Downtown L.A.
Long-Term Lease:
Strategic Financial Group, a network office of the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, signed a 17-year deal to lease 64,000 square feet of office space in the North Tower of the City National Plaza at 515 Flower St. downtown. The company will occupy two and a half floors with 200 financial representatives and associates. The move will allow for the company’s expansion. The deal was brokered by Cushman & Wakefield.
Litigation Settled:
Jungle Apparel, an L.A.-based garment contractor, was ordered to pay $110,000 in back wages to 172 current and former low-wage workers to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. The company, owned by Jung Yup Lee of Torrance, was accused of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act by failing to pay the required minimum wage and overtime, and failing to keep complete records of hours worked. The workers, who sewed women’s apparel for several manufactures including JS Apparel and Mias Fashion Manufacturing Co., will receive payment for work performed between February 2004 and February 2006. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has also ordered Jungle Apparel to pay $12,000 in civil monetary penalties. Payments are scheduled to be completed by January 2008.
Miracle Mile
International Pit Stop:
The World Poker Tour signed a partnership agreement with Grup Peralada, the largest operator of casinos in Spain. Grup Peralada is the 14th official WPT casino member in a growing international roster. The deal will create a new stop on the fourth season World Poker Tour at Spain’s Casino Barcelona in October 2007. The companies are also in discussions about internet-based poker space in Spain.
Westwood
Web Health:
Realhealth.TV, a New York-based Internet TV channel that promotes health education, has entered into an agreement with UCLA Healthcare. Through the alliance, Realhealth.TV will feature physicians from UCLA providing health information and commentary on the channel. Other hospital partnerships previously announced with Realhealth.TV include Duke University Medical Center and Vanderbilt Medical Center.
Santa Monica
Distribution Agreement:
Genius Products LLC, a Santa Monica-based home-entertainment distribution company, signed a multi-year agreement with Discovery Communications Inc. The agreement names Genius as the distributor in North America for Discovery’s Animal Planet and TLC branded television properties. Genius Products will distribute such programs as “Corwin’s Quest,” “Little People Big World,” and “Trading Spaces.” In October 2006, Genius signed a deal with Discovery Communications to be the exclusive distributor in the U.S. for Discovery Kids branded television properties.
Japanese Development:
HBA/Hirsch Bender Associates, a hospitality design consulting firm, was appointed by Jin Jiang International Group, owner of China’s largest hotel group, to manage the historical restoration of Shanghai’s landmark Peace Hotel. The restoration will take about two years to complete and is expected to reopen in late 2010 under the name Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai. Upon completion, it will be managed for Jin Jiang by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. The 12-story Peace Hotel was conceived by British trader, Victor Sassoon, and was opened in 1929 as the Cathay Hotel.
Beverly Hills
Mixed Use Purchase:
Beverly Hills-based David Pick Investment Group purchased the 9,813-square-foot retail portion of a mixed-use property at 12222 Wilshire Blvd. for $6.3 million, or about $692 per square foot in an all cash transaction. Seller Kwon Moo Myoung, a private investor, was represented by Hanley Brown Group. The retail space is fully occupied by six tenants.
Pasadena
Increased Ownership:
Pasadena-based Terra Nostra, one of the leading copper producers in China, announced that it entered into an equity transfer agreement with its Chinese joint venture partner whereby Terra Nostra can increase its ownership in two Chinese companies. Terra Nostra currently owns 51 percent of each of the companies Shandong Terra Nostra Jinpeng Metallurgical Co. Ltd. and Shandong Quanxin Stainless Steel Co. Ltd. the first in the copper industry and the other in stainless steel. The agreement calls for an increase in ownership for both companies to an additional 19 percent initially, flowed by a further 20 percent position, resulting in 90 percent ownership of both companies by Terra Nostra. Terra Nostra is positioning itself to benefit from the continual increase in demand for metals in China for the automotive, high tech, and construction industries.
Wind Energy:
Tetra Tech Inc., a provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services, purchased the Delaney Group, a New York-based services firm with wind energy expertise. The Delaney Group had $60 million in revenues for 2006. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Touch Screens:
Unidym Inc., a subsidiary of Pasadena-based nanotechnology company, Arrowhead Research Corp., signed a joint development agreement with Touch Panel Laboratories, a Japanese manufacturer of touch panels on screens. The joint venture will focus on using Unidym’s proprietary transparent electrodes to create touch screens for the video game industry. A current problem with touch panels in game machines is that repeated use makes them brittle.
Glendale
Facility Buy:
Interior ornamentation manufacturer, P Weaver Co., purchased a 12,249-square-foot industrial facility at 524 Riverdale Dr. in Glendale from Granton Shoes for $3.2 million, or about $261 per square foot. The building has a large fenced yard and a 22-foot clearing height.
Torrance
Marketplace:
Famima, a Torrance-based fresh food mart operated by FamilyMart Co. Ltd., recently opened its second store in Long Beach in the last five months. FamilyMart’s core business is operating 13,122 convenience stores in Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. The U.S. Famima was founded in 2004 and since then has expanded to 12 stores around Los Angeles County. Located at 4816 East Second St. in the Belmont Shores area, the new store offers Eastern and Western noodle dishes, traditional Japanese dishes, grilled Panini’s, fresh sushi, and soup.
Sherman Oaks
New Branch:
Keller Graduate School of Management in DeVry University opened a new Southern California location in the Sherman Oaks Galleria at 15301 Ventura Blvd. Classes have begun. In 2006, the university owned by DeVry Inc. sold its West Hills campus location on Roscoe Boulevard to move to the Sherman Oaks location, considered by the school to be more centralized and higher profile. Through the new site, students can take a flexible combination of on-site and online coursework.
Woodland Hills
Partnership Renewed:
United Tote, a subsidiary of Woodland Hills-based Youbet.com Inc., extended its service contract with Churchill Downs Inc. until 2010. Financial terms were not disclosed. United Tote, which offers a variety of wagering systems and technology for tracks such as Churchill Downs, has been providing services to Churchill since 1993. Last year, United Tote handled $175 million in wagers on the day of the Kentucky Derby. United Tote was acquired by Youbet.com in 2006.
Thousand Oaks
Contract Awarded:
Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Inc., was awarded a $5 million contract by Lockheed Martin Corp. Under the contract, Teledyne Brown will manufacture flight resealable attachment mechanism carriers that are used to release cargo from the space shuttle. Teledyne Brown is one of two companies in the U.S. that has manufactured this hardware.
