Top Stories Oakland

Jamba Inc., the Emeryville-based owner of the Jamba Juice smoothie stores, banished two years of losses and posted third-quarter profits of $2.8 million, or 4 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $12.4 million. Before the profit in the third quarter that ended Oct. 6, Jamba had last reported a profit in the third quarter of 2007. Revenues totaled $79 million, down 8.8 percent from a year ago. “We continued to make solid progress throughout the quarter in several strategically important areas, including food, franchise development, brand licensing, cost management and operating efficiency,” said Jamba CEO James White. “We achieved the gains despite the slow pace of economic recovery and continued high unemployment in California where Jamba has a concentrated store presence.”

home sales

Sales of new homes fell in the East Bay in September — but they rose in Solano County and San Joaquin County, a new report by the California Building Industry Association shows. Compared with the same month the year before, new-home sales dropped 8.6 percent in the East Bay, jumped 136 percent in Solano County and rose 6.3 percent in San Joaquin County. Year-to-year, new-home prices plunged by 29 percent in San Joaquin County, 22 percent in Solano County and 18 percent in the East Bay.

REAL ESTATE

The Tibetan Meditation Center has

bought a downtown Berkeley building for $6 million. The 35,000-square-foot building at 2222 Harold Way once was home to Armstrong University and features classical architectural details, classrooms, offices and a large auditorium. Deal brokers were NAI BT Commercial (Barry Cohn, David Englert) and Korman & Ng.

The Casa Adobe Apartments at 1230 Pine St. in Martinez have been bought for $1.2 million. The 18-unit complex was sold through brokers Marcus & Millichap (Kevin Turner) and Level Commercial Real Estate. Soward Kamola Properties bought the apartments.

FUEL

Tesoro Corp. says its seven refineries — including Golden Eagle in Martinez — could run as low as 77 percent of their combined capacity due to maintenance and low demand for gasoline in a weak economy. Tesoro’s Martinez and Los Angeles refineries are expected to run between 230,000 and 240,000 barrels a day, which would be 86 percent to 90 percent of capacity.

Financing

Emeryville-based LECG Corp. amended a credit package and agreed to reduce the financing commitment amount to $75 million.

Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or dvoros@bayareanewsgroup.com.