Reseda
Auto Center Sold:
Woodland Hills-based MG Development sold the Reseda Auto Center, 7444-7448 Reseda Blvd., to a private investor from San Francisco for $1.8 million. The 20,000-square-foot center was built in 1986 and is 100 percent occupied by 13 tenants. The buyer, represented by Realty Associates in San Francisco, acquired the leasehold interest in the property with 35 years remaining on the ground lease. The seller was represented by Irvine-based Hanley Brown Group Real Estate Advisors.
Tujunga
New Site:
Online dating company, Luvoo International Inc., launched its newest Web site, luvooadult.com, to sell various products for men and women, including omega oils and supplements to quit smoking and control acne.
Torrance
International Partnership:
Storm Industries Inc., a holding company with interests in manufacturing and real estate, inked a joint venture partnership with Cixi City, a Chinese manufacturer of industrial and aerospace components. Through the partnership, Cixi City, based in Zhejiang Provence, will provide a broader line of industrial components to be sold in the United States that will complement Storm Industries’ F.C. Kingston brand of products.
Aerospace Acquisition:
Admiralty Partners Inc., a Los Angeles-based private investment firm specializing in the acquisition of companies in aerospace, defense, and federal information technologies, purchased the Aerospace and Defense business units of Vertical Circuits Inc. The sector will now function as Trident Space & Defense, and will be headquartered in Torrance. Trident will be composed of three operating units: the advanced products business unit, the electronic components business unit and the ground systems business unit.
Hybrid Buses:
Enova Systems provided the hybrid technology necessary to create hybrid school buses produced by IC Corp. Florida’s Manatee School district was the first in the nation to receive the buses last month. School districts around the U.S. will soon be receiving the remaining 17 buses.
Hawthorne
Terminal Opening:
Million Air, a Houston-based provider of executive airplane terminal services and upscale private charters, opened the doors to its newest executive plane terminal: Million Air Los Angeles at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport. The company purchased the facility in October 2006 and then put more than $1 million toward a renovation project. It is the third Million Air facility in Los Angeles County and is the closest private terminal to downtown. The terminal includes amenities like a pilot theater lounge and a flight planning room.
Manhattan Beach
Law Office:
Douglas A. Greer, a lawyer specializing in first- and third-party coverage, employment, health care and business and professional malpractice, recently launched a Manhattan Beach law firm called the Law Offices of Douglas A. Greer. Before opening his own office, Greer worked for Cotkin Collins & Ginsberg in Los Angeles where he represented insurers and policyholders. Before that he practiced at Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi in Costa Mesa.
El Segundo
Name Change:
Gulf Caribe El Segundo, a subsidiary of Seattle-based marine services company, Foss Maritime Co., will now function as one of Foss’ regional offices. The 25 employees now employed in the El Segundo office will remain with the company. Foss Maritime El Segundo will continue to assist in bringing crude oil into refineries and transporting crude oil from super tankers to smaller tankers that navigate the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors easily. Foss acquired Gulf Caribe Maritime in March 1999. The El Segundo company has been operating as a Foss subsidiary.
Long Beach
Foreign Acquisition:
Tokio Marine, part of Tokyo-based Millea Holdings Inc., acquired a 15 percent interest in Long Beach-based Alliance Inspection Management, an independent, third-party inspection company that verifies the condition of new, off-lease and fleet vehicles, and other properties. Millea Holdings, which is made up of Tokio Marne and Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd., is an insurance holding company.
Port Funds:
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are allocating $6.3 million in additional funding to the Gateway Cities Council of Governments so that they can continue to replace older, dirtier diesel trucks with newer, less polluting vehicles. The Port of Los Angeles is contributing $3.3 million and the Port of Long Beach is contributing $3 million. The truck fleet modernization project was included in the San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan approved last November. To this point, the Port of Los Angeles has provided about 75 percent of the $17 million that has been spent for clean truck grants under the Gateway Cities Fleet Modernization program.
New Name:
Interactive Health, a robotic massage products company based in Long Beach, will adopt the name of its massage chairs as the name of the company. Effective immediately, the name of the company will be Human Touch. All products will feature the Human Touch identity and logo.
Beverly Hills
Development Funded:
Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and San Francisco-based California Mortgage and Realty, funded a $97.9 million bridge loan to Halekua Development Corp. so the company can exit from bankruptcy. The loan will repay all of Halekua’s secured creditors on a community development project planned for a 161-acre residentially zoned piece of land overlooking Pearl Harbor, 30 minutes west of Honolulu. The money also will cover $20 million in pre-development and infrastructure expenses. The development, known as Royal Kunia, was stalled in 2003 when Halekua filed for bankruptcy. Plans call for 2,000 homes, 600 of which will be affordable units.
West Hollywood
Contractor Hired:
Jones & Jones, a contractor based in Ojai, has been hired by developer Charles S. Cohen to construct the Red Building, the 400,000-square foot office project that will complete the Pacific Design Center complex in West Hollywood. The groundbreaking occurred on March 29 with construction to last two years.
Pasadena
Solar Technology:
Practical Instruments, a supplier of rooftop solar panels, was given the Technology Pathway Partnerships award by the U.S. Department of Energy, providing the company with $4 million in federal funding. The company plans to use the funding for the commercialization of its Heliotube platform, a low-cost, high-efficiency rooftop solar panel. The U.S. Department of Energy presented awards to six other companies as well, as part of its $168 million Solar America Initiative that plans to bring cost-competitive solar energy technologies to U.S. markets by 2015.
Burbank
National Expansion:
Technicolor Digital Cinema, a provider of digital cinema services and systems, will install its digital projection systems in all of Zyacorp Entertainment’s Cinemagic screens throughout the Northeastern United States. Initially, 22 systems will be installed and the balance will roll out in early 2008. Technicolor Digital also signed an agreement with Wehrenberg Theaters Inc. in St. Louis to install digital projection systems throughout the Midwest. Technicolor Digital Cinema is owned by Paris-based Thomson, a digital video technology company.
Altadena
Virtual Dressing Room:
Myshape.com recently launched its online store and a system called ShapeMatch, which matches women to clothes they might like according to their specific measurements, body shape and style preferences. A site user completes an online profile about her body and her fashion preferences. The site then automatically links to a personal online shopping site that contains clothes that complement her fit and preferences. MyShape.com carries lines from designers such as Charlotte Tarantola, Cynthia Steffe and Dana Buchman.
City of Industry
Lease Renewed:
Centric Parts, a manufacturer of aftermarket brake systems and other automotive parts, signed a five-year lease renewal for 200,000 square feet of warehouse space at 14528 E. Bonelli St. in City of Industry. Centric Parts has been a tenant since 2002 and also leases 66,000 square feet. City of Industry-based Majestic Realty mediated the deal.
Downtown
Building Christened:
The Biscuit Co. Lofts at Industrial and Mateo streets recently celebrated a grand opening. The location, originally constructed as the Nabisco cookie plant in 1925, was converted into 104 live/ work lofts with tower ceilings. Lofts run from $375,000 to more than $1,395,000.
