Not everyone cares that DreamWorks SKG is a no-show at Playa Vista.
Fox Sports Net has signed an 11-year lease for a warehouse totaling 111,000 square feet on Alla Road in Marina del Rey, near Playa Vista. Sony Pictures Entertainment has been using the warehouse for furniture storage.
Sources said Fox plans to convert the building into a digital broadcast facility with administrative offices. But Steve Webster, a spokesman for Fox Sports West, said the use has not yet been determined.
Fox Sports currently has its headquarters on Sepulveda Boulevard, with operations for its two Southern California channels at 10000 Santa Monica Blvd. and at the Twentieth Century Fox lot in Century City.
Mike DeSantis of Cushman Realty Corp. represented Fox. Steve Glusker and Ed Franklin of Pacific Properties Group represented the landlord.
“Big buildings on the Westside of town are few and far between,” Glusker said.
RREEF buys portfolio
RREEF Funds closed yet another large industrial deal in the Los Angeles area, with the acquisition of an $80 million portfolio.
The portfolio includes five properties and 48 buildings totaling 1.3 million square feet, said Scott Stuckman, vice president of acquisitions for RREEF.
“They’re very well leased,” Stuckman said. “They’re in very competitive submarkets.”
The portfolio includes properties at 25045 Avenue Tibbitts and 27721 Avenue Mentry in Valencia. Fifteen buildings are located in Burbank Airport Business Park, with another nine structures in Chatsworth Business Park.
W. Jay Borzi and Stephen Silk of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, Westbrook Partners LLC. The properties were acquired on behalf of the California Public Employees Retirement System.
RREEF recently acquired 500,000 square feet of industrial property for CalPERS in Irwindale, Azusa and Sun Valley. RREEF oversees $9.8 billion in real estate investments.
Activity at LAX
Leasing activity continues apace in the long-dormant LAX corridor.
Arden Realty Inc. signed two deals encompassing almost 110,000 square feet at 5200 W. Century Blvd.
Expeditors International, a global logistics company, leased 64,000 square feet. In addition, Crystal Stairs, a non-profit child development corporation, leased 45,000 square feet and will receive building-top signage.
Expeditors, which looked at other locations in the South Bay, Hawthorne and El Segundo, decided on the newly renovated building in part because of a $350,000 tax break facilitated by Mayor Richard Riordan’s business team.
Expeditors was assisted by Jeff Kernochan with Fisher and Co. Rosey Miller with Julien J. Studley represented Crystal Stairs, while Grafton Tanquary, John Ayoob and Bill Bloodgood of CB Richard Ellis represented Arden.
The vacancy rate for all classes of office space around the airport was 28 percent in the second quarter ended June 30.
Beverly Hills gets retailer
Pottery Barn will open a store at North Beverly Drive and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills the site that once housed Carnegie Deli.
The 10-year lease is valued at about $4.5 million, sources said.
“It’s an important corner in Beverly Hills that’s coming to life again,” said Chuck Dembo of brokerage Dembo & Associates, which represented the retailer along with Karen Klein of Epsteen & Associates.
The site has been vacant for almost two years. Financier Marvin Davis had leased the property several years ago for an L.A. version of the famed Carnegie Deli in New York, but it didn’t last too long. The deli was followed by an Italian eatery, which also went out of business.
Hollywood Park sells land
In other retail news of the big-box variety, Hollywood Park Inc. has agreed to sell 42 acres in Inglewood to Home Depot for $13 a square foot.
The land is part of the 138 acres that remained after the sale of the racetrack to Churchill Downs two months ago.
The majority of the land fronts Century Boulevard and is now used for parking. Home Depot plans to develop the site for its store and other retailers.
Downtown deals
Several deals made a dent in the massive amount of sublease space available in downtown L.A.
Compensation Resource Group, an executive compensation and benefits consulting firm, leased 37,313 square feet in Library Tower to move its corporate headquarters from Pasadena.
The 10-year deal is valued at $8.3 million.
It’s the first sublease involving any of the 235,000 square feet that came on the market after the parent companies of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas merged to form Sempra Energy, which is headquartered in San Diego, said Norman Mitchell, senior vice president at Cushman Realty Corp.
Mitchell and David Cushman represented Sempra. Cushman’s Brian Ulf, Ted Simpson and Josh Wrobel represented the tenant.
Ticket seller expands
Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. has expanded its office space in Pasadena.
The fast-growing firm, a leading provider of live event tickets and local city guides on the Internet, has expanded by 15,600 square feet at 790 E. Colorado Blvd., giving it a total of more than 46,000 square feet.
“Like most Internet companies, they’re hiring people without desks to put them at,” said Darren Shibuya, a broker at Cresa Partners, who represented the company along with Matthew Miller.
Agency buys parcel
The Los Angeles Community Housing Development Corp. has bought a 42,395-square-foot parcel of land at Figueroa and 31st streets for $2.4 million.
John Alle, president of John Alle Co., said the price is believed to be the highest per square foot for any parcel in the downtown or Wilshire Center areas in about five years. Land prices have increased in the area because of the Staples Center project.
Alle represented the sellers, a privately held investment group led by Burt Sugarman. Brad Luster of Major Properties represented the buyer.
It is believed the agency plans to develop a Sav-On store on the site, which is the largest undeveloped parcel to be purchased following the start of construction of Staples Center.
Elizabeth Hayes can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 229.
