The Port of Los Angeles announced several moves to accommodate growth of its container business and cruise ship facilities.
The port has earmarked the former Todd Shipyard Facility in the West Basin for container operations. That 85-acre site is adjacent to an existing container terminal and part of the site has been designated for Yang Ming Line’s future railyard and terminal access road, which the port has agreed to provide under a recently approved lease agreement.
The Todd site is currently being used as a staging area for port construction contractors and as a training facility for longshoremen’s union members.
The port has also announced that it will undertake a $30 million expansion of its World Cruise Center, which is already the busiest passenger facility on the West Coast and the fourth-busiest in the nation.
The plan would add 20 acres, expanding the existing terminal southward to incorporate the current Pasha/Honda automobile handling facility, a new terminal building, concourse, wharf modifications, a new entrance and expanded parking. An additional five acres at the end of the terminal would be set aside for new commercial development. A pedestrian walkway would connect the Catalina Cruises terminal to Ports O’ Call Village.
Agoura deal
The 115,000-square-foot Agoura Hills Business Park has been sold to William Wilson & Associates for $18.6 million. Selling the 13-year-old, two-building park on Agoura Road was Katell Properties. Bob Safai, owner of Madison Partners, represented both sides in the deal. Major tenants of the park include J.D. Power & Associates, Toyota Credit Corp. and GMAC Candle Corp., Safai said.
University signs lease
After weighing a move, Antioch University decided to stay put, signing a new five-year lease at the Marina View building on the Westside.
“With the real estate market as active as it is and real estate rates climbing, the stay-put option” was the best one available, said Ian Strano, vice president of Beitler Commercial Realty Services, who represented Antioch. “With rental rates the way they are, we didn’t want to become part of a bidding war.”
The university has been at 13274 Figi Way in Marina del Ray for the past 10 years. It will expand to 26,000 square feet, and landlord Marina View Building Partners Ltd. has agreed to upgrade the space, Strano said. Antioch’s lease also carries a fixed renewal option, he said.
Manufacturer buys, relocates
Ducommun Inc. has acquired 7.8 acres adjacent to its existing 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Carson and plans to build additional manufacturing facilities on the site. In a separate deal, Ducommun has relocated its headquarters from Carson to Long Beach.
Ducommon, which manufactures aerospace components, purchased the parcel at 316 E. Gardena Blvd. in Carson for more than $2 million, said David Prior, president in the Klabin Co.’s Torrance office, who represented Ducommun.
Ducommun, one of the oldest continuously operated companies in L.A., also leased 7,000 square feet of office space in the high-rise at 111 Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach for its new headquarters.
El Segundo parks sold
Two El Segundo business parks Pacific Concourse and El Segundo Research Center have been sold to the Pacifica Capital Group for about $50 million.
The new owner has renamed the two parks Pacifica Concourse and Pacifica Research Center, respectively, said Steve Solomon, a vice president with the Seeley Co., who represented both the buyer and seller Overton, Moore & Associates.
The two sites are a half a mile from each other, he said.
Pacifica Concourse has three buildings with a combined 227,000 square feet of space and such major tenants as Hewlett-Packard Co., Omni Offices and Lufthansa German Airlines.
Pacifica Research Center has two buildings with 184,000 square feet of space and such major tenants as Hughes Electronics and MediaOne.
Brokerage buys London firm
CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. has acquired REI Ltd., a London-based real estate services company that does business under the name Richard Ellis outside the United Kingdom.
As a result of the deal, CB Commercial will change its name, although that name will not be announced until today, May 4, said CB spokesman Cary Brazeman.
In other CB news, the firm has been retained to sell the nine-story, 84,000-square-foot Brentwood Plaza at 11980 San Vicente Blvd. Brentwood Plaza is a medical office building with 70 tenants, said Martin Sawa, first vice president in CB’s investment properties group.
Portfolio acquisition
Pacific Realty Trust, in conjunction with Angelo, Gordon & Co., has acquired a large portfolio of office and hotel properties in the southwestern U.S. that includes the Pasadena Hilton Hotel and 801 Figueroa office building. The transaction was valued in excess of $265 million.
The acquisition is the latest for Pacific Realty, which acquired about 3.5 million square feet of office and research-and-development properties in Southern California last year. Managing Partner Marc Brutten said he expects Pacific Realty’s transaction volume for 1998 to exceed last year’s.
Seller of the portfolio was Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate. The Pasadena Hilton is a 600,000-square-foot mixed-use project at 105 S. Los Robles Ave.; 801 Figueroa is a 435,000-square-foot class-A office building in downtown L.A.
Ad agency project
W.P. Carey & Co. Inc., a New York real estate investment banking firm, has paid $27.2 million to purchase a Culver City warehouse that is being converted into an office facility for TBWA Chiat/Day Inc.
Once the conversion is done in October, the project will serve as the ad agency’s new West Coast international headquarters under a 20-year lease signed by Omnicom Group Inc., TBWA Chiat/Day’s parent.
Other deals
Athletic Performance Training has relocated to newer, larger facilities at 1401 Westwood Blvd. Chris Holland of Westmac Commercial Brokerage Co. represented Athletic Performance, a private gym that has operated for the past 10 years in the Trident Center on Olympic Boulevard.
Arai Corp. of America, a subsidiary of a Tokyo-based real estate investment company, has consolidated the property, leasing and construction management responsibilities for its entire Los Angeles-area commercial real estate portfolio with one firm. Now handling that 250,000-square-foot portfolio which includes One Rodeo in Beverly Hills and 701 N. Brand in Glendale is Investment Development Services Inc. of Los Angeles.
Southern California Gas Co. has sold a 60,000-square-foot office building in Torrance to SC Enterprises for about $4.5 million. The single-story building at 2235 Crenshaw Blvd. had served as a call center, but was vacant at the time of the sale.
