Real Estate Column—Grubb & Ellis Lures Top Entertainment Industry Broker

0

Neil Resnick, a commercial broker known for his long list of entertainment industry deals, has jumped from CB Richard Ellis Co. to Grubb & Ellis Co. He will keep his title of senior vice president.

Resnick got his start at Coldwell Banker’s commercial arm, the predecessor to CB Richard Ellis, and spent 15 years with that company. A handful of Westside commercial brokers called Resnick one of the top three producers among corporate tenant reps in Southern California.

Competition for top brokerage talent is fierce, with six-figure signing bonuses not uncommon. And while Resnick refused to say how much cash Grubb & Ellis offered him to come over, one industry source familiar with the move said it could have been as much as $500,000. Grubb & Ellis declined to discuss Resnick’s pay.

Word within the L.A. brokerage community is that the addition of Resnick will help shore up what has been characterized as an under-performing West L.A. office for Grubb & Ellis. It also marks the fifth defection from CB Richard Ellis in the last 18 months. Christopher Houge, Rick Buckley, Hunt Barnett and Jake King all have left for Insignia/ESG.

Among the more notable deals in which Resnick has participated are transactions that resulted in Universal Music Group taking all 192,000 square feet of the Arboretum Gateway in Santa Monica in 1999 and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment moving its headquarters to the 108,000-square-foot 9333 Wilshire Blvd. building. Other entertainment tenants that Resnick has represented include the William Morris Agency Inc., Jodie Foster, Michael Jackson, Motown Record Co. and Brillstein-Grey Entertain-ment.

High-End Storage

Malibu residents soon will have another local place to keep expensive and delicate collectibles.

The Shachory family is building a 50-unit self-storage facility for high-end collectors of artwork, jewelry, wine and antique furniture at 28909 Pacific Coast Highway.

The $1 million, high-security Malibu Sky Storage will feature temperature and humidity controls, as well as floor safes. Security items include camera surveillance, coded entry at the facility entrance and at each unit, and an alarm system supported by telephone dispatch.

Isaac Shachory, whose family owns the property, said he has received several phone calls from people interested in the types of units he is building, but declined to discuss potential tenants. The family owns two conventional self-storage facilities in Burbank, as well as several apartment buildings.

Shachory said that rental rates have yet to be determined and will be set in accordance with market demand.

The project is being built by Consolidated Contracting Services Inc. of San Juan Capistranto. Project Manager Lem Van Natta said that he anticipates all units to be leased before the April grand opening.

Heavy Leasing Activity

San Mateo’s Siebel Systems Inc., an e-business software provider, signed a five-year lease to occupy the 11,000-square-foot sixth floor of 898 Sepulveda Blvd. in El Segundo. The lease is valued at nearly $2 million. The company, which also has offices at 11601 Wilshire Blvd. in West L.A., plans to move into the space in March.

Steve Solomon, senior vice president with Colliers Seeley International Inc., who represented the building’s owner, Legacy Partners Commercial Inc., said the deal includes building-top signage facing LAX.

Siebel was represented in the deal by Rick Buckley, senior managing director at Insignia/ESG.

Netlock Technologies Inc. of Brea has signed a five-year, $2.8 million, 11,000-square-foot lease at Water Garden II on Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica in a deal put together by Coldwell Banker Commercial Westmac, one of a series of deals that the brokerage has put together recently.

Netlock, which provides security systems for computer-to-computer communications, is leaving Brea to get closer to its high-tech brethren on L.A.’s Westside, according to Coldwell spokesman Bill Thompson.

Coldwell also worked with Creative Domain in its corporate consolidation into the 12-story TV Guide Hollywood Center at 6922 Hollywood Blvd. The entertainment marketing company is consolidating from locations in West Hollywood, Culver City and West L.A. and will take 28,440 square feet on the sixth and seventh floors of the building.

The new location provides Creative Domain with a more efficient office operation, as well as prime access to TrizecHahn Development Corp.’s $430 million, 640,000-square-foot Hollywood & Highland retail/entertainment center being built across the street.

Creative Domain’s seven-year lease is valued at almost $6 million. Mark Berman of Coldwell represented Creative Domain. John Eichler and Brad Feld of Cushman & Wakefield of California Inc. represented the landlord, CIM/Hollywood.

In a move from the San Fernando Valley to the Miracle Mile District, Ricoh Business Systems Inc. has signed a seven-year lease, valued at more than $1 million, for 5,379 square feet on the ground floor of the 27-story building at 5670 Wilshire Blvd.

James Bailey of Coldwell said the building’s fiber-optic wiring and ample parking make it the proper choice for relocation.

Evan Meyer of Insignia/ESG represented the landlord, 5670 Wilshire LP, in negotiations.

On the retail front, high-end women’s clothing retailer Ann Taylor Loft has signed a lease for 5,895 square feet at 1038 Westwood Blvd.

According to Rebecca Faletta of landlord Madison Marquette, the store will occupy two spaces: 5,275 square feet on street level and another 620 square feet of mezzanine space.

Ann Taylor Loft is the casual-wear arm of the luxury fashion chain, Ann Taylor, which has had a presence in Westwood Village in the past, but closed its store on Broxton Avenue in 1998.

Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

No posts to display