WESTSIDE
CENTURY CITY
Fitting In: Kelso Place Asset Management, a London investment firm, has acquired a stake in the Nicole Farhi Ltd. fashion label owned by OpenGate Capital, a Century City private-equity firm. Kelso Place, which handles other luxury fashion brands, will provide financial and strategic support to London-based Nicole Farhi. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
New Branch: PacTrust Bank, the banking subsidiary of Chula Vista’s First PacTrust Bancorp, has opened its first Los Angeles County branch, at 1880 Century Park East in Century City. PacTrust plans to open another county branch, at 2631 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica, later this year.
WESTWOOD
Food for Thought: Westwood ad agency MZ Advertising has launched a blog, RestaurantCatchup.com, on which it will track the latest sales trends, news, marketing programs, ad campaigns and products in the restaurant industry. Gary Rothlein, MZ director of brand analysis, will write the blog.
CULVER CITY
Linked Up: PK4 Media, a Culver City advertising network and publishing company, has acquired JSFour, an L.A. media and technology company. The two have been collaborating on an advanced video distribution platform for online video. As part of the acquisition, JSFour founder, Jimi Smoot, will join PK4 Media as vice president of product development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CENTRAL AREA
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
Dressed Up: Pleasanton-base Ross Stores Inc., which owns the Ross Dress for Less discount clothing chain, is opening a store in downtown L.A.’s historic Woolworth department store building. The new 39,000-square-foot, ground-floor store, at 719-725 S. Broadway, will restore many of the design elements of the building, which was built in 1920. The building was purchased in December by El Segundo real estate investment group Paragon Commercial Group.
FAIRFAX DISTRICT
School Support: Caruso Affiliated is giving $100,000 to local schools as part of the retail center developer-operator’s holiday shopping program at its Fairfax district mall the Grove and Glendale mall Americana at Brand. The program allowed shoppers to ask that the company, based in the Fairfax district, pledge 5 percent of their total purchase price to the local school of their choice. Shoppers were required to bring their receipts to the concierge stations at each mall and identify which school they wished to support. Approximately 425 schools in Los Angeles and Ventura counties will receive money. Each school has discretion over how the money will be spent.
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
TOLUCA LAKE
Building Purchased: Slovin Properties Inc. has acquired a Toluca Lake office building for $15.2 million from Cahuenga Plaza LP. The 73,150-square-foot, three-story building, at 4130 Cahuenga Blvd., was built in 1984 and has subterranean parking for 201 cars.
CORRECTION
The caption of a photograph accompanying the article headlined “Actor Takes Leading Role in Client Development” in the Jan. 16 issue incorrectly identified Donald Snyder, partner in the accounting firm Green Hasson Janks, as Leon Janks. Snyder was also incorrectly identified as Janks in another photo accompanying the table of contents on Page 2.
