The following properties are local winners and nominees for The Outstanding Building of the Year (TOBY) awards for 2012.

More than 60 volunteers completed several school improvement projects at Pepper Drive K-8 School in the Santee School District as part of Green Apple Day of Service on Sept. 29. Balfour Beatty Construction partnered with the San Diego Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council to host the inaugural Green Apple Day of Service, which was part of the U.S. Green Building Council Green Apple Day of Service movement happening on the same day at schools around the world.

San Diego is “America’s Finest City” attracting millions of tourists from around the world each year. Such tourism requires a continuous and dynamic expansion and renovation of the local hotel industry. Dynalectric helps to meet the demands of this changing marketplace and its global patrons.

When he was about to graduate high school, Mitch Phillippe looked at brochures for college degree programs and came across one on landscape architecture.

The goal of sustainable design is to limit the adverse effects of buildings on the environment by minimizing excessive energy use, reducing the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution while also maintaining a comfortable and healthy building environment. Building green also optimizes the energy performance of the structure, which reduces the overall costs associated with long-term maintenance and operation.

As one of the premier general contracting firms on the West Coast, Rudolph and Sletten Inc. has built some of the most influential and iconic structures in California. Over the past 50-plus years, they have remained a pacesetter, through not only the quality and craftsmanship evident in their work, but through the dedication and expertise of their people. Rudolph and Sletten’s expert professionals manage each job comprehensively, from site selection and preconstruction services through project completion. With a focus on integrity, honesty and open communication, Rudolph and Sletten prides itself with maintaining authentic relationships with their clients and partners.

The benefits to solar energy are vast, whether you are doing it for the planet, your checkbook, or the next generation, there is absolutely no downside. For businesses, these benefits are intensified to make the decision a no-brainer. The California Solar Imitative (CSI) along with tax credits make solar for businesses not only affordable but extremely enticing.

Van Dyke Landscape Architects is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a firm this year, and has recently introduced a new corporate logo that symbolizes the natural elements involved in the firm’s design practice. Earth, stone, plants and water are reflected in the new logo, as is the VDLA acronym commonly used by the firm. VDLA is a certified small-business concern, specializing in landscape architecture, planning, irrigation and water management services, and graphic communication. The firm also serves as a technical adviser to a variety of public agencies and water districts, providing consulting design services, development of standards and guidelines, and consultant plan check services.

A project labor agreement involving the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center has raised the ire of a local construction organization.

The San Diego County Water Authority’s board of directors held a second special board meeting Thursday to discuss the proposed water purchase agreement between the Water Authority and Poseidon Resources, for water expected to be produced by the proposed Carlsbad Desalination Project.

(AP) -- Authorities are investigating whether Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez gave favors to donors who poured more than $100,000 into a fund he controlled.

The city block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues and Grape and Fir streets near downtown and Bankers Hill had been a parking lot since 1947. And before that it was the location of the historic Florence Hotel, before it burned down.

With a celebratory ribbon-cutting at its new Receiving and Distribution Center Wednesday, San Diego International Airport officially completed the first project in its history to utilize a public-private partnership.

Brian Malarkey, known for offering rich food and drinks at his upscale restaurants around the county, is expanding into the fast casual segment by planting another healthy café at one of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.’s life sciences campuses.

(AP) -- An invasive beetle that attacks oak trees has been found in a California black oak tree in the Riverside County mountain town of Idyllwild.

San Diego County voters approved more than $3.4 billion in school construction bonds in November’s general election that will go toward improving campuses and purchasing new equipment for students and faculty members.

Construction has been completed in the replacement of the Nordahl Road Bridge in San Marcos, a project expected to bring some relief to what’s considered the county’s worst corridor for afternoon traffic bottlenecks.

The San Diego City Council gave authorization Tuesday for the $14.2 million Horton Plaza Improvement Project to go to bid, voting unanimously to allow Civic San Diego to find a contractor in time for construction to start by April 2013.

A bullet train linking Northern and Southern California will be an audacious engineering feat, because the line must cross two mountain ranges and a half-dozen earthquake faults, experts said.

(AP) -- One of the largest residential properties in the upscale Los Angeles west side is on the auction block.