California Landmark Development is about to close escrow on two Marina del Rey-adjacent properties where the residential developer intends to build more than 100 units of housing.
Including the two parcels at 4153-4161 Redwood Ave. the firm is buying, California Landmark has cumulatively spent $25 million cobbling about 4.5 acres of former industrial buildings where the company plans to build upwards of 270 units of for-sale and rental apartments.
When complete, the for-sale, mostly loft units will be priced between $500,000 and $700,000 apiece, said Ken Kahan, California Landmark’s chief executive.
“Existing buildings in that marketplace are all industrial one-story concrete tilt ups and brick buildings,” said Kahan. “We’re going to raze those structures and build ground-up new construction.”
California Landmark recently started construction on the project’s first phase at 4115 Glencoe Ave., where the company is building 52 condos, including three that will be designated for low-income residents.
On a nearly two-acre site along Redwood Avenue, Kahan has entitlements to build another 118 condos five of which will be set aside as low-income. And on a separate two-acre parcel along Redwood Avenue, Kahan said he intends to build another 117 condos.
Construction on the entire complex is expected to be complete by the end of 2006, Kahan said.
Separately, California Landmark received approval by the Los Angeles Planning Commission on a controversial 82-unit condominium project in the Pacific Palisades.
The project, off Tramonto Drive, consists of homes split into eight low-rise buildings on a four-acre parcel overlooking the Santa Monica Bay. One acre of the project is on an active landslide area and some nearby residents worry the construction could trigger further movement.
However, city planners have said the construction with its deep foundations, pylons and retaining walls could actually help prevent a massive landslide by removing much of the loose soil.
“We’re not interested in building a project that is geologically unsound,” Kahan said. “We are going to be liable for this project for many, many years down the road so we are going to be darn sure everything is done safely and correctly.”
Kahan said he expects some neighbors to appeal the Planning Commission’s approval. He said if that happens, he believes the project could go before L.A. City Council by January. It would still need final approval by the California Coastal Commission.
Kahan said he hopes to break ground by early 2006.
Entertaining Deals
Lights. Camera. Location.
Several television and film companies around town inked real estate deals in the last couple of weeks.
Anschutz Film Group, the production company of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, leased 25,000 square feet at 1888 Century Park East in a 10-year deal worth about $7.5 million.
Anschutz Film includes Walden Media and Bristol Bay Productions, which worked on the recent Ray Charles biopic “Ray.”
The move represents an expansion for the firms, which previously leased 14,000 square feet scattered between three office buildings in Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle.
Studley’s Mark Robinson and Craig Jablin represented Anschutz’s film companies and CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s Deron White and Jeff Pion represented the landlord, a partnership of Beacon Capital Partners LLC. and Carr-America Realty Corp.
Meanwhile, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences spent $4.4 million buying a 20,000-square-foot building that will be part of the academy’s new North Hollywood complex at 5220 Lankershim Blvd.
The eight-building complex will be a new center for the academy, which conducts the Emmy Awards. The complex will contain theaters, offices and apartments for academy members.
Studley’s Robinson and Jablin represented the academy and Scott Murphy of Metropolitan Pacific Capital LLC represented the seller, AG/Touchstone.
In a smaller deal, Radar Pictures Inc. partially responsible for “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Last Samurai” renewed its 15,000-square-foot lease at 10900 Wilshire Blvd. in Westwood Village for an additional five years. The renewal, which occurred more than a year early because of favorable terms offered by the landlord, is worth about $2.8 million.
The landlord, Sumitomo Life Realty (N.Y.) Inc., was represented by Anthony Gatti at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and Radar was represented by Robinson and Studley Executive Director Arlene Sommer.
Recycle the Old
Two landmark Victorian mansions on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica may be combined to form a 77-room hotel.
The city’s planning commission has cleared the opening of negotiations with Hill Street Realty Inc. on a development agreement that would combine the two historically designated structures.
One house at 1333 Ocean Ave. would be picked up and moved several hundred feet to 1327 Ocean Ave., where the two buildings would be merged.
The two houses, sitting on roughly a half-acre lot, would be incorporated by an open-air plaza with a restaurant and a three-level subterranean parking garage containing 146 spaces.
Behind the combined homes would be an L-shaped, four-story building containing the hotel’s 77 rooms. The plans already have the blessing of the city’s Landmarks Commission. After a development agreement is hammered out between city planners and the developer, it will return to the Planning Commission. If approved, the agreement would then need to pass a vote of the Santa Monica City Council before becoming binding.
A Hill Street Realty principal couldn’t be reached for comment.
Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 263, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
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