Recolumn/26″/mike1st/mark2nd
By ELIZABETH HAYES
Staff Reporter
Developer Ira Smedra plans to demolish the former Chasen’s restaurant building on Beverly Boulevard and Doheny Drive in West Hollywood and build a Bristol Farms grocery market in its place. Smedra, president of the Arba Group, said he plans to retain and incorporate the original fa & #231;ade into the new building.
Bristol Farms has already signed a lease for the building, Smedra said, even though the proposed project is still going through the entitlement process. Smedra said he’s looking for the store to open around the end of next year.
Chasen’s, once the haunt of movie stars and tycoons, closed in 1995 after 59 years in business, having served such celebs as W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and former President Ronald Reagan. It has since reopened (in name only) in Beverly Hills, while the original building has been used occasionally for private parties.
Smedra’s original proposal a couple of years ago was for a two-story center, but after meeting with neighbors, he scaled the plans down substantially.
Shopping centers sold
Two retail centers have traded hands, in the Fairfax district and Santa Monica.
A group of local investors has acquired the 250,000-square-foot Town & Country Shopping Center, across from the landmark Farmer’s Market.
Third Fairfax LLC bought the 7.5-acre center at the southeast corner of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue that is anchored by a Kmart, a Lucky grocery, Sav-On Drugs and California Federal Savings and Loan.
The parties did not want their names or the purchase price disclosed, said Darrell Levonian, president of Charles Dunn Co., which represented the buyers in the transaction.
“The property was not openly on the market,” Levonian said. “Their plan, long term, is to hold it and run the property.”
He said the center was given a facelift about three years ago and there are no immediate plans for a renovation to coincide with the major expansion being undertaken at Farmer’s Market. Developer Rick Caruso of Caruso Affiliated Holdings in Santa Monica is planning to develop a 600,000-square-foot retail center there.
Meanwhile, in Santa Monica, a joint venture between Malibu-based Christina Development Corp. and PaineWebber Real Estate Securities Inc. has acquired Fireside Plaza, a retail center on Montana Avenue with a Wild Oats grocery. Christina already owns several other properties on the street, including The Montana Collection, Montana Mercantile Plaza and Sweet Sixteen Plaza, and is renovating numerous shops in Westwood Village.
Groundbreakings
Two projects broke ground last week on opposite ends of L.A. County.
In El Segundo, groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Infonet’s $16 million worldwide service center, the first project within Kearny Real Estate’s 23-acre Grand Avenue Corporate Center master-planned development.
The three-story, 150,000-square-foot building will provide network services to large businesses. Irvine-based Snyder Langston is the general contractor for the build-to-suit corporate headquarters, which was designed by Nadel Architecture.
Kearny’s 23-acre center will also include a Hilton Garden Inn, a practice facility for the Los Angeles Kings and Lakers and a four-story speculative office building.
Well to the north, in Chatsworth, NMB (USA) Inc. held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new headquarters project. NMB is a subsidiary of Japanese parent, the Minebea Group of Cos., which makes precision mechanical and electronic products for automotive, aerospace, communications, computers, defense and manufacturing uses.
Industrial leases
Roland Corp., a Japanese company that makes electronic musical instruments, has leased two buildings in the City of Commerce for its U.S. headquarters and warehousing.
One deal is a 10-year lease for a two-story office building (50,000 square feet) on Southeastern Avenue for $9 million, said Roy Longman, senior vice president with brokerage Metrospace/Cresa Corp. Roland also signed a 10-year lease for a 125,000-square-foot warehouse nearby for $6.5 million, Longman said.
Roland, which currently is spread out in three buildings in Commerce, decided to expand and consolidate in the city because it’s the most central location for both distribution and employees.
Longman and Gerald Porter of Metrospace represented Roland. Eric Hinkelman and Rooney Daschbach with Trammell Crow Co. represented the landlord, an entity called Newcrow IV.
Westside relocation
Office furniture maker Steelcase Inc. and four affiliated design firms have moved from the Pacific Design Center to the newly rehabbed Penn Station building on Stewart Street in Santa Monica.
Steelcase and the four other firms Brayton, DesignTex, Metro and Vecta completed their move last week, going from a combined 33,000 square feet of showroom and sales space at the PDC to 9,058 square feet at Penn Station, said Tracie Ricketts, marketing manager for architecture and design at Steelcase.
Less space is needed at the new address because employees will be “hoteling” reserving space as needed through a concierge, Ricketts said. The new quarters are not a showroom so much as a “work-life center,” she said. Customers can still come in and view the furniture products, but rather than a static showroom setting, employees will actually be using the furniture. Steelcase will still be represented in a showroom at the PDC as well.
The new space was designed by Lee Pasteris of the Santa Monica office of the architecture firm Gensler.
PDC, by the way, is gearing up for a new breed of tenant. About a month ago West Hollywood approved a plan to convert 450,000 square feet of space to offices, and install additional clear glass in the green building, said Joel Polachek, PDC’s chief operating officer. Also, design tenants are being moved from the green to the blue building.
“Now we’ll have the ability to compete in the West L.A. office market,” he said.
Staff Reporter Elizabeth Hayes can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 229.
