After a 10-year saga of community meetings and bureaucratic delays, the Navy is set to finally auction off its 62-acre campus in San Pedro.
The former San Pedro Naval Housing facility, wedged between Gaffey Street and Western Avenue, served as home to families and personnel of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard until the base was closed in the early 1990s. The Navy renamed the facility Ponte Vista, although its buildings now stand empty.
The site is zoned for single-family homes, and could likely accommodate up to 245 new three- and four-bedroom houses.
Developers would be required to buy the entire site but preserve about 20 acres for homeless service agencies, according to Bret Hardy, managing director of Colliers Seeley International Inc., which is handling the bidding process. The developer will also have to demolish the existing structures, which were built in the 1960s and contain lead paint.
Bidding for the land could begin within a couple of weeks starting at about $25 million and likely ending at a far higher price. In this timeline, a winning bid would be selected by the beginning of December and escrow would close by January.
Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes San Pedro, said the land has been a “ghost town” for the past decade. Hahn said she has been working on the project for much of that time.
“We’re looking forward to having another neighborhood there,” Hahn said. “Those families were a part of our community. Their kids went to our schools, and they shopped in our grocery stores. So we’re very happy that we’ll have more families coming back into San Pedro.”
Hahn said the community would like to see market-rate single-family homes built on the lot.
“We can really use the market-rate housing,” Hahn said. “More and more people want to live in San Pedro and there’s many people who live in the community who are looking to buy a home here too.”
Hardy said many developers have shown interest in the site, and he believes the city may also allow a higher density of housing on the land than currently zoned.
“We haven’t determined what the maximum density would be. We’re assuming bidders would do try to determine that for themselves,” he said.
Champagne Dreams
A division of Welk Group Inc., mostly owned by descendants of bandleader Lawrence Welk, has acquired a Glendale film production studio.
The Welk Group, though its Welk Studios LP unit, acquired Barwick Studios, one of the few remaining independent film studios, for about $10 million. The deal includes the real estate and the company, a working studio that is fully booked.
The acquisition of Barwick Studios marks the Welk Group’s first foray into film studios.
“We’re thrilled to be able to combine pretty vast experience in entertainment and real estate,” said Marc L. Luzzatto, Welk Group’s president. “We think we can deliver a superior product and service to the entertainment industry because we understand both sides of the business.”
Lawrence Welk was a staple of 1950s and 1960s television, bringing his signature champagne bubbles along with polka and fox trot into the living rooms of middle America.
The property includes a 100,000-square-foot campus with four sound stages, production offices and parking on 5.5 acres. It is located at 4585 Electronics Drive, near the intersection of the Golden State (5) and Ventura (134) freeways.
Dave Maron, managing director at Stevenson Real Estate Services, represented the sellers. David Freitag, a broker with Daum Commercial Real Estate Services, represented Welk.
The studio will be renamed Welk Studios, and the company plans to upgrade the landscaping along with signage, guard gates and some interior improvements.
“Ultimately, we would like to add sound stages, but we’ll do that as the business dictates,” Luzzatto said.
Kor Completion
The $52 million sale of the Kor Group’s 121-unit Marlowe apartment complex in Hancock Park closed last week, according to Tyson Sayles, the firm’s senior vice president of acquisitions.
Pension fund adviser SSR Realty Advisors bought the newly built apartment building at 445 N. Rossmore Ave., where rents range from $1,900 to $5,775 a month.
“It’s a nice building,” Sayles said. “It’s a unique asset with a high quality of construction and finishes and design.”
Kor Group is also under contract to buy the roughly 100,000-square-foot, 10-story building at 808 N. Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles for an apartment or condominium conversion, according to sources. A representative of the building’s owner, 808 Tower LLC, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Checking Out
Tarsadia Hotels has begun quietly marketing its Hilton Checkers hotel in downtown, according to sources who have been offered the property.
The Newport Beach-based firm is asking about $32 million for the 188-room hotel at 535 S. Grand Ave., which works out to a little more than $170,000 a room.
By e-mail, Tarsadia spokeswoman Lynn Kozlowski declined comment.
John W. Cullen, owner and president of Portland-based Grand Heritage Hotels, looked at the property and submitted a bid, but said through a spokesman that his firm wasn’t in active negotiations with Tarsadia.
In August, the average nightly room rate for downtown luxury hotels was $125, a 25 percent increase from the same period a year ago, according to hotel tracking firm PKF Consulting.
The improving conditions have many buyers looking for hotel properties in the market, but owners are asking high prices, said PKF Senior Vice President Bruce Baltin.
“There are a lot of people looking at hotels,” he said. “We have clients calling all the time looking at hotels, but at the prices being asked they’re having a tough time making the numbers work out.”
San Fernando Valley Business Journal staff reporter Shelly Garcia contributed to this column. Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 263, or by e-mail at
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