Crowd Wowed by Warehouse in Sun Valley

Open industrial property has become quite the purple unicorn in San Fernando Valley, so the development of 350,000 square feet of new warehouse space appears almost magical. Known as Sun Valley Business Center, the two-building project at 11063 Pendleton St. was completed last July and became operational in January. The site represents a joint venture between warehousing and distribution buildings specialist Xebec Realty Partners and the global Barings Real Estate Advisers. On June 21 brokers from Colliers International and executive management from overnight delivery service tenant OnTrac celebrated the grand opening of its 255,528-square-foot shipping facility in the larger building with about 150 people in attendance.. Colliers International Senior Executive Vice President John DeGrinis, Senior Vice President Patrick DuRoss and Vice President Jeff Abraham represented Xebec and Barings. Team DeGrinis, along with Colliers brokers John Kovaleski and David Buchholz from the Silicon Valley office, co-represented OnTrac. Triniti Commercial Real Estate of Los Angeles’ George Stavaris and Colette Ramirez also represented the landlords. At the opening, DeGrinis was still agog at how far the new facility had come from undevelopable land to state-of-the-art logistics center. “It’s not easily built upon,” DeGrinis said, surveying the warehouse’s vast interior. “The installation of the foundation’s pilings – some measuring 70 feet in length – were screwed into the sandy soil.” OnTrac, whose clients include Amazon.com Inc., Staples Inc., Blue Shield and Pearson Dental Supply, signed a 10-year lease to occupy the main building, now the company’s northern Los Angeles-area hub. Across the street at the 96,970 square-foot edifice, the Colliers team signed on two tenants — Home Delivery Link and automobile windshield maker Safelite — for five- and 10-year leases, respectively. Prized Properties Earlier this year, one-time Los Angeles Times publisher and philanthropist Austin Beutner led a 13-member advisory task force, which in March concluded that Los Angeles Unified School District should explore – with professional real estate consultation – how best to utilize dormant LAUSD-owned properties to generate revenue through sales or leases. Two of the properties the task force examined are located in Woodland Hills: The 19-acre former home of Collins Street Elementary School at 5717 Rudnick Ave., and 5607 Capistrano Ave., where Hughes Middle School once operated. “The larger Collins Street property could command in the millions” while the Hughes parcel should fetch around $700,000, said an LAUSD spokesperson by email to the Business Journal. Beutner canceled several Business Journal requests to discuss the properties. Since the March announcement, Beutner has been appointed LAUSD superintendent. The properties are not on the market, as the question of whether to hire a consultant is still undecided. It was unclear whether Beutner’s selection as superintendent might present a conflict of interest in adopting and implementing the Beutner-led task force’s recommendations. However, LAUSD Chief Facilities Executive Mark Hovatter told the Business Journal via email, “We received the task force’s report and decided to implement the recommendations before we knew who the new superintendent was going to be. We had actually started implementing several of the recommendations before we had received the report. We believe there is no conflict.” Fienup Forecast California Lutheran University Center of Economic Research Executive Director Matthew Fienup delivered the keynote presentations at Greater Conejo Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Economic Forecast on June 22 at the Hyatt Regency Westlake Village. Fienup gave the 200 people attendees an overview of Ventura County’s regional economy, in “stark contrast” to neighboring San Fernando Valley, where communities are experiencing a renaissance. “There is evidence that Ventura County is an economy in distress,” Fienup said, statistically declaring it in worse shape than during the Great Recession. A big impediment to Ventura’s economic development —lack of affordable housing. “We do not build enough homes,” said Fienup, who nevertheless believes the region will make a comeback. “I bet on Ventura County every single time.” Staff Reporter Michael Aushenker can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or [email protected].