(Save the date: RealShare Los Angeles comes to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA, on March 27, 2013.)

LOS ANGELES-Clifford Beers Housing and Coalition for Responsible Community Development have co-developed the 28^th Street Apartments here, recently unveiled in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The project restored the 28^th Street YMCA to serve low-income adults and youths transitioning from homelessness to independent living, including those with mental illness. The $21-million community added to the landmark property designed by African-American architect Paul Williams 49 units housed in a separate five-story wing behind the original building. Designed by Koning Eizenberg, the project was built to LEED Gold criteria. In addition, CBH and PATH Ventures recently completed NoHo Senior Villas, located in the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood. The project, also geared toward providing affordable housing for low-income seniors—including 30 of whom were homeless and living with a mental illness—is one of the last projects in the state of California to be developed with assistance from the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles.
IRVINE, CA-A topping-out ceremony was held recently commemorating the placement of the final beam in the steel frame of the Great Park’s new 4,762-square-foot Visitors Center Pavilion here. The event serves as an important milestone in the construction of the Great Park’s new $22.8 million, 30-acre expansion project that launched in June. The pavilion is expected to be completed next summer.

SAN DIEGO-Sunroad Enterprises, in partnership with Wermers Properties, has broken ground on Ariva, a high-end luxury apartment community that is the latest residential addition to San Diego Spectrum Center, a premier mixed-use office, retail and residential development located in the heart of Kearny Mesa. Ariva comprises 253 upscale apartment homes in two buildings located at the intersection of San Diego Spectrum Blvd. and Ariva Way. Completion is slated for late 2013.

ENGLEWOOD, CO-Opus Development Corp. has executed a lease to develop and construct a 50,400-square-foot build-to-suit industrial building for Community Power Corp. at the Compark Business Campus near C-470 and the I-25 business corridor here. The single-story facility will include both office and warehouse space. The project is scheduled for completion in May 2013. Opus Design Build LLC will construct the facility, and Ware-Malcolmb will serve as the project architect. David Hazlett of Colliers International represented CPC in the transaction.

LAS VEGAS-Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has sold Willows at TownCenter, a 188-unit apartment community at 9145 Echelon Point Dr. here, for $22 million, or $117,021 per unit, to R.K. Properties Inc. of Long Beach, CA. The property sold at a cap rate of 5.92%. Carl Sims and Angela Powers-Armstrong of the local office of Hendricks & Partners and Nick Ingle of the firm’s corporate headquarters in Phoenix represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer was represented in-house by Robert Alexander, the firm’s director of acquisitions and dispositions. In addition, Sims, Powers-Armstrong and Ingle represented seller Wachovia CRE CDO 2006-1 Wagon Trails Subsidiary LLC in the sale of Rosewood Park, a 224-unit apartment community at 3225 South Pecos Rd. here, for $9,125,000, or $40,737 per unit to Hampshire Capital LP. This was the fourth all-cash transaction that the Las Vegas office of Hendricks & Partners has completed this year with a total consideration of over $65 million in cash transactions alone.

SALES

KENT, WA-Sweetener Products Inc., a supplier of raw materials to the food industry, has purchased of a 101,890-sq.-ft. industrial building at 8030 S. 194^th St. here from Prologis for $7.5 million. NAI Capital industrial specialists Philip T. Attalla and Richard Horn with the Commerce, CA, office represented the buyer.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA-Locally based BG Apartments LLC has sold a 25-unit multifamily property at 1251 N. Crescent Heights Blvd. here to local buyer Hillstreet Realty LLC for $5.4 million. Hamid Soroudi represented the seller while Kimberly Roberts Stepp, both from Charles Dunn Co., represented the buyer. The sale closed at a 4.9 % cap rate.

GARDEN GROVE, CA-Prudential-Commercial Division represented sellers in two recent sales transactions. An 11,000-square-foot warehouse property at 11622 Markon Dr. here sold for $1,540,420, or $140 per square foot, to an owner user represented by GVA Daum; it was the highest sales price per foot in this market by $3 per square foot. In addition, a 3,200-square-foot retail/office property leased to Apria at 401 West Main St. in El Centro, CA, sold for $495,000 or $154.69 per square foot to a pharmacy owner-user represented by Coldwell Banker.

VAN NUYS, CA-A joint venture between an affiliate of Shubin Nadal Associates LLC and an affiliate of Penwood Real Estate Investment Management LLC has purchased a 17.35-acre industrial property at 7600 Tyrone Ave. here from Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories Inc. The purchase price was not disclosed. The joint venture will demolish the existing buildings on the site and replace them with a new industrial park named Central Park Van Nuys, with three modern industrial buildings totaling approximately 290,000 square feet. The new buildings will be available for lease or for sale in early 2014.

SIMI VALLEY, CA-Aimco has sold Creekside Apartment Homes, a value-add 397-unit apartment community on a 16-acre site here. Marc D. Renard, Manfred W. Schaub and Meredith L. Johnson of Cushman & Wakefield of California represented the seller in the transaction.

LEASES

SAN DIEGO, CA-Zion Market has leased the 94,500-square-foot retail building at 7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. in Kearny Mesa. The tenant will relocate from its current location at 4611 Mercury St. here and is tentatively scheduled to open in first-quarter 2013. Mike Moser of CBRE represented the sublessor, Sears Roebuck and Co., and Green Light Realty represented Zion Market in the 10-year lease.

SUMMERLIN, NV-The Howard Hughes Corp. has signed Dillard’s Inc. as the latest anchor to be part of the Shops at Summerlin. Dillard’s will build a two-level, 200,000-square-foot store in the Shops, with opening scheduled for fall 2014. When complete, the Shops will include retail, entertainment, office, hotel and multifamily residential, designed to create a vibrant, walkable urban core in the heart of the affluent 22,500-acre master planned community.

ESCONDIDO, CA-Cassidy Turley San Diego has been selected as the exclusive marketing, leasing and sales representation firm for a 10-plus property portfolio for the City of Escondido. Andrew Peterson, Bruce Schiff and Phil Lyons will represent the City in the leasing and sale of its retail properties and land parcels. Don Grant and Jim Benson, also with Cassidy Turley, will handle the industrial properties, while Mark Avilla, Matty Sundberg and Bob Cowan will handle the office properties.

SANTA MONICA, CA-Dimensional Fund Advisors has restructured and renewed its office lease at 1299 Ocean Ave. here. The new lease transaction, valued at more than $15 million, involved the tenant’s use of the first and fifth floors of the building, about 20% less square footage than previously occupied. The fifth floor will be completely renovated into state-of-the-art new office space. Jake Bobek and Ted Simpson of Cushman & Wakefield represented Dimensional in the transaction.

FINANCING

LITTLETON, CO-VP Charlie Williams from KeyBank Real Estate Capital’s multifamily production group has closed a $25-million, 10-year loan with a a fixed interest rate and 30-year amortization schedule through Freddie Mac for Ken Caryl Wadsworth Development Co. The loan was intended to refinance the community back to the original principal balance for Columbine Meadows, a 277-unit townhome-style apartment complex here. The development company built the property in 1988 and has owned and managed it since that time.

SAN JOSE, CA-Pembrook Capital Management LLC has closed three multifamily real estate loans in the western US. In San Jose, CA, the firm provided a $16.5-million preferred-equity investment for construction of Meridian Apartments, a 218-unit class-A apartment complex; Pembrook previously provided an $8.37 million first-mortgage bridge loan for site acquisition. In Denver, the firm closed an $18.3-million first-mortgage bridge loan for acquisition and renovation of Villas at Parker Apartments (formerly Windsor Court Apartments), a 345-unit garden-style apartment complex. And in Sacramento, the company closed a $5.35-million first-mortgage bridge loan to fund the acquisition from court-appointed receiver and the planned repositioning of Lotus Landing Apartments (formerly Azure Park), a 218-unit garden-style affordable-housing complex.

ANAHEIM, CA-David Blum, SVP and senior director of NorthMarq’s Los Angeles regional office, has arranged 10-year first-mortgage refinancing of $14.9 million with a 25-year amortization schedule for the Aspen Commerce industrial portfolio here. The portfolio consists of 18 buildings with a total net rentable area of 236,681 square feet of industrial space. NorthMarq arranged the financing for the borrower through its relationship with a correspondent life company lender.

LOS ANGELES-Colony Financial Inc. has priced its public offering of 10,000,000 shares of common stock and has granted to the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,500,000 shares. The common stock has a public offering price of $19.45 per share, and the offering will generate gross proceeds of approximately $194.5 million, or approximately $223.7 million if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares in full. The offering is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close on or about December 10.

LOS ANGELES-Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. has arranged two retail strip-center refinancing loans totaling $17.9 million. One loan is for $10.4 million and the other is for $7.5 million. Anita Paryani Rice, a VP capital markets in MMCC’s West Los Angeles office, arranged the loans with Jake Roberts, a VP capital markets, and Jerry Wise, a first VP investments, both in the same office.

The loans were arranged to refinance two retail strip centers; one in Santa Clarita, CA, and the other in Simi Valley, CA. The Santa Clarita loan was structured with a five-year term and will amortize over 30 years; the LTV is 65%. The loan for the Simi Valley asset was structured with a 10-year term and will amortize over 25 years at an interest rate of Libor plus 2.75%; the LTV is 65%.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

IRVINE, CA-Snyder Langston has named Greg Hurlock as chief estimator and director of preconstruction. Under his direction, Hurlock will oversee the firm’s estimating department, which provides complete pricing for all of the contractor’s projects. Hurlock brings more than 30 years of pre-construction experience to his new position. Prior to joining Snyder Langston, he was a chief estimator with Swinerton Builders here.

NEWPORT BEACH, CA-Lyon Communities has hired Trent D. Brooks as chief operating officer. In this role, he will oversee the business operations of the firm’s multifamily portfolio in California, Colorado, Atlanta and Florida. Brooks joins Lyons after serving the last three years as managing director of CWCapital, where he was responsible for the growth, management and development of CW’s commercial lending platform in the western US.

LOS ANGELES-John Sauter has joined CBRE Global Investors as a managing director for West Coast acquisitions for the strategic partners US team. In this capacity, he is responsible for originating, underwriting and structuring West Coast investments as well as development of new business opportunities. Prior to joining the firm, Sauter was a partner with the MSD Capital L.P. Real Estate Group, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and executing transaction opportunities in traditional real estate private equity, public securities, real estate debt and corporate private equity. In addition, CBRE Group Inc. has promoted Ed Schreyer to president, agency brokerage | asset services for the Americas. In his new position, Schreyer will direct CBRE’s commercial real estate management services in the Americas while continuing to lead the firm’s agency brokerage practice.

During his 23 years with CBRE, Schreyer has served as a strategic advisor to many developers and owners as well as Fortune 500 corporations. Grayson Gill will continue in his role as chief operating officer for the asset-services business line.

LOS ANGELES-DTZ, a UGL Co., has promoted VP Ryan Harding in brokerage operations to SVP. Ryan works out of the Downtown Los Angeles office and leads key client engagements for the firm, establishing strategies, performance measures and operating procedures designed to meet clients’ business objectives. He joined DTZ in January 2006 and has gained extensive global experience in portfolio and transaction management.

IRVINE, CA-Edgewood Partners Insurance Center has hired Hali Nielson as SVP private client services in its local office. Nielson brings 19 years of experience in insurance and risk management for individuals with a high asset base and significant property and liability exposures. In her new role at EPIC, Nielson will design, implement, and manage personal insurance portfolios for high-net-worth individuals and serve as a personal insurance resource to other team members and clients in the Irvine office. She will also be responsible for client relationship management and for growing EPIC's book of private client business in Southern California. Prior to EPIC, Nielson was personal lines manager for Hamilton Brewart Insurance, where she also specialized in individual risk management and insurance programs for high net worth private clients.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

LOS ANGELES-Dallas-based Prism Hotels & Resorts has been engaged to manage the Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles Airport by the receiver, Douglas P. Wilson of San Diego-based Douglas Wilson Cos. The hotel is part of Prism’s growing portfolio of hotels under management. Prism will work closely with Wilson to give the hotel an immediate lift. The property was recently involved in a landmark Supreme Court case—Rad Lax Gateway Hotel v. Amalgamated Bank, No. 11-166—whereby its previous owner, RadLax Gateway Hotel, declared bankruptcy in August 2009, leading to the Supreme Court case wherein the mortgage lender sought the right to purchase its own collateral at a bankruptcy auction. In a decision delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court sided with the lender, and allowed the bank to credit the purchase price against the secured debt rather than paying cash.