The LA Deal Sheet
Blackstone-owned EQ Office has rebranded its West Los Angeles property as Playa District.
The new name follows a new vision for the Howard Hughes Center campus, built to allow flexibility for tenants and help attract talent. The company is working with Industrious, which will manage 100K SF to 140K SF of flexible office space and activate the ground-floor space across the Playa District campus.
Industrious' involvement fits into EQ Office's interest in making the location attractive to Silicon Beach businesses, often tech startups, that need flexible work options and experience frequent change. Playa District encompasses six Class-A office buildings at 6100, 6080, 6060, 6601, 6701 and 6833 Center Drive and is near Playa Vista with access to the 405 Freeway and Los Angeles International Airport.
The campus has more than 1.3M SF and is expected to house 120 to 150 businesses, up from 89 existing tenants.
Rios Clementi Hale Studios began the campus redesign in January 2017. The redesign includes common area additions, including a fitness center, a conference center and outdoor common areas.
The project is expected to be completed in March.
SALES
Vue Hollywood, a 92-unit, non-rent-controlled apartment building in Hollywood, has sold for $45M, or $489,326/unit.
Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap, arranged the sale. IPA Senior Director Kevin Green, Executive Director Greg Harris and Senior Director Joseph Grabiec represented the seller, a private multifamily investment firm, and secured the buyer, Phoenix Group.
The seller had renovated 74 unit interiors, creating an opportunity for the new owners to capture more revenue through upgrading the remaining units and capitalizing on demand for high-end housing, Grabiec said.
Built in 1987, Vue Hollywood is just off Sunset Boulevard. Most units are two-bedroom ones. The building has had significant exterior, common area and apartment interior improvements since 2015.
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Newport Beach-based TA Realty has purchased the Santa Fe Trail Plaza shopping center in El Monte. The seller was a joint venture of Festival Companies of Los Angeles and Hutensky Capital Partners.
CBRE's National Retail Partners-West team of Executive Vice President Philip Voorhees, Director Kirk Brummer and associate Sean Heitzler represented the seller and buyer.
The 112,335 SF Santa Fe Trail Plaza was completed in 2016 at 10601-10761 Valley Blvd. and 10714 King Court in El Monte. Tenants include Superior Grocers, Ross Dress for Less, Petco, Five Below, Starbucks and Subway. There were multiple offers for the property.
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The Enclave at Town Square, a multifamily property in Chino, has sold for $30.5M.
Berkadia Managing Directors Jeff Rowerdink and Joe Leon of the Irvine office completed the sale on behalf of the seller, San Mateo-based Essex Property Trust. The buyer was Klingbeil Capital Management, based in Columbus, Ohio. Klingbeil already had another multifamily property in its portfolio down the street from The Enclave at Town Square. The Enclave at Town Square, at 11475 Central Ave., has 124 one- and two-bedroom units and a fitness center, spa, pool and clubhouse.
LEASES
Taylor Fresh Foods has signed a long-term lease for all of Dedeaux Properties' 111,260 SF frozen/refrigerated industrial facility in Commerce. The property, at 4000 Noakes St., was built in 2007 and has nearly 45K SF of refrigerated production space, a roughly 23,500 SF freezer, more than 4K SF of refrigerated storage, a 6K SF refrigerated dock and about 15,400 SF of office.
Newmark Knight Frank Executive Managing Director John McMillan, Senior Managing Director Jeff Sanita and Associate Director Greg Stumm represented Dedeaux Properties.
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The Klabin Co./CORFAC International negotiated a multiyear lease renewal for Ever Concord Logistics' Los Angeles corporate headquarters at 452 North Oak St. at Airport Business Center in Inglewood. Klabin Redevelopment Associates owns the industrial campus.
The Klabin Co.’s Senior Vice President Courtney Bell and Senior Vice President Matthew Stringfellow represented Klabin Redevelopment Associates in the five-year extension for 13,511 SF, valued at more than $1M. Ever Concord was represented by Ellen Cheng of Coldwell Banker George Realty in Alhambra.
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Radiology Partners has signed a 63,820 SF headquarters lease at the recently completed 80K SF Ascend creative office building in El Segundo. Ascend, designed by Frank Gehry, is at 2330 Utah Ave. and has customizable creative office space with 24-foot clear heights, large glass-panel walls and 16K SF of private outdoor patio space. It sits on a podium over a covered parking structure.
Radiology Partners will relocate its headquarters from 2101 El Segundo Blvd.
JLL's Mike McRoskey, Blake Searles, Evan Moran and Jason Fine represented NSB Associates in the lease to Radiology Partners. The team is leading the leasing effort at Ascend. CBRE's Jake Bobek represented Radiology Partners.
GRAND OPENING
Century West Partners and Modern Luxury are celebrating the official grand opening for Next on Lex in Glendale. The mixed-use community at 275 West Lexington Drive is the largest for-rent project built in Los Angeles County since 2016. It has 494 studio, one- and two-bedroom units above ground-floor retail anchored by Citibank. The project is built around a paseo and shared green space and has a sky deck with a fireplace, a gym, a game room and private and public coworking space.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Kidder Mathews has opened a new office on the 27th floor of Figueroa at Wilshire in downtown Los Angeles. The CRE firm has relocated 22 professionals and staff from its Commerce and Los Angeles offices to the new location. The new office was designed for about 45 people. Kidder Mathews recently announced its expansion into the Glendale/Tri-Cities market with the addition of a veteran team of five, including Bill Boyd and Linda Lee, as well as a newly built office in El Segundo that was kicked off by the addition of expert team Luke Staubitz, Harvey Beesen and Andrew Dilfer earlier this year.
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Steinberg Hart has hired Frederick Braggs as principal and chief financial officer. Braggs will lead the business and financial operations for the architecture firm. He has two decades of financial management experience with global architecture and engineering firms. Most recently, he was vice president of design and construction finance at Westfield. There he worked closely with the construction and design executives to provide oversight and holistic and strategic planning for its flagship projects.
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Kate Kraus has joined Allen Matkins' Los Angeles office as tax partner. Kraus will provide tax planning advice, including structuring related to opportunity zones and other provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Her clients include real estate developers, real estate funds, private equity funds, hedge funds, Fortune 100 companies, mid-market companies and high net worth individuals. She joins Allen Matkins from CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, where she was principal and head of partnership tax.
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Vestar has hired Ryan Ash as associate project director in its Long Beach office. Ash will work with the acquisitions and development teams and focus on repositioning, leasing and operations of properties in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Ash brings over eight years of finance and commercial real estate experience to Vestar, one of the leading privately held shopping center owners in the U.S. Most recently, he was a member of HFF's debt and structured finance team in Los Angeles, where he closed over $2.8B of senior loans, mezzanine financing, preferred equity investment and joint ventures.
CORRECTION, NOV. 21, 10:50 A.M. PT: A previous version of the Deal Sheet misidentified the seller of the Santa Fe Trail Plaza shopping center. The story has been updated.
