Biz News: Pacific Symphony names new concertmaster

Pacific Symphony Music Director Carl St.Clair has named Dennis Kim as Pacific Symphony’s new concertmaster.

Kim, who assumes the Eleanor and Michael Gordon concertmaster chair in September for the orchestra’s 40th-anniversary season, will be featured in four performances June 14-17, playing solos in Strauss’ “A Hero’s Life.”

During the 2017-18 season, Kim was a concertmaster for Pacific Symphony’s three concerts at Soka University in Aliso Viejo.

The Korea-born graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Yale School of Music is currently concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in New York. He has served as concertmaster with orchestras on four continents.

OC Tourism Conference is Monday in Huntington Beach

The Orange County Visitors Assn. will hold its 10th annual OC Tourism Conference from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday at the Waterfront Beach Resort, 21100 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach.

“The Impact of Tourism in the O.C.” will focus on the role that the tourism and hospitality industries play in attracting visitors and tourism-related spending in California.

Tickets are $125. For more information, visit visittheoc.com.

Chefs to demonstrate healthy taco recipes

Chefs Wing Lam of Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Rick “El Chefe” Garcia of Dia de los Puercos and Ernie Becerra of Salud! will demonstrate healthy taco recipes during a “Taco de Mayo Throwdown” from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Fisher & Paykel Experience Center, 695 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

The event will also feature chef Rick Boxeth of Santa Ana Sweets to create a vegan coconut flan. Tickets are $65. For information, call (714) 403-1930 or visit bit.ly/2KChHlV.

Orange County Hiring Fair set for Wednesday

The 2018 Orange County Hiring Fair will provide information and employment opportunities to residents of all backgrounds who are looking for jobs in the public or private sectors. Last year, the event hosted more than 4,000 job-seekers and 136 employers.

The event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. Admission is free. For more information, call (949) 660-0121 or visit ochiringfair.com.

South Coast Collection to feature two new furniture retailers

South Coast Collection (SOCO) in Costa Mesa announced BoConcept, an international furniture and design brand, and Modani Furniture, a home decor and furniture company, will open in June.

BoConcept offers customized and coordinated design furniture in over 300 stores located across 64 countries worldwide. The Miami-based Modani Furniture carries a mix of contemporary, minimalist and mid-century pieces for interiors and outdoors.

South Coast Collection is at 3303 Hyland Ave., Costa Mesa.

John Stanaland joins Villa Real Estate

Villa Real Estate announced that John Stanaland has joined the Newport Beach-based luxury residential real estate brokerage firm. Stanaland will be based in Villa’s Laguna Beach office.

Stanaland, a Laguna Beach native, is the fifth generation of real-estate professionals in his family whose history in Orange County dates to 1919.

Villa Real Estate has 160 agents and four offices with locations in Laguna Beach, the Balboa Peninsula, Corona del Mar and the company’s headquarters in Newport Beach.

Jay Scollon is the new executive chef at Las Brisas

Las Brisas, 361 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, announced Jay Scollon as its executive chef.

The graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena was executive chef for a small restaurant group in Culver City, specializing in high-end gastropub-style fare. He also worked at Hatfield’s, a Michelin star-rated restaurant in Beverly Hills, and was executive sous chef for the Tavistock Restaurant Collection.

Newport Beach-based PIMCO picks Austin for third U.S. office

PIMCO, an asset managing company based in Newport Center, has chosen Austin, Texas, for its third U.S. office and plans to hire dozens of employees.

The Austin office is expected to open in the summer and will likely expand to nearly 200 workers, mostly new hires, by 2019, according to a statement from the company.

The company, which manages about $1.7 trillion in assets, has its headquarters in Newport Beach and an office in New York.

PIMCO, an acronym for Pacific Management Investment Co., has more than 2,100 workers.

WeWork to open first location in Costa Mesa

WeWork, a shared office space company, will open its first location in Costa Mesa at 3200 Park Center Drive.

The offices will accommodate 700 workers across two floors and members can work from any of the 242 global locations, connecting with the 230,000 members network.

One seat-private offices cost $740 a month.

Designers Resource Collection and Kenneth McDonald Designs celebrates Costa Mesa showroom

Designers Resource Collection, Kenneth McDonald Designs and the Studio at DRC is reintroducing its trio of interior design showrooms at Stonemill Design Center, 2915 Redhill Ave., Building E, Costa Mesa.

The united showrooms will offer collaborative work space for designers and their clients offering a selection of furniture, accessories and wallcoverings.

UPDATES:

4 p.m.: This article was updated to remove the reference to a grand-opening celebration in the item about the interior design showrooms at Stonemill Design Center. The event is not open to the public

This article was originally published at 2:40 p.m.