Business briefly Dec. 12

Realtor announces changes in local offices

Jenny Lopiccolo, broker and owner of Coldwell Banker Best Sellers, announced Mary Cioffi has been named broker and sales manager for the company's Minden branch.

Victoria Williams has stepped into the role of broker and sales manager of the Carson City office. Jody Foley will continue in her dual role as the top selling agent in Dayton and manager of the Coldwell Banker Best Sellers office in Dayton.

"With a strong and dynamic management team in place, Coldwell Banker Best Sellers will continue to be a market leader in our tri-county area, associating with the best agents in the business," Lopiccolo said.

Cioffi has over 25 years of experience in the local real estate market and was most recently the sales manager for Coldwell Banker Best Sellers Carson City office. Williams has 18 years of experience with the company.

Bagel shop opens first shop in Reno

Einstein Bros.' Bagels is opening a location in Reno on Tuesday at 5050 Kietzke Lane. It is the first of seven locations that are planned to open in the Northern Nevada market.

Franchise owner Steve Reimer has planned to open another location on the University of Nevada, Reno campus and has expressed interest in opening a location in Carson City.

Geothermal company settles dispute

Ormat Technologies Inc. will pay $1 million and provide two power-generation turbines to Nevada Geothermal Power Inc. to settle a dispute with the operator of the Faulkner 1 Geothermal Power Plant 20 miles west of Winnemucca. The plant built by Ormat suffered outages in January, February and March caused by overheated underground electric cables.

Refinery boosts sales on alternative fuel

Advanced Refining Concepts LLC, said last week it sold 1.2 million gallons of alternative diesel fuel produced at its refinery at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center during November.

That compares with sales of 848,716 gallons a month earlier.

The privately held company headquartered in Sparks produces liquid fuels from natural gas. It's expanding its refinery to produce 5 million gallons a month, and the expansion is set for completion in mid-2011.