The Deal Sheet
Last month, CBRE SVP Stan Gerlach was one of the many commercial real estate folks who grew a mustache for Movember, raising funds and awareness for men's health issues. The veteran (almost 30 years) office broker has also exclusively represented more than 9M SF of Westside buildings--nearly one-fifth of the buildings over 50k SF.
Today, Stan plans to shave off the 'stache he grew in support of his partner, CBRE VP Bryan Dunne (left), who's doing well following treatment for testicular cancer. The duo has worked together for nine years. Stan tells us his son Dalton also grew both a mustache and a beard for Movember. But he isn't focused only on facial hair these days. Earlier this year, he repped buyer OUE in the sale of the US Bank Tower from MPG Office Trust and works with the building's leasing team (Mark O'Brien, Matt Renshaw and Paul Ayoob), to bring Westside tenants to Downtown LA.
With more than 50 tenant tours and 15 proposals over the past three months, the 72-story tower is seeing good activity, Stan says. He also reps The Wilshire Landmark (11755 Wilshire Blvd), where recent activity has taken occupancy to 94% despite the soft Brentwood market, from 72% nine months ago. New tenants have backfilled three full floors that were vacated by accounting firm RBZ and a law firm that went belly up. The business info firm IBISWorld just moved in from Santa Monica, and Crystal Cruises, repped by Jim Travers, will occupy its space in January in a relocation from Century City. Another new tenant, law firm Brady Vorwerck, had a lease out for signature across the street but switched to Wilshire Landmark for its newest location, Stan adds.
SALES
DiamondRock Hospitality, a lodging REIT, sold the 487-room Torrance Marriott South Bay to a Chinese investor for $76M, including credit for the hotel's replacement reserve. The non-core property (3635 Fashion Way) is next to the Del Amo Fashion Center mall.
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JLL's Jeff Adkison, Brendan McArthur, and Paul Sablock closed the $29M sale of the historic Sears building, at Olympic and Soto streets in Boyle Heights. Developer Izek Shomof plans to redevelop the 1.8M SF building, which has been mostly vacant since the early '90s, for creative office space and apartments. MJW Investments was the seller. Completed in 1927, the nine-story Art Deco building once housed a Sears distribution facility; a 185k SF Sears department store remains on the ground floor.
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New Clothing Co bought 5770 S Anderson St in Vernon, a 9,100 SF industrial building with 2,600 SF of offices, from Miron Enterprises for $1.1M. Heger Industrial repped both sides: Joseph Wong for the seller, and Stephan Ktorza and Philip Dray for the buyer.
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Trion Properties bought Valencia Town Center Plaza, a 26k SF office/retail property in Valencia, from a family trust for $6.9M. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Josh Levy and Matt Dobson repped both sides. The second-floor office space is being marketed to medical tenants. CBRE's Deron White is the leasing agent.
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Barbara Casey bought an office building, 12517 Venice Blvd, for $1.1M to house the real estate PR firm Casey & Sayre. The new digs will boast a full studio for video, audio, and podcast production. Teles Properties' Stephanie Younger repped the buyer, and Keller Williams' Richard Chernock repped the seller, Mar Vista Films.
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Marcus & Millichap sold an 18-unit apartment building, 3040 S La Brea, for just under $1.8M. Josh Cohen and Walter De La Torre repped the seller, while Thomas Jonsson, William James, and Evette Cord repped the buyer. Built in 1960, the property is located along the proposed Crenshaw/LAX transit corridor.
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Milan Capital Management bought a 100k SF shopping center in Simi Valley (1856 Erringer Rd) anchored by Smart & Final for just under $17M or $170/SF. Marcus & Millichap's Marty Cohan and Douglas Cole repped the seller, who owned the property for 45 years, and the Anaheim-based buyer. The duo also arranged $7.5M in bridge financing through Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp's Anita Paryani and Jake Roberts.
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Madison Partners sold 9939 Topanga Canyon in Chatsworth, a two-building apartment complex consisting of 12 tri-level townhomes. Darin Beebower and Bryan Schellinger repped both the buyer, a private real estate investment firm, and the seller, a private investor.
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A six-unit apartment building in Santa Monica, 1963 17th St, sold to an Asian investor for just under $1.7M. Charles Dunn's Kimberly Roberts Stepp repped the buyer as well as seller, a private investor in LA. The building, located near Santa Monica City College and the new Metro line, closed at a 4.5% cap. She also repped seller US Bank in the sale of a 10-unit building, 11019 Fruitland Dr in Studio City, for $2.4M (4.1% cap). Sapphire Investment repped the buyer.
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Hanley Investment's Jonathan Selznick sold a 13k-plus SF retail center in Van Nuys (13647 Victory Blvd) for $4.9M.
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Marcus and Millichap's Tony Azzi and Jason Grant sold a 10-unit apartment building in West Hollywood, 7624 Fountain Ave, to an LLC for $2.3M.
LEASES
Science Inc, a tech incubator and investor, leased more than 16k SF at 1447 Second St in Santa Monica, expanding from 10k SF across the street at 1410 Second. Avison Young's Randy Starr and Tim Dornan repped the tenant, while the landlord, Beitler Commercial Realty Services, represented itself.
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FIGat7th signed long-term leases with two Limited Brands' stores slated to open in early spring: Victoria's Secret (8,400 SF) and Bath & Body Works (2,570 SF). The former will include a freestanding PINK store aimed at collegiate women. The center's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, was represented by Charles Dunn's Kevin Dee and Ted Slaught, and in-house by Ed Hogan and Liz McLay. Limited repped itself.
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Sam Edelman, a division of Brown Shoe Co, will open its first West Coast location in April at 342 N Beverly Dr in Beverly Hills. RKF's Robert Cohen and Rachel Rosenberg repped the tenant. The landlord is W&A Properties.
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Lowthorp, Richards, McMillian, Miller & Templemar leased a 10k SF office property at Topa Financial Center, 300 E Esplanade Dr in Oxnard, from Topa Management Co. NAI Capital's Bill Kiefer and Steve Doll repped the tenant.
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Ames Taping Tools leased a 2,196 SF industrial space, 3421 San Fernando Rd in LA, from Forest Lawn Mortuary. NAI Capital's David Young and Chad Gahr repped both sides.
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The Boiling Crab leased a 9,310 SF retail property, 1097 Glendon Ave in LA. NAI Capital's Brian Luft and Angelle Ghiz-Wacker repped the landlord, Westwood Retail LLC.
CONSTRUCTION/DEVELOPMENT
Storm Properties cut the ribbon on a 16k SF CVS/pharmacy store, marking completion of phase one of Storm Plaza in Torrance. The $18M, 50k SF retail center is being built on the former Ricky & Ronnie's Drive-In site at the NW corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. The center will serve a 352-unit multifamily complex to be built nearby in addition to existing residents.
FINANCING
Mesa West Capital closed its $650M Mesa West Real Estate Income Fund III LP with $752M in equity commitments, marking the second time in three years that the firm has exceeded its fund raising goals. In 2010, the firm raised more than $614M for its second real estate debt fund, which targeted $400M.
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Canyon Capital Realty Advisors provided a $42M senior construction loan to a Griffin Real Estate Management affiliate to complete construction of a 264-unit apartment complex in Riverside. The project is located at the corner of Riverwalk Parkway and Sierra Vista Avenue in the master-planned community of Riverwalk Commons. Move-ins will begin in Spring; nearby employers include Kaiser Permanente, Riverside Regional Technology Park, and UC Riverside.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
JLL SVP James Malone jumped over to Brookfield Office Properties, now Downtown LA's largest office landlord, as VP of leasing in an expansion of Brookfield's DTLA leasing team led by regional VP John Barganski. Joining as leasing managers are Marin Rutherford, also from JLL, and Rachael Zanetos, most recently with MPG Office Trust.
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Lee & Associates named Jeffrey Rinkov to the interim positions of president and chairman of the board, assuming the duties of former CEO Ed Indvik, who returns to full-time brokerage. Rinkov also remains president and chairman of Lee & Associates Central LA.
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Sam Alison, the new West Coast regional director of Oklahoma-based Stan Johnson Co, is familiar to many here—from the 15M SF of retail investment deals he's done totaling more than $3B he did with CBRE. Sam, a former SVP of the latter firm, will focus on growing Stan Johnson's net lease investment teams in LA, San Fran and Phoenix.
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Colliers International promoted Tom Lagos to EVP. He has closed 36 transactions valued in excess of $400M since joining Colliers in 2008, $1.8M in deals throughout his 20-year career.
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Tim Grizzell joined Land Advisors Organization's California division to head the multifamily land practice. Most recently, he led the multifamily land practice in Colliers' Downtown LA office.
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Forrest Blake joined DTZ as a VP in the Downtown LA office. He's been a tenant broker for the past 16 years with Studley, Travers, and Cresa with 2M SF of purchases and leases.
