Business

Moritz cites Wing & Barrel Ranch as an example of Anderson’s approach. Development of the 1,000-acre, members-only shooting club near San Pablo Bay was a long and cherished ambition for Anderson. Moritz helped with the phase two development of the ranch’s clubhouse, and he marvels at Anderson’s dedication – and negotiation skills.

Sonoma laboratory works uses state-of-the-art equipment and proprietary methods to deliver the best test results for consumers and customers. The laboratory staff is a mix of highly qualified scientists, engineers, assistants and office workers who provide analysis, testing, research and development services to their customers Sonoma laboratory works Working side by side with clients to help new ideas grow beyond their beginnings as they find their way onto pharmacy shelves. Darius Anderson, CEO of Kenwood Investments, LLC, and other investors acquired the lab in January 2019.

It was forbidden for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, but I was strongly motivated by the very fact that visits were verboten. Also, I was an avid Jack London enthusiast by that time. He had traveled to Cuba on his honeymoon and had written a short story based on his visit. And that story was just embedded in my brain – I wanted to see the places he had mentioned.

My mother first sparked my interest in art and collectibles. She was an avid collector – particularly of antique doll houses. That presented something of a dilemma when it came to display, given she had three sons and no daughters.

Mark Jennings grew up in one of the toughest parts of Washington DC. He lived in a basement apartment with his mother, and the mean streets just beyond the door were his playground. As an African American child, he felt that those streets were probably going to define his future – and maybe dictate his epitaph. Not many kids from his neighborhood escaped them.

Working closely with the Port, the San Francisco mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors, as well as a myriad of federal, state and regional agencies and organizations, Darius helped save this landmark business.

When Larry Florin took over as the first Executive Director of the Treasure Island Development Authority in 1998, his priorities were clear – and basic. But shortly after assuming office, Florin agreed to take a meeting with a young developer: Darius Anderson.

A one-of-a-kind, first-class hotel and theatre along the San Francisco waterfront, located at the intersection of The Embarcadero and Broadway Street. The project consists of approximately 180 boutique rooms in a four-story hotel with a 25,000-square-foot theatre for Teatro ZinZanni. ZinZanni is an award-winning San Francisco and Seattle dinner theatre that has successfully operated in both cities for more than a decade. The return of ZinZanni in a permanent home is widely supported among neighborhood and civic groups, and approximately 60,000 guests per year are anticipated.

Gary Edwards and Darius Anderson are both long-time residents of – and champions for – Sonoma Valley. Edwards, a former City of Sonoma vice mayor, planning commissioner and councilman, runs Sage Marketing, a company that sources artisanal cheeses for both small specialty shops and large retailers such as Costco and Trader Joe’s.

Darius Anderson personally worked with noted California developer JMA Ventures, LLC, to help put together the partnership that acquired the land for the new Sacramento Kings basketball arena in downtown Sacramento. Anderson, working closely with Mayor Kevin Johnson and the NBA, succeeded at preventing the team’s move to Seattle. In 2016, the Sacramento Kings will open their new arena with JMA continuing to own the surrounding retail center.

As an African American child growing up in the Bay Area, Obai Rambo was politically aware – and politically involved – at a very young age. Issues of social and environmental equity particularly engaged him, and when he matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley, it came as no surprise to anyone who knew him that he chose political science as his major.

“I met Darius in the mid-2000s through some mutual relationships with the Hearst Corporation, and I liked him immediately,” recalls Hanlon. “Darius does a lot of things, and one of them happens to be real estate. We both do a lot of entitlement work, and we started talking about collaborating on some deals together – including a certain hotel project in San Francisco.”

Dameion Gumbs was a student at Gardena Senior High School when he first met Darius Anderson. “It was 1995,” recalls Gumbs, “and Darius was a guest teacher in government relations. I later learned that teaching was something he had always wanted to do, and he was really enthusiastic about the subject. He held an essay contest on race relations – the prize for first place was some gift cards – and I won.”

It was 2015. Anderson – an investor, developer, lobbyist, and publisher who maintains offices in Washington DC, Sacramento, and Sonoma as well as San Francisco – had launched La Prensa Sonoma, a new Spanish language media outlet for the North Bay. He was looking for someone to lead it, and Ibarra was applying for the position.

“He stayed with us,” says Hand. “He didn’t just get our film off the ground – he taught us everything there is to know about operating agreements and securing financing. He introduced us to partners, to producers we’ll work with for our entire professional lives. His encouragement and mentorship gave us the confidence we needed to negotiate with city leaders on our film productions. He's not just a film producer – he’s a Renaissance man, a great patron of the arts, like Lorenzo de’ Medici or Peggy Guggenheim. He has a justifiable reputation as a rigorous businessman, as a dealmaker. But he also has an aesthetic awareness that’s extremely rare – especially among producers.”

“We had to move out of Menlo Park, and we were in a real bind,” Olmsted recalls. “We needed a site with very specific amenities. It had to be geographically accessible to the larger Bay Area – we had 70 employees in Menlo Park at that time. We needed a large test kitchen, a good wine cellar, and plenty of test garden space. We needed everything, in short, that was emblematic of Sunset, that let us do what we’ve always done. And good luck finding a place like that – those are the kinds of requirements that can drive a real estate agent crazy.” That’s when Darius Anderson entered the picture.

Vicki Campbell worked with Darius Anderson on Ramekins, the Sonoma Valley culinary school that Anderson purchased in 2008. Ramekins was a widely respected food and wine academy, but its facilities needed updating and revenues had languished. Anderson brought in investors and provided the money needed to make the school’s physical assets and programs a match for its illustrious reputation.