Private equity firm IMT Capital LLC and affiliate IMT Residential have jointly acquired the Sunkist Building in Sherman Oaks, with plans to add mixed-use buildings to the property. The Sherman Oaks firms acquired the 123,000-square-foot Class A office building and its 8.3 acres of land from Sunkist Growers Inc., which has used the building as its headquarters for more than 40 years. Sunkist will remain in the building. The purchase price was not disclosed. “We think it’s a great building,” said David Tedesco, principal at IMT. “It has a lot of potential to upgrade and reposition the building.” The property, at 14130 Riverside Drive, is not only occupied by the corporate headquarters of the produce cooperative, but by engineering firm IBE Consulting Engineers Inc., agricultural trade group Western Growers Association and mail supply company Priority Mailing Systems Inc. The building, which has been on the market since early last summer, was 76 percent leased at the time of the sale, according to CoStar Group Inc. IMT said it plans to improve the building, and in the future to add both retail and multi-family buildings on the property. IMT Residential is an operator of multi-family residential communities. “It’s something that we’re studying right now, so I think it’s a little ways off,” Tedesco said. The building, adjacent to the Westfield Fashion Square Mall and just off the Ventura (101) freeway, was designed by architect A.C. Martin Jr., who also designed the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Building on Hope Street and the Arco Plaza Towers on Figueroa Street. John Sabourin, senior vice-president with the Newport Beach office of CBRE Inc., represented Sunkist in the transaction. He has been the primary leasing broker for the property for 15 years, and said he has had multiple acquisition offers over the years. He said Sunkist decided to sell after realizing that the building had become too big for its operations. “It one time, they had all of the building, then they leased out some of it and then they weren’t even using 50 percent of it,” he said. “They had become the landlord and they aren’t in the landlord business. It was a good time for them.” Palmdale Presence Family and Child Guidance Center, a Northridge nonprofit that provides child mental health care and family counseling, is expanding its Antelope Valley presence with an eight-year, $4 million lease in Palmdale. The center is taking 19,279 square feet at 40005 10th St. West, giving it 3,000 square feet more than it has now at its existing Antelope Valley offices at 310 East Palmdale Blvd. The new building also is occupied by the Olympic Orthopedic Group, headed by property owner Dr. John Kayvanfar, and a small dental practice, according to Michael Dettling, a principal in the L.A. office of Avison Young Inc., who represented the landlord. The Guidance Center plans to build out the space to meet its specifications. “We are enlarging several areas, including the waiting room, adding a parent resource library, several group rooms and a few extra offices,” Jeff Adler, director of operations for the guidance center, said in a statement. Palmdale has struggled in recent years with a glut of medical office and specialty buildings, most constructed on spec when the Palmdale Regional Medical Center was completed in 2009. With the recession, the users for those spaces failed to appear. Now, medical properties are expected to be strong performers in the coming months. Dettling said Palmdale, with its new regional medical center and Kaiser Permanente expansion, are already starting to see some pick up. The group will move in March 1. It was represented by Rick Pearson of Cresa Partners in the transaction. Ventura Consolidation The Refinery, an advertising company that specializes in campaigns for the entertainment industry, is set to move to Ventura Boulevard. The firm has signed a 19,200-square-foot lease at 14455 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. The firm will occupy the top two floors of the Fidelity Federal Building. “Finding mid-rise spaces of this size at reasonable rents is difficult,” said Stacy Vierheilig-Fraser, a senior managing director with Charles Dunn Co.’s Sherman Oaks office who represented Refinery in a statement. The firm plans to exit its two current locations in Burbank and North Hollywood and will consolidate into the Ventura Boulevard space in April. Financial details of the lease were not available. Scott Silverstein and Tom Specker of Lee & Associates represented the landlord in the transaction. Staff reporter Kelly Goff can be reached at (818) 316-3135 or at [email protected].
Sunkist Peels Off Headquarters in Sale-Leaseback
