Garment manufacturer Mola Inc. has consolidated and moved its headquarters to another site in Vernon, locking down space in a tight market after several other companies were taking a close look at the location.
The company signed a five-year lease, valued at about $3 million, for almost 130,000 square feet of industrial and office space at 2957 E. 46th St. with landlord Karney Management Co. last year.
Mola, which cuts and sews for clothing makers, moved into its new digs last month. It formerly operated in less than 150,000 square feet in three locations around Vernon. The largest was a building of about 86,000 square feet. But its lease at that site ended when the property was purchased last year by JT Textiles, which plans to expand its business from a nearby building into that location.
Mola’s new location provides the company with 25,000 square feet of office space and more than 100,000 square feet for its industrial operations. It will be the only company to occupy the property.
The landlord completed an extensive rehabilitation of the interior and exterior last year, after longtime tenant import-export business Concord Enterprises Inc. moved out.
The landlord chose Mola because of the company’s likelihood of becoming a long-term tenant after making investments into manufacturing infrastructure.
The Vernon industrial market has only a 3.6 percent vacancy rate, said broker Paul Sablock, executive vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. in downtown Los Angeles, who represented the landlord.
“The market is slow but there is a low vacancy rate and we actually had several parties looking at the building,” Sablock said. “There is some life in that market.”
Greg Stanton, CBRE Group Inc. first vice president, also represented the landlord. Mola was represented by Senior Vice President Doug Cline of Lee & Associates.
NoHo Sale
A North Hollywood apartment building traded hands for $74 million last month.
A fund managed by UBS purchased the NoHo 14, a 180-unit mixed-use high-rise, from a joint venture among Kennedy Wilson Holdings Inc., Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America and Urban Partners LLC that bought it two years ago for $59 million.
Built in 2008, the 14-story building was created as condominiums but was converted to apartments. Today, the one-, two- and three-bedroom units are nearly fully leased with rental rates ranging from $1,899 to $2,900.
Zurich, Switzerland-based UBS bought the building as it works to expand its Southern California holdings. Among its other properties here are the Corporate Center Pasadena office complex and the retail center Warner Marketplace in Canoga Park.
NoHo 14 is at 5435-5449 Lankershim Blvd., across the street from the terminals of the Orange Line bus route and the Red Line subway. The apartment building features 11,000 square feet of retail space, now leased to Roger Dunn Golf Stores. The building includes a pool, spa, fitness center and rooftop viewing deck.
Greg Harris, executive vice president of brokerage Institutional Property Advisors in Los Angeles, represented both sides of the deal.
Ron Harris, executive vice president of IPA, and Joseph Smolen and Kevin Green, IPA associate directors, also represented both sides in the deal.
Kilroy Hire
West L.A. real estate investment trust Kilroy Realty Corp. has hired an executive vice president to oversee the company’s expansion in Los Angeles.
The firm hired David Simon, former L.A. managing director of Palo Alto-based private-equity real estate investment firm Broadreach Capital Partners. He joined the firm last week as its fourth executive vice president.
The hire comes only weeks after former Executive Vice President Chris Corpuz left to pursue new opportunities. Corpuz oversaw the company’s expansion into Northern California.
Simon is responsible for developing a strategy to expand Kilroy’s local office portfolio, which comprises several million square feet including the about 720,000-square-foot Kilroy Airport Center in El Segundo. He will also oversee its 3.4 million-square-foot industrial portfolio.
“It’s an opportunity to work on an existing portfolio and create a value add for an industrial portfolio, which was an attractive thing for me to take on, and to build the office business in greater L.A.,” he said. “These are things I’ve been doing for the last 20-plus years, and the stars and the moon lined up.”
Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.
