The Deal Sheet

BH Properties has acquired 100 acres in Indio, marking the commercial real estate investment firm's first land purchase. (Thoreau said that you go back to the land "to live more deliberately." Wasn't he a developer?)

EVP and general counsel Steve Jaffe tells us this was a way to broaden the portfolio and fit with the firm's opportunistic vein. The acreage is located at 42nd Avenue and Monroe Street, next to I-10. The company's still figuring out what to do with its new holding, but the location raises multiple retail, multifamily and hotel possibilities. (For now though, they could always just go there and have a picnic.) According to Steve, BH was attracted by the low per-square-foot land cost as well as Walmart's plans to build a Supercenter across the street. During escrow, Walmart broke ground. Steve envisions selling a portion of the land to an apartment builder at some point, and potentially adding more retail.

The firm's in no rush, he says; there's a lot retail coming out of the ground already. "The key with this is patience." That said, Indio is one of Riverside County's fastest-growing cities, and a couple times a year is ground zero for the music scene. Steve's a newly certified scuba diver (the new plant wall at Westwood Gateway, where BH's offices are located, is good practice for navigating through seawood). In addition, he recently started doing voice-overs and writing radio commercials for an advertising agency in Ecuador. One of his commercials just won a bronze medal at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the Oscars of the advertising world.

SALES

G6 Apartments, a five-unit, 25-bedroom student housing property one block from USC, was sold to a private investor for $780k/unit or $156k/bed. Marcus & Millichap's Ron Harris, Paul Darrow, and Michael DiSimone repped the seller. Built in 2009, the property (1188 W 36th Pl) features gated parking spaces, furnished living area and hardwood floors, and some units have loft-style ceilings.

***

Shiekh Shoes no longer has to squeeze into its space in Inland Center Mall, now that it bought San Bernardino Plaza—located across the street at 764 Inland Center Dr—from Hyrosen Properties for just under $1.9M. According to Progressive Real Estate Partners' Paul Galmarini, who repped both sides, the footwear and apparel retailer had outgrown its mall location. The new property allows Shiekh, which operates nearly 140 stores throughout the US, to expand and receive cash flow from lease-up. The buyer occupies 6,888 SF of the 16k SF San Bernardino Plaza; Progressive has been retained to lease the remaining space.

***

North Camden Properties bought a three-story building in Beverly Hills (340 N Camden Dr), fully leased to tenants that include Gucci, Prada, and Engel & Volkers, for $12M. Coldwell Banker Commercial's T.C. Macker and Brian Peterson repped both the buyer and seller, a Silicon Valley-based investor.

***

A private investor looking for cash flow bought a 50k SF single-tenant, net-leased property in Carson (16941 Keegan Ave) from Microtek for $7.3M. The flex/office building is fully leased to Timec and guaranteed by parent company Transfield Services (North America). NAI Capital's Ryan Campbell and Lee & Associates' Tony Naples repped the buyer. Colliers repped the seller.

***

Jobber's Wholesale, which sells aftermarket auto parts and lubricants, bought a 23k-plus SF industrial building in Santa Fe Springs (12078 Florence) from R.R. Donnelly for $2.7M. GM Properties' Matt Wagner repped the buyer, which is expanding and relocating from Downey. Cushman & Wakefield's Jeff Sanita and John McMillan repped the seller. Move-in's scheduled for August after TI work at the former printing plant is completed.

LEASES

Deloitte signed a lease with Brookfield Office Properties for 113k SF of office space in the Gas Company Tower. DTZ's Lexis Livengood repped the tenant. The landlord was represented in-house by John Barganski, James Malone, Rachael Zanetos, and Marin Turney.

***

KBS REIT II inked nearly 73k SF of deals at Union Bank Plaza, bringing the Downtown property to 97% leased. KBS Western regional prez Rodney Richerson says the company will now hire a real estate investment banking firm to look at strategic options for the 40-story, 627k-plus SF office/retail tower. JLL's John McAniff and Tim Miller repped the owner in the leases, which include nearly 14k SF for Arcadis USA, more than 24k SF for Union Bank, and a 16k SF extension by Regus.

***

Jacuzzi Brands (yes, it's a brand name, which is why all Jacuzzis are hot tubs but not all hot tubs are Jacuzzis) leased a 350k SF distribution building in Chino (14525 Monte Vista Ave) and more than 32k SF of HQ offices in Chino Hills (13925 City Center Dr in The Shoppes of Chino Hills). Trent Wylde and Kevin McCarthy repped Majestic Realty in the new seven-year distribution building lease. Jacuzzi conducted negotiations on competing Otay Mesa/US border industrial space for total transportation cost considerations, according to First Team Commercial's Karl Heim, who repped the tenant on both deals. PMRG's Donna Siebert repped Chino Hills Mall LLC in the five-year corporate office lease.

***

Ricon Corp, which makes wheelchair lifts, ramps, and anti-graffiti bus windows, leased a 65k SF industrial building, 1135 Aviation Pl in San Fernando. CBRE repped both sides: Greg Geraci for the tenant and David Harding for the landlord, Liberty Property Trust. Liberty purchased the building empty last fall as part of a national portfolio acquisition.

***

illi Commercial's Eric Friedland completed two leases for Lassen's Natural Foods & Vitamins, bringing the family-owned grocer to 11 locations in California. The latest deal is a 12k SF lease in BRE Properties' Wilshire La Brea (5200 Wilshire Blvd), a newly built mixed-use complex containing 478 luxury apartments and 40k SF of retail and restaurant space. CBRE's Timothy Bower repped BRE in the $5.6M lease. Meanwhile, a 13k-plus SF Lassen's store is under construction in the Echo Park area (1625 W Sunset Blvd). BBRE Management's Ernest Brambila repped the landlord.

CONSTRUCTION

With a bevy of city and housing officials in attendance, AvalonBay Communities broke ground on its first project in West Hollywood. Designed by MVE & Partners, Avalon West Hollywood consists of 370 residences, including 77 affordable seniors apartments, and more than 32k SF of retail space. The project was first proposed in 2006 by Casden Properties but stalled during the recession. AvalonBay took over the development in 2012, reduced the maximum height to seven stories from 10, and brought in the West Hollywood Community Housing Corp to partner on the affordable units, called Movietown Square. Opening: early 2016.

FINANCING

Thorofare Capital's Felix Gutnikov closed a $9M short-term loan for an LA-based healthcare operator to refinance two of its skilled nursing facilities. The loan, which marks Thorofare's entry into the healthcare property sector, is secured by a 99-bed nursing facility on Pico Boulevard near Koreatown and an 81-bed nursing facility on North Fairfax Avenue. According to Felix, the borrower was seeking funds to pay off a matured term loan and implement a renovation plan, as well as ample time to refinance through HUD on a permanent loan.

***

Quantum Capital Partners' Mike Yim arranged nearly $12.5M in CMBS financing with a New York-based commercial mortgage finance company for the acquisition of three Florida mobile home parks. The acquisition involved separate transactions with three sellers. Mike secured three individual loans within 35 days to meet the borrower's tight 1031 exchange deadline.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Western National Property Management was selected to manage a 172-unit luxury apartment community within the Hutton Cos’ recently completed La Verne Village Luxury Apartment Homes & Shops. Amenities include a media lounge, Internet cafe, and pool resort/entertainment area, and a section of the apartment complex is smoke-free.

KUDOS

Pete Roth, a partner in the Century City office of Allen Matkins, was elected to the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He's the sixth Allen Matkins attorney admitted to ACREL, which is by invitation-only after a rigorous screening process. Pete specializes in strategic planning, negotiation and documentation of the acquisition, disposition, development, leasing and management of office, retail, industrial and mixed-use projects throughout California.

***

Killefer Flammang Architects won the top award in the Hospitality category of the LA Business Council Architectural Awards for its work on Downtown's new Ace Hotel. As executive architect for the 13-story, 182-room hotel, the firm was mainly responsible for assuring that the registered landmark met all of the requirements by the City’s Office of Historic Resources, design/principal Wade Killefer says. Built as the United Artists office building in 1927, the Spanish Gothic structure later housed a televangelist church. One of the neon "Jesus Saves" rooftop signs has been retained, along with the building's 1,600-seat theater, tower, and terra cotta facade. KFA worked in partnership with GREC Partners and Morley Builders.

***

Jon Gorczyca, VP-US brokerage services in DTZ's West LA office, was awarded CoreNet Global's Master of Corporate Real Estate designation.

EXECUTIVE NEWS

illi Commercial welcomed the rest of The Leyner Group, a retail-focused brokerage team: John Aquino, Jeri Creson, Emily Jori, Barbara Leyner and David Sedlak. They rejoin their colleagues J. Richard Leyner and Michael Haim Sharon, who previously came aboard from NAI Capital.

***

Gensler appointed a collaborative leadership team as co-managing directors of the LA office. John Adams is a firm-wide practice area leader and member of the board of directors and management committee. Barbara Bouza is a leader of the global Health & Wellness and Life Sciences practice areas. Michael White is a firm-wide design leader of the global Media & Technology practice areas. The trio will lead Gensler's 475-person Downtown LA office, working with Southwest regional managing principal Rob Jernigan and co-CEO Andy Cohen.

***

David Rogers joined Perkowitz + Ruth Architects as design principal. He brings more than 40 years of experience with a focus on revitalizing city centers around the globe, including the Beursplein project in the Netherlands and Zlote Tarasy in Warsaw, Poland. Domestic projects include Fremont Street in Las Vegas and the redesign of Santa Monica Place.

***

Thomas Berry joined Thornton Tomasetti as a VP in LA, responsible for growing the firm's MEP group and building performance and property loss consulting practices in the Western US.