L.A.’s top industrial broker in 1999 credits part of his success to the fact that he represents landlords rather than tenants.
“If you have control of the buildings and the product, you’re in a stronger position and there’s more stability,” said Vice President Rooney Daschbach of Trammell Crow Co. “You’re not running around with tenants who come and go. If you don’t make one deal, with a listing, you’ll make the next one. If you rep tenants, somebody else can come and submit a building, and (tenants) can dump you.”
Daschbach, 43, was responsible for $56.4 million in leasing and sales deals in 1999, totaling 2.2 million square feet of space located mainly in the communities of Vernon, Montebello and Commerce.
“He knows his market and he knows how to jump on an opportunity,” said Eric Eklund, vice president of AEW Capital Management LLP, a pension fund advisor. “At the same time, he’s a good facilitator. His likable manner makes it easy for both parties to come to an agreement.”
As the institutional owner of a number of local properties, AEW represented about 40 percent of Daschbach’s sales and lease transactions last year. At one AEW property, an $8 million development completed last year at 14350 Garfield Ave., Daschbach brokered five- to 10-year lease deals totaling nearly $10 million. The 192,000-square-foot building is now fully leased.
Another major deal was the sale of the Garfield Business Center in Commerce and the Bell Tech Center in Bell by AEW to the Bristol Group. The $40 million package deal represented 670,000 square feet of space.
The transaction posed a concern for Daschbach, who doesn’t often see the buildings he represents change hands.
“The biggest challenge for me last year was that two of my major listings sold, and we had to make sure we won the business from the buyer to continue representing them,” said the UC Berkeley graduate. “When something’s sold, there’s this feeding frenzy by the community to propose a change in the listing. But they were impressed with our skills through the end of escrow and retained us.”
