The Weekly LA Deal Sheet
If you've never been inside the three-building office campus at 2100, 2120 and 2150 Grand Ave in El Segundo, you're not alone. Marshall Property & Development president Paul Marshall tells us the project was built between 1978 and 1982 for a single user—Computer Sciences Corp, which occupied the site some 25 years—and has never before been marketed to tenants.
That's all due to change. The company, founded five years ago by Paul and MPD principal Matt Montgomery, recently reintroduced the 200k SF complex, dubbed Campus 2100, to the brokerage community following a creative office repositioning. MPD, in partnership with Rockwood Capital, acquired the campus from visual effects and animation studio Rhythm and Hues (Life of Pi, Babe), which bought the property from CSC in 2007. Both firms still occupy some space there.) This is MPD's first project in El Segundo, but Paul and Matt are no strangers to the city, having built the Karl Storz building across the street when both were with Opus West.
We snapped this of John Combs, whose RiverRock Real Estate Group handles management for Campus 2100, with leasing provided by Cushman & Wakefield. So far the project, consisting of six-, three- and one-story buildings, has leased 100k SF with another 100k SF to go. Early on, two companies inked deals for two full floors during construction. About a month and a half ago, two additional tenants leased three more floors. Paul says the single-story building currently housing Rhythm & Hues will likely become available April 1. Paul says until now they've focused on full-floor tenants due to demand. At some point, they'll probably start dividing floors to accommodate the smaller 4k to 6k SF tenants who've expressed interest.
Paul says the six-acre site provided an opportunity to create a fresh and current repositioned project, with interactive outdoor spaces and people places. The company also built a parking structure, new lobbies, landscape and hardscape, and all-new systems. Rockwood is active in various product types within SoCal, while MPD has acquired industrial, office and hotel within the SoCal and Phoenix marketplaces.
Industry vet Jonathan Larsen has joined Avison Young and will run the West LA office of the brokerage, overseeing day-to-day operations as managing director. Jonathan has had quite the career, most recently launching Cassidy Turley's LA office (prior to the firm becoming DTZ), where he grew it from a small post into a 35-employee operation. Before that, he spent seven years with Transwestern, in addition to stints at Trammell Crow and CBRE (when it was still known as CB Richard Ellis). Jonathan has spoken at several Bisnow events and just told us last month at our 5th Annual State of the LA Market that rental rates in the market will continue to rise in the city, even calling it a "scary time for tenants."
SALES
IMT Capital sold a 120-unit multifamily property in Encino (5501 Newcastle Ave) in an off-market transaction for $44M. IMT completed constuction of the property in 2010 and wasn't actively marketing it. However, Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura principals Jim Fisher and Mike Smith, who repped the seller, "knew that they had a target price in mind." Lee's Cory Stehr repped the buyer, a 1031 exchange investor.
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An affiliate of KTR Capital Partners snapped up 10 acres in Carson, taking advantage of an opportunity to buy a distribution company's surplus real estate to increase its holdings in the infill market. Cushman & Wakefield's Steve Bohannon, Rooney Daschbach and Rusty Smith repped the seller and will also lead the marketing team for the property. The site (2250 E. Dominguez St) will be marketed as a land lease or industrial build-to-suit of up to 200k SF.
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Pathfinder Partners and RyaNik bought the 40-unit Bixby Park Apartments, a 40-unit community in the Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach, from a private investor for just over $6.6M and 5.2% cap rate. The complex (1132 San Antonio Dr and 4481 Orange Ave) consists of 10 buildings on nearly 1.5 acres. Stepp Commercial's Robert Stepp, who repped both sides, says the sellers acquired the property in 2012 as an REO asset and invested $800k in capital improvements. The buyer plans to make additional cosmetic upgrades to the exteriors and interior units.
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HREH LLC bought a 17k SF single-tenant, NNN-leased retail property in Monrovia's East Huntington Drive tech corridor (think Sun Microsystems and ITT Space Division) for $5.5M cash. 24 Hour Fitness has occupied the property at 715 E. Huntington Dr for 19 years and recently signed a 10-year extension. Faris Lee Investments' Jeff Conover repped seller Monrovia Fitness LLC.
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3 Steel LLC bought a 9,300 SF industrial building in LA (185 S Myers St from Separate Property Trust for $2.3M. Heger Industrial's John Bowman repped the seller, while Creative Space's Geoffrey Anenberg repped the buyer.
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The Fontana Rehabilitation Workshop bought a development site in Fontana (8608 Live Oak Ave) from Lord Constructions for just over $2M. The site's earmarked for a 21k SF industrial build-to-suit. Heger Industrial's Jack Whalen repped both sides.
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EXECUTIVE NEWS
James Frost was promoted to president and COO of Tutor Perini Corp. He's been with the firm and its predecessor, Tutor-Saliba, since 1988, most recently as EVP and CEO of the Civil Group. He also was elected to Tutor Perini's board of directors, replacing former president Robert Band, who stays on as EVP of Perini Management Services.
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Christian Glauser Benz joined JLL's Project and Development Services (PDS) Group, focused on growing the firm's hotel and hospitality project management business in the Southwest. Previously, he served as director of business development for Callison, where he led the hospitality practice area business and brand development. Other stints were with WATG, The Jerde Partnership and Frank Gehry.
