Developer May Move Out of Apartment Project

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Nearly two years after breaking ground on the Vermont, a high-rise apartment complex in Koreatown, J.H. Snyder Development Co. is looking to sell the unfinished project.

The Miracle Mile company, a partnership among businessmen Jerry Snyder, Michael Wise and Lew Geyser, has retained Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. to market the two-acre property at the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. The development, featuring 464 apartment units in two towers standing 23 and 29 stories tall, had an estimated cost of about $200 million.

Sally Zesut, vice president of capital markets for Cassidy Turley Inc. in downtown Los Angeles, said she and others involved in multifamily investment sales estimate the project could fetch upward of $300 million.

“There’s just been huge demand for housing, particularly to be close to downtown,” she said. “We think the Vermont will sell for about $580,000 per unit, not including the retail portion, which we estimate is worth about $30 million.”

The project, which sits across the street from a Metro station for the Red and Purple lines, has about 31,500 square feet of ground-floor retail that has been partially preleased to AT&T Wireless, Chase Bank, Fatburger, PizzaRev, Starbucks and Sugar Nails. The asymmetrical towers surround a quarter-acre central courtyard and feature a mix of one- and two-bedroom units that range from 600 to 1,000 square feet. Amenities include a club room, library lounge, fitness center, yoga garden and infinity pool.

Arty Maharajh, vice president of research for Cassidy Turley, said that even though the property is still under construction, now is a good time to sell.

“Investment sales activity was record-breaking last year and it’s not running out of steam,” he said. “But even so, interest rates could potentially go up later this year, so it’s better to try to sell now than later.”

According to a Jones Lang LaSalle brochure, broker David Thomas is leading marketing efforts for the property.

Both Jones Lang LaSalle and Snyder declined to comment.

Project Payout

Irvine real estate company Sares-Regis Group has completed the sale of seven buildings it developed at Pacific Pointe, a 33.6-acre industrial park in Long Beach, within one calendar year. The seven sales totaled nearly $93 million.

The last of the buildings, a 125,000-square-foot structure at 4184 Conant St., sold in December for about $17.4 million. The buyer, refrigeration manufacturer Turbo Air, had leased the space and exercised an option to buy the property.

A second building, at 3851 Schaufele Ave., in the industrial park was also sold in the fourth quarter of last year to Food Pharma of Santa Fe Springs. The nutrition supplement manufacturer paid about $5.9 million. Three other buildings, including the largest of the bunch, were sold in the third quarter.

Larry Lukanish, senior vice president of commercial investments for Sares-Regis, said he was pleasantly surprised to see the buildings sell so quickly for so much.

“We knew that premium buildings would be in great demand in the South Bay market,” he said. “Nevertheless, we are gratified by the strong market response. This project exceeded our expectations.”

Fox Fix

The Bluffs at Playa Vista, a Class A office complex that developer Lincoln Property Co. sold two years ago to JPMorgan Chase & Co., gained a new tenant last month for a long-vacant space.

Online marketing company Core Digital Media, which owns websites LowerMyBills.com and ClassesUSA.com, signed a seven-year lease for 40,000 square feet on the second floor at 12181 W. Bluff Creek Drive. The deal was valued at about $9.5 million, according to industry sources.

Core Digital’s lease was technically a sublease with Fox Interactive Media, which leased 430,000 square feet in two buildings at the office complex in 2008 but shortly thereafter opted not to fully move in. Since then, Fox has slowly sublet portions of its excess space to tenants including California Pizza Kitchen Inc., Rubicon Project, Gehry Technologies, Rovi Corp. and CyberCoders. Core Digital will fill the last remaining space in the westernmost of the two buildings Fox originally leased. About 150,000 square feet remain in the east building.

Dave Toomey, a principal of West L.A. tenant brokerage Cresa Los Angeles, represented Core Digital in the deal. He said the company, which will move in April from the Howard Hughes Center, was interested in the Fox sublet partially because it will allow the company to consolidate on one floor, in addition to its proximity to other technology and media companies.

“The combination of quality buildings, ocean breezes and a growing number of fellow tech companies has made Playa Vista a highly desirable location,” he said. “The addition of retail and food amenities, which were lacking a few years ago, has also helped. It really seems like Playa Vista is coming into its own now.”

Brian Davies of Cresa also represented Core Digital in the deal. Eric Duncanson and Gideon Orion of Cushman & Wakefield represented Fox.

Staff reporter Bethany Firnhaber can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.

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