The Deal Sheet

Construction is getting underway on a major interior renovation of the Beaux Arts-style building (431 W Seventh St), constructed in 1912. Designed by SRK Architects, the project represents the largest renovation in the Club's recent history. The work focuses on the fifth and sixth floors, spanning men's and women's locker rooms, swimming pool, spa, basketball and volleyball courts, retail corridor, food/beverage services and women's whirlpool (above). Planners toured private athletic clubs around the country to find sought-after features such as NBA-style stall lockers, cold plunge pool, and a European-style salt cave environment.

The Club is in talks with local companies for pop-up retail spaces selling goods such as sports gear, clothing and urban accessories. The renovation will also include new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems with state-of-the-art green features. Construction will be done in three six-month phases to allow members continuous access to locker rooms. Completion is scheduled for January 2016. Phoenix Construction & Management is the GC. Founded in 1880, the LA Athletic Club was the first private club in the city.

SALES

A JV of The Swig Co and Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp acquired the four-building, 75k SF Fox Hills Business Park, 6100-6160 Bristol Parkway in Culver City, in an all-cash transaction. The new owners plan to reposition the park as a creative office campus, benefiting from the spillover of tenants into Culver City by tenants seeking high-volume, open-plan layouts in a campus setting. Madison Partners' Bob Safai and Matt Case brokered the off-market transaction. The firm's also been engaged to handle leasing.

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NHVA1-XVlll bought the Wilcox Gateway Properties, consisting of 24 units on four contiguous parcels at 1812-1830 Wilcox Ave in LA, from Wilcox Gateway Partners for $4.4M. NAI Capital's Tim Steuernol and Rob Zaharia repped both sides. The site was entitled for 36 condos and the existing units hadn't been extensively upgraded, leaving rents 30% below market. The new owner plans to relocate the existing tenants and completely renovate all 24 units. Three of the properties were built in the '20s; the fourth building was built in 1978 and is non-rent controlled.

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Hanley Investment Group sold 128k SF of retail space in Palmdale and Torrance for nearly $29M. Patrick Kent and William Asher repped Grae Palmdale Landlord in the sale of the leasehold-interest in Sierra Commons (above), a 104,811-square-foot community shopping center in Palmdale, to Progression Real Estate Investments for $18.3M. The 1031 exchange buyer assumed a CMBS loan with over 11 years remaining. In addition, Patrick and Kevin Fryman repped seller Holt Group and Jeremy McChesney repped buyer Metro Properties in the $10.6M sale of Pacific Plaza, a 23k SF multi-tenant retail property in Torrance.

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Ness Holdings bought three multifamily properties totaling 62 units for $11.5M. The properties—1812-1830 Wilcox Ave in Hollywood, 2216 W Court St in Echo Park, and 1759 Wilton Place in Franklin Village—are located in prime LA rental markets but have suffered from deferred maintenance. Ness plans to reposition each of the buildings into luxury apartment complexes.

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NAI Capital's Steve Liu and Roger Niez repped Diamond 888 LLC in the sale of the Diamond Indoor Swapmeet, 2121 Firestone Blvd in LA, to a nonprofit owner/user for $3.6M cash. The property contains more than 22k SF in two buildings, the larger of which houses the swap meet, general store, and banquet hall. The new owner will use the retail property for its nonprofit org. According to Steve, the challenge was to deliver the building fully vacant. He and Roger were able to help the seller negotiate a peaceful termination with some 30 existing tenants.

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People Creating Success, which provides services to the developmentally disabled, bought an 11k SF industrial building in Newbury Park (2585-2587 Teller Rd) from a family trust for $2.1M or $182/SF. Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura's Mike Tingus, who repped the seller, says buildings of this size in prime locations—high visibility within walking distance of stores and restaurants—are in scarce supply in Ventura County, driving up sale prices. The median sale price for industrial buildings in the region has risen 18% to $110/SF. KAM Commercial's Keith Mathias represented the buyer.

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TIERAD4 LLC bought a 10k SF industrial building in the City of Commerce,  4635 Sheila St, from Parker Trust for nearly $1.3M. Heger Industrial's Trevor Gale and Jon Reno repped the buyer, which will use the building to distribute fresh produce products as Pereida Distributors Inc. Robert Thornburgh and Thomas Holland repped the seller.

LEASES

Regus signed a lease valued at $4M in Topaz office tower, 222 W Sixth St in downtown San Pedro, for an expansion of its South Bay operations serving the Long Beach, Palos Verdes and 190th Street Corridor markets. The flexible workplace provider's new business center will contain more than 15k SF on the tower's fourth floor. CBRE's Tim Vaughan, Dave Smith, and Mike Harry repped building owner Jupiter Holdings, while Regus represented itself.

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Radiology Partners, an integrated radiology practice-management company, signed a seven-year office lease valued at $2.5M at 2101 El Segundo Blvd in El Segundo. The tenant will occupy slightly more than 12k SF, or about half of the fourth floor. Avison Young's Jacob Bobek repped Radiology Partners, which is expanding from 5,000 SF elsewhere in the city. CBRE repped the landlord, Bixby Land Co.

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Colliers International's Scott Heaton and Joseph Williams negotiated a five-year lease at 5795 Martin Rd, a 33k SF industrial building in Irwindale, to Aero Seating Technologies. The deal included creative use of 12k sF of existing office improvements and an early lease termination negotiated with the previous tenant.

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Skyrocket Toys leased 8,539 SF of creative space from Westbrook Marina Office LLC in the Media Works property, 12910 Culver Blvd in LA. Heger Industrial's Philip Dray and Stephan Ktorza repped the tenant, which makes and distributes tech-driven products under major licenses with Kohl's, Toys"R"Us and Disney. Steaven Jones Development's Brett Shuemaker repped the landlord.

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Colliers International's Scott Heaton and Joseph Williams negotiated a five-year lease at 15751 Tapia St, a 46k SF industrial building in Irwindale, to Pacific Wine Distributors. The deal included an above-market rental abatement concession plus a substantial improvement allowance to insulate and climate control a portion of the space for refrigeration, construct 5,000 SF of creative office space, and upgrade the building's truck loading equipment.

FINANCING

Pacific Southwest Realty Services' Ted Willis arranged a $5.5M refi loan secured by Santa Rosa Plaza, a 59k SF neighborhood shopping center in Camarillo. The owners, who developed the center in 1980, will use the proceeds to pay off a maturing CMBS loan. The new permanent, non-recourse loan was secured from a life insurance company.

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Eagle Group Finance funded three short-term, non-recourse loans totaling $20.2M, including $6M to finance the discounted payoff of the note securing the LA Fresh Flower Mall in Downtown LA. The others: nearly $8M to finance the renovation of a 38-room boutique hotel in West LA, and just over $6M to refi The Falls of Elk Grove, a conference and events center in Sacramento County. CEO Brian Good says each of the three IO, fixed-rate loans was funded within 21 days of application.

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Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp's Sharone Sabar arranged a $5M bridge loan for the acquisition of a 17-unit multifamily property in LA. According to Sharone, the building had a significant amount of rental upside but the income was low. The lender was willing to underwrite to pro forma rents and provide 70% leverage on an 18-month IO loan at 3.85% interest.

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Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp's Sharone Sabar arranged a $5M loan for the acquisition of a 7,668 SF bowling alley in Simi Valley. M&M's Steven Schechter repped the buyer and the seller in the sale.

CONSTRUCTION/DEVELOPMENT

Lennar Multifamily Communities is under construction on The Lakes at West Covina, a 450-unit luxury rental community on a long-vacant site once occupied by Wickes Furniture. Designed by KTGY Group, the mixed-use development will contain 20k SF of ground floor retail and restaurants. Among the amenities, it'll boast bocce ball and basketball courts, a turf soccer sports field, and a resident co-working space. Lennar expects to deliver the first units by fall 2015, with full completion one year later.

KUDOS

Lee & Associates Ontario's Steve Haston was selected to receive one of NAIOP's 2014 Developing Leaders Awards, recognizing 10 pros under 35 who distinguish themselves among their colleagues and demonstrate promise as future industry leaders. Steve, who has transacted more than 2.5M SF this year, will receive the award later this month at NAIOP's Development 14 meet in Denver.

EXECUTIVE NEWS

Real estate veteran Greg Galusha joined Kearny Real Estate Co as partner, responsible for expanding transaction volume in commercial assets in LA and Orange counties. He brings 22 years' experience in origination, asset management, lending, workouts, portfolio management and development, most recently as co-managing principal of Arris Investments and before that as a partner with PCCP. The move reunites Galusha and Kearny managing partner Jeff Dritley, who worked together at Kearny/Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds from 1997 to 2002.

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Marcus & Millichap promoted Brandon Michaels to first vice president investments. A director of the firm's National Retail Group, he's closed more than 150 transactions valued in excess of $500M since beginning at M&M as an associate in 2004.