LOS ANGELES — Lee & Associates has announced that its founder, Bill Lee, has passed away at 78 years old after a long battle with cancer and cancer-related complications. Lee founded Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in 1979 in Orange County, Calif. Now, the company boasts 65 locations across North America and employs more than 1,300 people. Revolutionary for its time, Lee designed the Lee & Associates model to facilitate collaboration and investment across offices, with one key element being that Lee & Associates agents have the ability to make an investment into the growth of the company, according to the company. Additionally, Lee strategically designed Lee & Associates to operate in smaller components to allow the company capital to operate more efficiently than other existing methods at the time; also, allowing agents the opportunity to maximize their deals in terms of commission dollars. “On this difficult day, I stand in tremendous appreciation with the thousands of real estate professionals and their families that have been so positively impacted by the company Bill created and the unique structure that has served us for over 41 years,” says Jeffrey Rinkov, CEO of Lee & Associates. “Bill fostered and maintained incredibly …
California
BURLINGAME, CALIF. — Cushman & Wakefield has arranged $750 million for the refinancing of Burlingame Point, a Class A office, R&D and life sciences campus located on the San Francisco Peninsula in Burlingame. The property includes four buildings totaling approximately 771,000 rentable square feet, along with a 33,000-square-foot amenity building and more than 2,300 onsite parking spaces. The waterfront property is centrally located between Silicon Valley and downtown San Francisco. The LEED Gold-certified asset is situated on 18 acres and provides tenants with common areas and open green space. Affiliates of Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Athene Annuity & Life Co. (via Apollo Global Management) provided the 9.3-year, fixed-rate financing. Steve Kohn, Chris Moyer, Terry Daly, Rob Rubano, Keith Padien, Alex Lapidus and Meredith Donovan of Cushman & Wakefield represented the borrower, Kylli Inc. The new financing retires construction financing that Cushman & Wakefield arranged on behalf of Kylli in April 2019. Mike Moran and Clarke Funkhouser of Cushman & Wakefield served as leasing agents for the property, which is fully leased to Facebook. Gensler was the project architect. Kylli is a full-service investment holding firm focused on the development, operation and management of institutional-quality real estate assets …
SUNNYVALE, CALIF. — STC Ventures, a joint venture between Sares Regis Group of Northern California and Hunter Properties, received approval from the Sunnyvale Planning Commission to develop two office buildings totaling 500,000 square feet on the former Macy’s parcel in downtown Sunnyvale. Situated between Taaffe and Murphy avenues, the buildings will be separated by a public pedestrian plaza and each offer 250,000 square feet of office space, 25,000 square feet of ground-level retail space for restaurant and entertainment uses and 13,000 square feet of outdoor space, including terraces and step backs. Additionally, the adjacent properties will offer an underground parking structure with 786 spaces. The office buildings are designed for post-COVID work environments and will feature mechanical systems that will provide employees access to fresh air and ample outdoor space. The buildings are also targeting LEED Gold certification. The office project is the latest portion of the second phase of CityLine Sunnyvale, the redevelopment of four parcels in Sunnyvale’s downtown core that will add residences, ground-level retail and office space. The development team recently received approval for a 12-story mixed-use project at 200 S. Taaffe St. that will include 479 residences, 30,000 square feet of retail space and a public …
Parkview Financial Provides $21.5M Construction Loan for Apartment Project in East Hollywood
by Amy Works
LOS ANGELES — Parkview Financial has provided a $21.5 million construction loan to Oakwood CA LLC for the development of multifamily property located at 4065 Oakwood Ave. in Los Angeles’ East Hollywood submarket. Slated for completion in 2022, the five-story building will feature 68 apartments in a mix of two studios, 25 one-bedroom units and 41 two-bedroom units with an average size of 1,059 square feet. Fourteen of the units will be designated for low-income residents. Additionally, the community will feature a 4,000-square-foot courtyard and 100 parking spaces.
BioMed Realty Wins Municipal Approval for 910,000 SF Expansion of Life Sciences Campus in Bay Area
by John Nelson
EMERYVILLE, CALIF. — The City of Emeryville in Northern California’s Bay Area has approved BioMed Realty’s proposal to expand its Emeryville Center of Innovation life sciences campus. The 12-acre property is located about four miles north of Oakland and 10 miles east of San Francisco. The expansion will add 910,000 square feet of Class A laboratory and office space to the development. Phase I of the expansion, which BioMed Realty expects to begin in 2022, will span 265,000 square feet. “We are grateful for our partnership with the City of Emeryville to develop purpose-built lab research facilities that support the growth of the industry and help our business partners attract and retain talent,” says Salil Payappilly, vice president of BioMed Realty. BioMed Realty is currently modernizing an existing 303,000-square-foot building at Emeryville Center of Innovation. The building, which is not part of the newly announced expansion, will be fully occupied by Zymergen Inc., a biomanufacturing company and Emeryville’s largest employer. Zymergen signed a lease in 2019 for its new corporate headquarters and to accommodate the expansion of its operations. BioMed Realty expects to complete Zymergen’s building in early 2023. Emeryville Mayor Dianne Martinez says that the origin of the life …
Realty Advisory Group Arranges Sale of 246,912 SF Office Building in El Monte, California
by Amy Works
EL MONTE, CALIF. — Realty Advisory Group has arranged the sale of an office and industrial property located at 9320 Telstar Ave. in El Monte’s Flair Park area. Los Angeles-based Rising Realty Partners acquired the asset for $41 million. Built in 1975 and renovated in 2001, the 246,912-square-foot property offers 178,776 square feet of office space, which the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health occupies. Simultaneous with acquisition closing, Los Angeles County and Rising executed a new long-term lease for the office space. The remaining 68,136-square-foot industrial space is available for lease. Jim Abbott Sr. and Jim Abbott Jr. of Realty Advisory Group represented the undisclosed seller in the deal.
BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. — The City of Bakersfield has announced that Amazon will convert a vacant big-box retail property, located at 3500-3600 Wilson Road in Bakersfield, into a last-mile facility. The new facility will create approximately 200 new permanent jobs. Formerly a Kmart, the 93,000-square-foot property will undergo a $20 million renovation. Amazon is expected to begin operations in fourth-quarter 2021. Renovations will include a new roof and parking lot, enhanced lighting, landscaping and the addition of roll-up bay doors. Amazon is growing its last-mile delivery efforts to speed up customer delivery times and provide new innovations to customers, according to Amazon.
CHERRY VALLEY, CALIF. — Bank OZK has provided a $105 million construction loan for the development of I-10 Logistics Center, a 1.8 million-square-foot industrial project located near the crossing of Interstate 10 and Cherry Valley Boulevard in Southern California. The borrower is a joint venture between locally based developer Shopoff Realty Investments and Artemis Real Estate Partners, an investment management firm based in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Mark Strauss and Rob Quarton of Walker & Dunlop arranged the debt, specific terms of which were not disclosed, on behalf of the joint venture. Situated on 155 acres, I-10 Logistics Center will consist of two buildings spanning approximately 815,000 and 1 million square feet. The development will feature 40-foot clear heights, 665 car parking spaces, 585 trailer parking spaces and 296 dock-high doors. Site work is set to begin in April, and construction is scheduled for completion by summer 2022. CBRE is marketing the project for lease. “This project represents one of the few opportunities to develop much-needed logistics product in Southern California,” says William Shopoff, president and CEO of Shopoff Realty Investments. “This state-of-the-art logistics center with I-10 freeway access will be in high demand as users continue to require …
CALABASAS, CALIF. — Gemdale USA, a subsidiary of China-based Gemdale Corp., has acquired The Park Calabasas, an office campus located at 4500 Park Granada in Calabasas. Rising Realty Partners and Fortress Investment Group sold the asset for $79 million. Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Rob Hannan and Laura Stumm of Newmark’s U.S. Capital Markets team represented the sellers in the deal. David Milestone and Brett Green of Newmark secured acquisition financing for the buyer. The low-rise campus features 222,524 square feet of office space with expansive outdoor courtyards, on-site amenities, landscaped gardens and executive parking. At the time of sale, the property was 92 percent leased to six tenants. Originally developed as a corporate headquarters facility for Lockheed Martin and later serving as headquarters for Countrywide Financial (Bank of America), The Park Calabasas had been utilized as a single-tenant campus for nearly 20 years until a $12 million renovation by Rising Realty and Fortress Investment Group. The renovation converted the single-tenant property into a multi-tenant creative office space.
LOS ANGELES — Lion Real Estate Group (LREG) has completed the sale of 3317 Exposition Place, a retail property in Los Angeles, to Luzzatto Co. for $22.5 million. Situated in Los Angeles’ West Adams District, the asset is a two-story, dual-building site comprising 29,759 square feet of retail space. TheRealReal, an online luxury retailer, currently occupies the property. Newmark served as financial advisor to LREG in the sale to Luzzatto Co. LREG first acquired the property in a $7.3 million co-investment deal alongside The Borman Group in December 2017. Since that acquisition, the companies have invested in renovations to the convert the former industrial space into a modern creative office location, increasing its value and curb appeal. Renovations included upgraded mechanical systems; refurbished bathrooms, kitchens and conference rooms; new seismic and green building standards in line with city codes; and the reactivation of rooftop parking.