Reason for optimism? With all the talk of a slowdown in the economy and a flagging real estate market, there have been a spate of transactions lately that indicate there’s still quite a pulse in the business.
In Westlake Village, a partnership of Investment Development Services of downtown Los Angeles and Kennedy Associates of Pasadena sold the Homestore.com headquarters at 30700 Russell Rand Road. Calabasas-based Miller Brothers Investments LLC bought the 137,762-square-foot building for $27.3 million ($198 per foot).
Kevin Shannon, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co., said Homestore.com has six years left on its lease at the building. Grubb & Ellis senior vice presidents Tom Festa and Jim Lindvall assisted Shannon in the deal.
In Torrance, a partnership of Southwest Value Partners of San Diego and Starwood Capital Group of Greenwich, Mass., sold Torrance Center North at 21041-21081 S. Western Ave. Brentwood Realty Advisors of West Los Angeles bought the 140,213-square-foot building for $16.9 million ($121 per foot). The building is 94 percent leased and has American Honda Motor Co. and Bobbit Publishing Co. as major tenants.
Shannon represented buyer and seller in the deal. Phillip Mattice, vice president, and Steve Cramer, senior vice president, both at Colliers Seeley International Inc., were involved in the deal as leasing agents at the building.
Also in Torrance, Pacifica Capital Group of Marina del Rey sold Harbor Business Center at 19700-750 Vermont Ave. to Hermosa Center LLC for $11.8 million ($99 per foot). The two-building complex has a total of 118,862 square feet and is more than 80 percent occupied, with Pacific Bell Telephone Co. filling one building and several tenants sharing space at the second building. Shannon represented both sides in the deal.
Liberty Livewire Corp. has closed on its sale of a 3.5-acre site to M & K; Real Estate LLC. The deal for the property on Colorado Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets in Santa Monica came in close to the $14.5 million asking price. Insignia/ESG Inc., which represented the seller.
Insignia officials declined to comment, but other Westside sources confirmed that M & K; Real Estate is Michael Sullivan, who owns car dealerships in Santa Monica. The sources said Sullivan intends to open a body shop and service center on the property, which once was home to Kramer Body Shop.
In Hollywood, Fox Sports Net signed a two-year, $165,600 ($2.30 per foot) lease for 6,000 square feet 6430 Sunset Blvd., also called the CNN Building.
The space had been occupied by Mediaconnex Inc., which vacated the building earlier this year. Rob Langer, managing partner of M+S Management Co., said a letter of credit from Mediaconnex has covered the rent on the space since the company stopped doing business at the end of 2000. Fox Sports Net intends to use the space for production of its “Beyond the Glory” series, which now is being shot at Fox facilities in Century City and West Los Angeles. Fox Sports Net will move into the building in September, Langer said.
Brian Ulf, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield Inc., reported leasing news from TrizecHahn Corp.’s Ernst & Young Plaza at 725 S. Figueroa Ave.
The consulting and accounting firm leased another 15,000 square feet in the building, bringing its total space to 150,000 square feet across seven floors. The expansion was onto the fourth floor, Ulf said, and the company plans to use the whole 23,500-square-foot floor within three years.
UBS PaineWebber Inc. has signed a 10-year lease for 15,000 square feet on the building’s 41st floor. Ulf wouldn’t discuss terms of the leases, but downtown sources said space at Ernst & Young Plaza goes for between $16 and $19 per foot annually. TrizecHahn leasing agent, Andrew Stewart, also declined to discuss lease rates, but said the 313,000-square-foot building still has close to 200,000 square feet available.
Moulton Logistics Management has chosen a Genesis L.A. site in Van Nuys for relocation of its headquarters. The company will move 230 employees from its three-building North Hollywood location to Marquardt Industrial Park on Saticoy Street, near the Van Nuys airport. The new location will consolidate the company’s distribution operation in 108,000 square feet.
President Larry Moulton said the company considered another location in Valencia, but a move that far from Los Angeles would have cost him 30 percent of his workforce. The Van Nuys location also is big enough to allow for future expansion, which Moulton has in the plans for the coming year.
Genesis L.A. Economic Growth Corp. is a nonprofit that provides financial incentives for development distressed communities.
More adjustments have been approved for the ever-changing Culver City Town Plaza project. The city Planning Commission recently voted to increase loft-style office space and shrink the movie theaters from two stories to one.
Most recently, the developer OliverMcMillan, Culver City Redevelopment Agency and Pacific Theatres Corp. arranged an agreement that will pay the cinema operator a management fee equal to 6 percent of gross sales.
The Town Plaza Project, also known as Screenland, features the 10-screen cinema, 77,000 square feet of office space, 30,000 square feet of restaurant space and 10,000 square feet for a Trader Joe’s market.
In Westwood, a couple of buildings have come on the market, including the 7,500 square foot Crest movie theater at 1262 Westwood Blvd. and an office building owned by Madison Marquette Retail Services at 1056 Westwood Blvd.
Happy Days
A third Mel’s Drive-In will open in the Hollywood History Museum when the museum opens in the former Max Factor Building on Highland Avenue.
Museum Founder and President Donelle Dadigan said the diner’s popularity complements the building’s already identifiable name.
Mel’s Co-owner Steven Weiss, a Malibu resident whose father started the limited Mel’s chain in 1947, said the Max Factor Building is a perfect location for a Mel’s. “We aren’t interested in opening many restaurants,” Weiss said. “We want something really unique and special.”
Weiss wouldn’t disclose the rent rate, but said it was in line with that area of Hollywood, which is near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue. He said Mel’s will take 6,000 square feet in what was red brick garage with a 1,000-square-foot atrium.
Mel’s also will run a catering service for the fourth floor of the building.
Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235 or by e-mail at [email protected].
