Ratkovich Co. has named Brian Saenger as its new CEO. Saenger was previously chief operating officer and general counsel. He takes over the position from the company’s founder, Wayne Ratkovich.
Under Ratkovich, the company became well known for restoring historic buildings, including the Wiltern Theatre and the Chapman Market in Koreatown. Ratkovich also developed the Bloc in Downtown’s Financial District and the Hercules Campus in Playa Vista, which is now home to Google and YouTube Studios.
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Saenger’s role at the company previously included overseeing operations including development management, property management, and legal and administrative functions. He represented TRC in the negotiation of a 50-year ground lease for the development of West Harbor (previously known as the San Pedro Public Market), a $150M project redeveloping the 42-acre waterfront site.
PEOPLE
JLL announced the hiring of Jim Schoolfield as executive vice president. Schoolfield will be focused on working with corporate occupiers on their commercial real estate needs in West Los Angeles and the rest of the region. He will also be working with the leaders of the firm’s LA office tenant representation group to expand the practice. Schoolfield will be based in JLL’s new Century City office. Schoolfield has over 16 years of commercial real estate experience totaling more than $1B in project value.
SALES
Los Angeles-based real estate developer Sonnenblick Development LLC has acquired the Monterey Park Government Center, an 86K SF, two-story office building, in a $37.5M deal. Eighty percent of the previously vacant building was simultaneously pre-leased to the county of Los Angeles Department of Social Services.
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LEASES
Drawbridge Realty has leased an office and lab building in San Diego’s Sorrento Mesa to LumiraDX, a London-based medical diagnostics firm. The firm signed a 66-month lease for the 24K SF office and lab building at 6650 Nancy Ridge Drive. Simon Terry-Lloyd and David Ross of CRESA represented LumiraDX. JLL’s Chad Urie and Grant Schoneman represented Drawbridge Realty.
FINANCING
George Smith Partners' Jonathan Lee and Shahin Yazdi and their team secured senior permanent financing for two stabilized multifamily properties in Los Angeles. The two non-crossed loans totaling $26.1M were utilized to refinance debt and return equity to the sponsor. Each loan was collateralized by a stabilized multifamily property: a fully leased 28-unit building in Culver City and a 46-unit Hollywood building that was 97% leased at closing. Both loans were structured with a 12-year term and interest-only payments for the duration.
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CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Ware Malcomb announced that construction is complete on Swift Real Estate Partners’ Flyte at 2200 East Imperial Highway in El Segundo. Ware Malcomb provided architecture, interior design and branding services for the creative office campus’s renovation that involved modernizing the interior and exterior of the two office buildings and creating a courtyard space.
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USA Properties Fund has started construction on Vintage at Woodman, an affordable senior apartment community in Panorama City. The 239-apartment community is the first from the developer to use the California Housing Finance Agency’s mixed-income program. Under the program, renters earning 50% to 80% of the area’s median income — about $45K to $72K for a two-person household renting a one-bedroom unit — are eligible to rent at the complex. The $80M project is slated for completion in spring 2023.
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