The Calabasas Civic Center received a 2009 Project of the Year Award from the Ventura County chapter of the American Public Works Association. The Civic Center, completed in July at a cost of $41 million, is now eligible for a national award from the association. “The Civic Center is a project that has been a dream of the community for over 18 years even before the final (city) incorporation papers were approved,” said Dennis Washburn, a Calabasas City councilmember and Civic Center Task Force member. The Civic Center includes City Hall, a public library, a public plaza and outdoor amphitheater. The center will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as the first Gold LEED-rated Civic Center in the nation, Washburn said. Mark R. Madler

Glendale-based Public Storage will cut $113 million in debt by redeeming two senior unsecured notes. Rather than continue to pay interest on the notes, it made more sense for the real estate investment trust to use cash on hand to buy back the notes, a company official said. The notes would have come due in 2011 and 2013. One of the strategies the investment trust has taken with regard to financing is the use of something called perpetual preferred stock. Rather than shelling shares in the company, perpetual preferred stock offers returns to its holders only dividend payments, said Clem Teng, vice president of investor relations. “We never have to pay it back; we pay dividends only,” he said. “The benefits are that we don’t have banks looking over our shoulder, asking ‘what are your ratios,’ and you never have them saying, ‘oops, time to pay it back,’ and ‘guess what, your interest rate went up.’ We always know what we’re going to pay and we can go to bed at night and sleep easily.” Although business is slow, the investment trust has a healthy balance sheet. The company is “patiently waiting” for acquisition opportunities to present themselves, Teng said. “Right now, though, we are waiting for sellers to become more realistic about the value of their properties,” said Teng. “Eventually there are going to be some sellers that need to sell because their loan is overextended.” Public Storage operates in 38 states with the Los Angeles area and the Valley in particular, “holding up pretty well,” Teng said. “That’s one of the benefits of valley, it’s still highly populated and people still have jobs,” Teng said.

CITY HALL , Warnings of drastically reduced state water shipments to local agencies have put Glendale on the path to mandatory water rationing this summer, officials said Tuesday. Despite the storms across the Southland that have bumped up recent rain totals, years of drought conditions have left underground aquifers and reserves severely depleted, prompting local officials to start preparing their constituencies for the worst. For the full story click here

Valentine’s Day is upon us and the Business Journal has recognized the occasion by featuring lingerie boutique Mrs. Jones Boudoir on its Feb. 16 Entrepreneurs’ page. Based in Camarillo, the lingerie specialty shop is the only one of its kind in Ventura County and offers an assortment of high-end women’s and men’s undergarments, many of which are European imports. Although a lingerie splurge may seem like the grandest of luxuries in this faltering economy, Mrs. Jones owner Joelle Saxon said that the recession has actually given her business a boost. “In this dreary economy, people are losing their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs,” Saxon said. “People turn to one another. There’s a cocooning effect taking place. People cocoon in the house for comfort and support.” And lingerie is an affordable way for couples to make the most of nesting, believes Saxon, a Frenchwoman who peddled haute couture in New York before moving West in the 1980s. Living in the United States for three decades hasn’t blighted Saxon’s Old World sensibilities. Her views of romance remain very traditional. It’s her belief, for instance, that in the U.S. there is an unseemly competitiveness between men and women, “a certain amount of aggression, not the partnership it should be. I think it’s women’s role to recover that.” Saxon’s clients appreciate the touch of Old World found in the boutique’s d & #233;cor and in the advice she doles out. “There are very young girls, just starting out and people my age, who have been divorced or widowed,they’re terrified,” she said. “They’ve lost confidence in their looks.” Undergarments at the store range from two to three digits in price and are made by designers such as Ed Hardy, Aubade and Myla. “She has something for everybody. It’s really classy stuff,” said longtime customer Lisa Galante-Jimenez from Moorpark. The complete story on Saxon and Mrs. Jones is available in print and online in the Feb. 16 edition of the Business Journal.

Anthem Blue Cross will pay a $1-million fine and offer new coverage to 2,330 members it dropped between 2004 and 2008, the Los Angeles Times reports. Anthem, California’s largest health insurance provider, will also offer to pay for the medical expenses accrued by former members after the insurance provider dropped them. Reimbursements for such expenses could be as high as $14 million. Anthem’s decision to invite dropped members back and pay for their medical bills derives from a deal it made with the California Department of Insurance. CDI was slated to prosecute Anthem over its finding that the company broke state laws when it rescinded members with large medical bills during a four-year timeframe. In a prepared statement, Anthem President and CEO Leslie A. Margolin said that members will be contacted within 90 days to receive information on participating in the settlement. “Under the terms of the settlement, Anthem Blue Cross Life will invite these consumers to purchase coverage on a go-forward basis, regardless of past or present medical conditions,” Margolin said in the statement. Last year, Anthem agreed to pay a $10-million fine to settle similar charges involving 1,770 members in HMO-type policies overseen by the Department of Managed Health Care, the Times reports. For the past two years, state regulators have launched investigations into health insurers that use questionable tactics to rescind coverage to sick members. Nadra Kareem

Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers Inc. began construction on Newhall Health Center that will provide expanded services for its patients. The center will be located at 23772 Newhall Avenue in the Stagecoach Plaza and includes five exam rooms, two dental operatories and an office for counseling sessions. The Newhall Health Center occupies space at Newhall Elementary School, but the Dixon board has long wanted to expand the center to provide more services. “We are extremely eager to get the construction at the site completed and to begin to offer comprehensive services at the new Newhall location,” said Executive Director Cheryl Laymon. “This is a huge step forward, and it will allow us to provide even more needed services, such as dental care and mental health services, to our patients.” Howard Pointer of Here’s How Construction is the project’s contractor. Completion is slated for spring 2009. In addition to Newhall Health Center, Dixon operates Canyon Country Health Center, Val Verde Health Center and outreach sites at College of the Canyons and California Institute of the Arts. Nadra Kareem

The Thousand Oaks City Council signed off on a state-mandated housing plan that included the re-zoning of several areas in order to meet required needs, particularly for affordable housing units. In a series of unanimous 4 to 0 votes, the council approved the housing element and the rezoning of land on the west side of Conejo School Road, Los Feliz Drive and the west side of Conejo Center Drive to allow for up to 30 units per acre. For the full story click here

WASHINGTON — The government says wholesalers cut back on their inventories in December by the largest amount in 16 years, as companies slashed stockpiles amid the deepening recession. The reduction means wholesalers ordered fewer new goods, leading to reduced production and potentially more job layoffs. For the full story click here

GLENDALE , City employees are turning off lights, drinking room-temperature fountain water and changing their hours in an effort to save $600,000 this fiscal year. “If you look at the economy as a whole right now, we all have to do our part to make sure that we are doing everything possible to bring in a balanced budget, [which is] No. 1 for the city of Glendale, and to do what is right for the community, and that includes tightening our belts wherever possible,” Deputy City Manager Yasmin Beers said. For the full story click here

DineEquity Inc. expects a 3 percent to 5 percent cost savings after forming a purchasing co-operative for its Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar and IHOP Restaurants. The Glendale-based company’s Centralized Supply Chain Services was established to manage the procurement of goods for the nearly 3,400 franchise and company-operated Applebee’s and IHOP restaurants. Applebee’s and IHOP share more than 75 percent of vendor partners. The co-op will become effective Feb. 16. “The creation of this purchasing co-op, and the benefits associated with it, are made possible as a direct result of the Applebee’s acquisition and is an example of efficiencies DineEquity intends to create for its franchisees,” stated Julia A. Stewart, DineEquity chair and CEO. “This co-op is the first of its kind in both casual and family dining and reflects the culmination of a collaborative effort by these two leading restaurant brands, its franchisees and DineEquity to leverage the immense buying power of the Applebee’s and IHOP systems.” David Parsley, DineEquity’s former senior vice president of supply chain management, will serve CSCS president and CEO. All existing DineEquity supply chain personnel will transition into CSCS on Feb. 16.