After holding onto large parcels for several years, Thomas Properties Group Inc. is flipping on the “develop” switch.
The company, responsible for many downtown L.A. high-rises, is moving forward with plans to develop a 270-acre site near Austin, Texas and a 46.5-acre site in El Segundo.
Both projects would be a combination of office, retail, hospitality and residential uses, based on market demand. While marketing has progressed in El Segundo, Thomas Properties is just beginning the process in Austin.
“(In Austin,) given the state of the economy, there is stronger demand for amenities and retail than there is for office space,” John O’Neal, Thomas Properties’ Austin project manager, told the city’s business journal.
In El Segundo, Thomas Properties has entitlements for a 2.2 million-square-foot development that will contain offices, retail, hospitality and some “community serving” components.
Thomas Properties hired CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. to market the first 14 acres of the site. The company is looking for a developer or user for retail and a hospitality component.
William G. Bloodgood, a CBRE senior vice president marketing the El Segundo site, said demand has been high in the South Bay for build-to-suit developments like the one Thomas Properties is proposing.
“What you are seeing is a lack of significant blocks of space on the market,” he said, “which brings about the viability of build-to-suit opportunities again.”
Admiralty Investment
Goodrich Corp. announced the sale of its Turbomachinery Products unit to newly formed Los Angeles-based investment company Admiralty Partners. The company was started in March by defense industry consultant and private equity investor John Kutler.
Turbomachinery manufactures specialized parts mainly for commercial gas turbine engines and also does overhaul work. The deal is said to be worth $83 million and should be finalized by the end of the second quarter.
“This is a solid company with a great reputation for delivering quality parts and service, and obviously I feel it has a lot of room to grow,” Kutler said.
This is the first venture for Admiralty, which expects to focus solely on acquiring aerospace and defense companies as well as companies in the growing federal information technology sector.
Turbomachinery has 700 employees and is based in Chandler, Ariz., with facilities elsewhere in the United States and Mexico. Kutler said he does not plan to move any division of the company but does plan to change the name of the company to Turbo Machinery Products Inc.
Kutler has more than 20 years of experience in the defense and aerospace industry. He sold his previous investment company, Quarterdeck Investment Partners, to New York-based investment bank Jeffries & Company Inc. Terms of the 2002 sale were not disclosed.
Internet Flix
MovieFlix, an Internet-based broadband movie provider, is planning to launch a new Web site, ViralFlix.com. The new site is expected to be up and running in the fourth quarter of 2006, and will allow members to upload and share favorite videos, animation and games.
Founded in 1998, Hollywood-based MovieFlix offers free and paid downloads to its more than 1.5 million registered members; users can also upload their own film productions. The company has more than 3,500 titles in a variety of genres in its online film library, and has forged alliances with AOL Time Warner, Ifilm, NBC Internet, RealNetworks, RoadRunner, Yahoo and TV Guide.
ViralFlix will be free to access and include features such as blogs, top 100 lists, personalization capabilities, groups, and advanced search.
Secondary Offering
American Reprographics Co. priced a secondary offering for 6.1 million shares of common stock at $34.50 sending its stock sliding downward for the week.
Shares of the Glendale-based business-to-business services company started last week at $34.47 but then closed at $34.04 on April 13 as the market digested the news.
Proceeds from the offering, which is expected to gross more than $200 million, will go towards the selling stockholders rather than general corporate purposes. The stock has risen sharply since a 52-week low of $13.52 one year ago.
Trash Fees
As he gears up to present his first city budget this week, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced plans to seek an increase in city trash pickup fees to fund the hiring of 1,000 more police officers.
Under Villaraigosa’s plan, monthly trash fees for homeowners and owners of small apartment buildings (four units or less) would increase to $18 from the current $11 as of July 1 and then would increase each year until they reach $28 per month on July 1, 2009.
At that level, the fee would generate an additional $128 million that would then be used to hire 1,000 more police officers in the next five years. Currently, the city has about 9,200 officers on the police force.
Villaraigosa said the trash fee hike was needed because the city was facing a persistent structural budget deficit that is projected to reach $300 million next year. He said he chose the trash fee increase because the city charges among the lowest rates for residential trash collection among L.A. County cities.
But critics of the plan said that the fee is just one of many imposed on homeowners in recent years that collectively impose a significant financial burden. Specifically, homeowner groups say they were being unfairly targeted to subsidize expanding the police force when a majority of city residents are renters. The money to boost the police force should be found within the city’s current budget, they said.
Emily Bryson York, Howard Fine, Andy Fixmer, Anne Riley-Katz, Allen P. Roberts Jr.
