This Week's LA Deal Sheet
One of the City's largest independent TV stations, KTLA signed a 15-year renewal on its 94k-plus SF facilities at Hudson Pacific Properties' Sunset Bronson Studios in the heart of Hollywood. Hudson Media Properties GM Bill Humphrey tells Bisnow the station had its share of other options.
Bill says KTLA had options for space in a number of locations, especially in Burbank, where many broadcast stations have traditionally located. However, he notes, the station has a long history of residency—nearly 60 years—on the Sunset Bronson lot. "The buildings KTLA occupies are uniquely suited to support their live broadcast needs." Hudson's providing a standard TI allowance and will perform infrastructure upgrades to KTLA's stages and office space. CBRE repped both sides: Todd Doney, Paul Stockwell and Adam Seltzer for the tenant; Blake Mirkin for the landlord.
KTLA's extension coincides with a number of significant projects at Sunset Bronson, including ICON, a 320k SF creative office tower under construction, along with a 1,600-car garage. Hudson plans to launch construction soon on the Hub, a 90k SF production office building that will boast a flexible design to accommodate stage facilities. Bill says Hollywood remains a sought-after location for more traditional media companies like KTLA. That said, he's also seeing increased demand from new media and tech firms looking to consolidate or locate their HQs at ICON and other Hudson Properties such as its Sunset Gower Studios.
SALES
A JV of Bridge Investment Group Holdings and Starr Cos, a global insurance and investment org, bought the 306-unit The Enclave apartment complex in Paramount, from Kennedy Wilson for $61.1M or $200k/unit. The community (13801 Paramount Blvd) was built in 1991 on 4.7 acres.
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Tishman Speyer acquired 520 Broadway, a 113k SF office building in downtown Santa Monica. The trophy building was a TOBY winner in last year's BOMA Awards. Noting that Tishman Speyer has been an enthusiastic investor in West LA for 15 years—most notably in Beverly Hills and Playa Vista—regional managing director Mark Laderman says 520 Broadway fits perfectly into the firm's global portfolio strategy.
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Overton Moore Properties and Thackeray Partners sold Citrus Business Park in Riverside (1111 and 1221 Citrus St) to a private buyer for $18M or $94/SF. The complex in Hunter Industrial Park consists of two Class-A buildings containing more than 192k SF; it's 93% leased to 13 tenants that include John Deere Landscapes, Cintas and UC Riverside. CBRE's Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons, Mike Kendall, Andrew Briner and Rebecca Perlmutter Finkel repped both sides.
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Mani Brothers Real Estate Group bought 22648 Pacific Coast Hwy, a 10-unit luxury apartment building on Malibu's Carbon Beach, for $15M in an off-market transaction arranged by Madison Partners' Bob Safai. The building boasts nearly 90 feet of beachfront access and unimpeded ocean views from each unit. The property is close to the Malibu Pier as well as another recent Mani Brothers acquisition, the Malibu Beach Inn.
LEASES
Hueston Hennigan LLP, a trial and litigation law firm specializing in business disputes and white-collar criminal defense, leased 21k SF of creative office space at the PacMutual campus in Downtown LA. The firm wanted nontraditional law space to foster collaboration as well as to attract and retain talent, according to JLL's Mike McKeever, who repped the tenant with Nicole Mihalka and Jordan Gaffney. Industry Partners' Carle Pierose repped landlord Rising Realty Partners. The 35-attorney firm was formed in January by former Irell & Manella partners John Hueston and Brian Hennigan.
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Polar Power Inc leased a 40k SF industrial building in Gardena (249 E Gardena Blvd) for four years in a deal valued at $1.4M. Lee & Associates-Long Beach's Craig Poropat repped the tenant, which plans to use the building to manufacture and distribute power and cooling systems for telecom, military, renewable energy, marine, automotive and oilfield applications. Daum Commercial's Brad Levin repped the landlord, Two Bro’s LP.
CONSTRUCTION
Forest City Enterprises will break ground in Rancho Cucamonga this month on a major streetscape renovation at Victoria Gardens, the 1.5M SF open-air center it co-owns with QIC. Aimed partially at the center's growing Millennial demographic, the reno will encompass nearly 1.2 acres along its main street: Monet Avenue. According to marketing director Melina Ferraez, work will focus on five key elements, including sustainability—think LED lighting, drought-resistant plants and porous pavers; street-scene dining; connectivity (with several WiFi hotspots on Monet as well as charging stations); parklets; and new fashion retailers and fast-casual restaurants. Estimated completion: November.
KUDOS
Macerich's Santa Monica Place shopping center received the China-Ready Designation from the LA Tourism & Convention Board. Amenities geared toward Chinese visitors include free international WiFi, Mandarin translated maps, WHERE Magazine's China edition, foreign language line interpreter services and visitor rewards cards. Other services include Mandarin-speaking sales associates at retailers like Tory Burch, Tiffany & Co., Coach and Louis Vuitton. (And most retailers accept China UnionPay.) In addition, Santa Monica Place hosts a weekend-long Chinese Lunar New Year Festival. Senior marketing manager Shoshana Puccia notes more than 2 million Chinese visited the US last year, a number that's expected to double by 2016.
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Progressive Real Estate Partners' Frank Vora was awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member designation by the CCIM Institute. Most candidates take a couple of years to complete the designation process, but he finished in seven months! Since joining the Rancho Cucamonga-based brokerage, Frank has closed more than $75M worth of transactions.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
JLL bolstered its property management platform with the addition of Mike Ruppert as senior managing director, Southwest Region. A veteran of more than 25 years in the commercial RE industry, Mike brings expertise in managing client relationships, coordinating best practices, and executing management and leasing strategies on office, industrial, retail and medical office portfolios.
