Latest
By Patrick Kulp / Friday, November 1st, 2013 / Central Coast, Technology, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Refinery rail project would ease crude oil supply concerns
A Phillips 66 refinery on the Nipomo Mesa is hoping to supplement its dwindling inflow of California crude by extending a rail spur that will allow it to import oil from out of state.
The refinery — tucked away off of Highway 1 in South San Luis Obispo County — is a little-known yet critical part of the Golden State’s petroleum infrastructure. It processes the state’s heavy, sour crude into semi-refined products that flow through 200 miles of pipeline to Conoco’s 128,000-barrel-a-day facility in Rodeo in the Bay Area, where it is turned into gasoline.
Read More →
Latest
By Staff Report / Tuesday, October 29th, 2013 / Central Coast, Latest news, Real Estate, Technology, Top Stories / Comments Off on Mindbody breaks ground on $20M campus in SLO tech corridor
San Luis Obispo is set to get its flagship high-tech campus as software company MindBody CEO Rick Stollmeyer and local officials broke ground Oct. 29 on a $20 million project including a new office building, four-story parking structure and promenade that will link with an existing facility, eventually boosting employment to 1,300 people.
Read More →
Latest
By Marlize van Romburgh / Friday, October 25th, 2013 / Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Central Coast, East Ventura County, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County / Comments Off on Heritage buy sets stage to compete in big leagues
With its $56.4 million purchase of another Central Coast bank, Heritage Oaks Bancorp lays the foundation to build the region’s next big community banking franchise and emerges as the dominant player in the market.
Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks said Oct. 21 that it is buying Mission Community Bank, based in San Luis Obispo, in a cash-and-stock deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2014. The combined bank would have $1.5 billion in assets, making it the largest bank based in the Tri-Counties.
Read More →
Latest
By Stephen Nellis / Friday, October 25th, 2013 / Agribusiness, Central Coast, Features, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Water woes: Publishing of nitrate data at issue
This article is only available to Business Times subscribers Subscribers: LOG IN or REGISTER for complete digital access. Not a Subscriber? SUBSCRIBE for full access to our weekly newspaper, online edition and Book of Lists. Check the STATUS of your Subscription Account.
Read More →
Latest
By Patrick Kulp / Friday, October 25th, 2013 / Banking & Finance, Central Coast, East Ventura County, South Coast, Top Stories, Tri-County Economy, West Ventura County / Comments Off on Ratings agencies unfazed as county pension costs rise
Despite dire warnings that future pension costs could cause a fiscal meltdown for tri-county governments, credit ratings for Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo county bonds remain mostly unaffected by looming gaps in their retirement obligation funding.
Standard & Poor’s, a leading rating agency, ranks all three counties near the top of a scale that spans from its highest AAA to C, the lowest rating a bond can have without defaulting. Santa Barbara County carries the agency’s second highest AA-plus designation. Ventura County is assigned a slightly lower AA-rating this year and SLO County is ranked AA-minus.
Read More →
Latest
By Stephen Nellis / Friday, October 18th, 2013 / Banking & Finance, Banking Industry, Central Coast, Real Estate, Tri-County Economy / Comments Off on Banking on downtown SLO: Heritage Oaks buys former Union Bank building
The multimillion-dollar sale of a prime property in the heart of the Central Coast’s busiest downtown comes amid a flurry of building activity that had some developers bidding on the lot in hopes of developing the bank building’s adjacent parking lot, which faces the corner of Marsh and Osos streets. But the timing was too good for Heritage Oaks to pass the location up, said Simone Lagomarsino, the bank’s CEO.
Read More →