Rebriefs

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Not only has Alexander Haagen Properties Inc. recently undergone a major change in management, but now the Manhattan Beach-based retail real estate investment trust is changing its name.

Assuming it’s approved by shareholders at the annual meeting later this month, the name will change to CenterTrust Retail Properties Inc.

Ned Fox, who has been chairman and chief executive since March, said the name change reflects the company’s “new direction.” Haagen/CenterTrust plans to continue building its portfolio through acquisition and development.

The company is already a major developer, owner and manager of retail shopping centers in the West, with a portfolio of 58 retail properties that includes 42 unenclosed anchored shopping centers, two regional malls and 14 single-tenant facilities.

The company’s namesake, Alexander Haagen, stepped down as chairman and chief executive last November, 34 years after he founded the company. His wife and son also stepped down from their posts as vice president and vice chairman, respectively.

In addition to the management changes in the past few months, an affiliate of the New York investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. invested $235.5 million in the company for almost 16 million shares.

Alexander Haagen has acquired more than $250 million in properties since the cash infusion, but has suffered from leasing problems and reported flat first-quarter earnings.

Long Beach BID

A property tax-based Business Improvement District may be coming to downtown Long Beach, picking up the slack from diminished funding from the city’s redevelopment agency.

The Downtown Long Beach Associates is trying to create the BID for improvements, public safety, maintenance, marketing and economic development, said director Kraig Kojian.

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has long funded street sweeping, graffiti and litter removal and private security patrols, but funding has diminished, Kojian said.

“The Redevelopment Agency has gone above and beyond,” he said. “We don’t want this area to go without services.”

The goal is to raise $919,001 through property assessments in the first year, to increase by no more than 5 percent each year after that. The district would have a five-year life. About 374 property owners in a 65-square-block area would be included. The goal is to complete a petition campaign and vote and have the district in place by Jan. 1, 1999.

There is already a tenant-based business improvement district in downtown Long Beach, but that covers a much bigger geographic area, Kojian said.

Mid-Wilshire revival

Another landmark Mid-Wilshire apartment building has received a makeover. The Los Altos Apartments, a Spanish Revival-Italianate-style building at 4121 Wilshire Blvd. is almost fully restored and units are being leased starting at $1,300 a month, said Michael Pauley, the leasing agent.

The 1926-built Los Altos has been home to several Hollywood legends, including Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner and Judy Garland, Pauley said. William Randolph Hearst bought a 10-room suite there for Marion Davies.

Renovations actually began in 1985, but were stalled several times because of ownership changes. The work finally began in earnest after Allen Gross and Arax Harutunian bought the building two years ago.

Renovations were also recently completed for another vintage complex in the Mid-Wilshire/Hancock Park area, the Ravenswood Apartments, which once counted Mae West among its residents.

Downey Development

Construction has started on the $13 million Fu-Lyons Downey Business Center on Firestone Boulevard west of the 605 Freeway.

Fu-Lyons Associates is building a dozen freestanding buildings for sale or lease that will range in size from about 9,200 square feet to about 21,000, said Charles J. Lyons III, developer principal.

Units will have overnight container storage and nine-foot-high ceilings. Warehouses will have 24-foot truss clearances and wide column spacing. The buildings should be completed in the third quarter of the year.

Fu-Lyons boasts a 99 percent occupancy rate in its portfolio of more than 150 buildings.

Golden Springs gets tenant

No sooner had construction begun on a speculative building in a planned business park in Santa Fe Springs, than Central Garden & Pet snatched up 115,000 square feet of space.

Central Garden will lease space in the 265-acre Golden Springs Business Park for sales, storage and distribution of pet supplies and employ about 100 people at the site, according to Clyde Stauff, senior vice president at The Seeley Co., the marketing agent for the project.

Golden Springs Development plans to complete the first building in the business park by October. It has almost 172,000 square feet left to lease in it. Construction will start on another 425,000-square-foot building in July, Stauff said. The industrial park ultimately will comprise more than 5 million square feet.

Golden Springs Development is owned by the family that owns Thrifty Oil.

Movies on the move

Movie complexes are coming to San Pedro and Pomona.

Regal Cinema Inc. plans a 14-screen theater complex in downtown San Pedro, according to Los Angeles City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr.

Regal, which is based in Knoxville, Tenn., will build and operate a 50,000-square-foot theater with 2,800 stadium-style seats. The project is estimated to cost $6.7 million.

And in Pomona, Lewis Homes Enterprises is in lease negotiations with Kansas City, Mo.-based Resort Theatres of America, which plans a 22-screen theater at the proposed Paradise Park development.

Paradise Park is designed to be a $100 million, 500,000-square-foot entertainment village at the Fairplex, home to the L.A. County Fair and other events.

The first project of Resort Theatres, which formed last year, is a multiplex being constructed in Aspen, Colo. It also has projects in the planning stages in Park city, Utah and Monterey.

News and notes

Pacific Gulf Properties, a Newport Beach-based REIT, purchased a 75,000-square-foot industrial park in Signal Hill for an undisclosed amount. David Elliott of Charles Dunn Co. represented the buyer and the seller, the Bixby Land Co.

And in the Valley, Westrust Financial sold the 94,000-square-foot Occidental Business Park on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Chatsworth for $7.5 million. The four-building park is fully leased; the lead tenant is Software Dynamics. Mark Leonard and Theresa Dunn of Charles Dunn represented the seller. DCI Investments represented the buyer, Holualoa Arizona.

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