspx