The pace of leasing at the former Macy’s department store building in Westwood Village, which has been closed during renovations that have lasted more than two years, has picked up.
The 225,000-square-foot building, at LeConte Avenue and Westwood Boulevard, will be reanimated this fall when it reopens as a one-stop shop for village consumers.
Bob Baker, vice president for leasing at Madison Marquette, which manages the property on a ground lease with Federated Department Stores, said that groceries, electronics and drugs will be available after a grand opening tentatively planned for October.
In addition to featuring an EXPO Design Center interior furnishings store and Ralphs Fresh Fare high-end grocery store, the project will have a new urban store format of Best Buy, Baker said. The electronics retailer has leased 33,000 square feet for a store that will be more intimate and feature more interactive opportunities for shoppers than the chain’s traditional standalone big-box locations.
Envisioned for the third floor of the building, which once was the Bullock’s Tea Room, is an 18,000-square foot Longs Drugs. Baker said Longs has signed a 10-year deal.
Madison Marquette has been turning over the spaces to tenants over the last month, Baker said. The tenants are building out their stores and will open them as soon as they’re ready.
With the new leases, for which Baker refused to disclose financial terms, Madison Marquette claims to have attracted $160 million in leasing activity to its Westwood properties. In addition to the Bullock’s/Macy’s building, Madison Marquette has 180,000 square feet of street retail and office space where rents start at $3.50 per foot per month, Baker said. Two vacant restaurant spaces have been attracting a great deal of interest, Baker said, and will likely be rented sometime this month.
Latino Marketing
Marcos Morales hopes he can be a catalyst for attracting mainstream retailers to Los Angeles County’s Latino communities.
Morales, along with James Rodriguez and Juan Jimenez, make up CB Richard Ellis Inc.’s new RetailPlus Group, which has accepted the charge of focusing the brokerage house’s efforts in communities such as Lynwood, Huntington Park, Bell Garden and South Gate.
The job is nothing new for the 65-year-old native of Argentina, who was responsible for bringing the Denny’s restaurant chain to Lynwood. That experience illustrated the challenge that government and economic development officials have faced in convincing developers, retailers and restaurants that there is money to be made by serving the fastest growing demographic in the county.
“It took me a year to convince Denny’s to come to Lynwood,” Morales said. “You have to take them in your car, so they see these people have nice, clean lawns and good-paying jobs.”
Prior to joining CB, Morales was managing partner of his own company, RetailPlus Commercial Real Estate, which did business in Los Angeles and Orange counties. A resident of Downey, Morales has been in Southern California since leaving Argentina in 1963.
Rodriguez had been working Latino markets for six years before joining CB in 1998. Jimenez has been with CB since 1997. He used to work in the Huntington Park city planning department.
Morales said that all sides win when development comes to Los Angeles County’s Latino communities.
“The consumers (win) because they have access to first-class shopping centers,” he said. “The cities (win) because they have business taxes.”
Soon enough, Morales believes, the work will get easier.
“This is the new frontier,” he said. “It cannot be ignored and it will grow even further.”
Acquisition Activity
Triscenic Production Services Inc. of Sylmar, which bills itself as the nation’s No. 2 moving and storage company for the motion picture and television industries, has agreed to acquire a 35,100-square-foot industrial building in Sun Valley for $2.2 million.
The building, situated on a 1.5-acre property at 11001 Fleetwood St., has 5,200 square feet of office space and 17-foot-high warehouse clearance.
The seller, LJK Properties of Santa Clarita, was represented by Ross Thomas, a principal at Delphi Business Properties of Van Nuys.
Dave Maron of Stevenson Real Estate represented Triscenic Production Services, which has 17 locations and 40 employees around Greater Los Angeles.
In another recent sales transaction, a Ventura County family trust spent $14.6 million for a 106,000-square-foot building in San Fernando.
The unidentified buyer bought the concrete tilt-up building and 8.7 acres of land at the northwest corner of Foothill Boulevard and Pacoima Wash from Regency Real Estate.
The building is occupied by a Home Depot, which anchors a shopping center. The buyer plans to expand the Home Depot by adding 24,000 square feet to the building.
Kamal Banki of Westcord Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer in the deal. Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. and Colliers Seeley International Inc. represented Regency.
Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235 or at [email protected].
