DIC Entertainment Holdings Inc., a producer and distributor of animated television programs, has renewed and expanded its lease in the Burbank Media District in one of the city’s largest renewals last year.
The 10-year, 35,677-square-foot lease at 4100 W. Alameda Ave., where DIC retains its headquarters, begins in April and is valued at $14.2 million. DIC is the brand manager for Inspector Gadget and Super Mario Bros., among other children’s brands.
DIC will renovate its Class A space, which includes the building’s entire third and fourth floors and space on the second floor. DIC is also adding about 3,000 square feet and will occupy 65 percent of the building. The four-story, 54,900-square-foot office building is 23 years old and has been owned by private real estate firm Versailles Properties LP since 2005.
“We looked at all the normal relocation opportunities including spaces that had been previously occupied by other animation companies,” said Paul Stockwell of Studley Inc. “It is a very creative build-out. Their space works really well for them.”
Stockwell said that DIC looked at properties from Sherman Oaks to Burbank. The transaction closed Nov. 29.
Stockwell, who represented DIC, said that the rental rate for the space begins at $2.90 per square foot per month and escalates annually. The vacancy rate for Class A space in Burbank in the third quarter was 3.4 percent, according to Grubb & Ellis Co. data, and brokers say it is even lower for the Media District.
The landlord was represented by Transwestern’s Kevin Houseman and Robert Pearson. Michael Shuken and David Gordon of Studley also represented DIC.
Los Feliz Sale
A 26-unit Los Feliz apartment structure has changed hands in an all-cash, off-market transaction.
23-25 Hughes LLC, the entity of an unnamed local real estate investor, paid $4.3 million for the 21,342-square-foot building at 1631 Rodney Drive. The sale breaks down to $165,385 per unit, with the new owner planning to hold the property long term.
The deal with seller Hamilton Chase Inc., a Santa Barbara County real estate investment group, closed in mid-October. Hamilton Chase is the investment vehicle of principals Christian C. Larson and Justin H. Dean.
The complex is known as Rodney Courts and sits on about 28,000 square feet near a busy commercial section of North Vermont Avenue.
“It is an upscale, yuppified neighborhood,” Larson said. “The area has dramatically improved, and the socioeconomic picture and the median income of individuals moving into the area has improved dramatically.”
All but one unit is occupied at the 1940 building, which is not protected by a rent-control ordinance. Monthly rental rates range from $580 for a single to about $1,500 for a two-bedroom unit, said David Eitches, director of the investment services group at the West L.A. office of Charles Dunn Co. Inc.
Hamilton Chase had owned the building for about 10 years. The real estate group is currently selling off its local apartment holdings to focus on “long-term commercial, industrial and triple net lease assets” out of state, Larson said.
Multifamily Misery
It’s well known the credit crunch has all but annihilated the single-family housing market. Now, multifamily apartment buildings aren’t doing much butter.
Residential broker Melika Jahangiri, who specializes in Class C multifamily properties, said that buildings are sitting on the market much longer and selling at significantly reduced rates.
That was the case for two deals the Sperry Van Ness broker recently worked on in the downtown Los Angeles area but she said that is only the half of it, with the multifamily slowdown hitting citywide.
“Properties are getting huge price reductions and they are still not selling,” said Jahangiri, who noticed the multifamily market changed dramatically in October. “I’ve got a lot of resistance from sellers not understanding the market has really changed.”
Still, Jahangiri is brokering purchases for her clients, including recent purchases of apartment buildings at 1322 S. Catalina Ave. near downtown and at 1416 W. Olympic Blvd. just west of Staples Center. Class C buildings are often shabby properties commanding lower rents in more marginal areas.
In the Catalina Avenue transaction, Jahangiri represented buyer Fairfax Investments LLC in its purchase of an 18-unit apartment building for $1.12 million from seller Tamarind Investors LP, a partnership of unnamed Los Angeles investors.
The deal closed Dec. 27, but the property had been on the market for $1.3 million in July and didn’t sell until the asking price was reduced.
Fairfax, the entity of an unnamed private investor based in Los Angeles, purchased the building on a 1031 tax deferred exchange basis.
“These are extremely sophisticated buyers, they have no problem closing, the lending has just gotten a lot tougher,” said Jahangiri, who added that the buyer put down 28 percent of the total cost, whereas in the past 25 percent would have sufficed.
In the Olympic Boulevard transaction, the same unnamed buyer this time operating as Gramercy 6000 LLC purchased the 24-unit apartment building for $1.16 million in cash also on a 1031 basis. The seller was 1416 Olympic Ventures LLC, the entity of an unnamed Orange County-based investor. Escrow closed Oct. 16 after the property had originally listed for $1.5 million in June.
Joav Gersten of Pacific Real Estate & Management Inc. represented the seller of the Catalina Avenue apartments and Jennifer Schultz Bertolet of brokerage David N. Schultz Inc. represented the seller of the Olympic Boulevard apartments.
Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at
[email protected]
or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
