As part of a company-wide effort to diversify its services outside of the industrial sector, Daum Commercial Real Estate Services has added five brokers to its newly expanded retail and office divisions in the San Fernando Valley. Two months ago, Myles Helm, who previously managed the Charles Dunn Co. San Fernando Valley office, joined Daum as senior vice president in charge of the Valley office. In turn, Helm has brought on a number of new brokers. Avi Golenberg and Guy Lammers both joined the company from Charles Dunn Co., bringing to six the number of retail brokers. Keith Green, formerly with the Seeley Co., Mike Poyer of Dunn, and Lynn Larocque, who was with Delphi Industrial Properties, have come on board to handle the office sector. Helm said the agency plans to hire an additional three brokers for the office division within the next 60 days. “We looked at where we stood as a regional player and decided that we needed to diversify into other areas,” said Helm. “Daum has been thought of as an industrial company.” Helm said a number of investors who once specialized in a single type of real estate have become generalists and are now seeking services in all the different sectors of the market. “As a company, if you’re not poised to respond to those needs, you’re not going to be competitive,” he added. The moves at Daum’s Valley office mirror a company-wide effort to extend the reach of the brokerage. The company’s goal is to generate 45 percent of its revenues from office and corporate services, according to Mike Foxworthy, director of the office group. In the past two years, 45 new salespeople have joined the company, including 35 office specialists. Moorpark sale A cigarette importer has acquired a 40,000-square-foot industrial building in Moorpark for $2.4 million. The company, Kretek International, acquired the facility at 5069 Maureen Lane in the Moorpark Square Business Park. Kretek, which has been operating out of another Moorpark facility, is doubling the size of its headquarters with the move, which is expected to take place in January. The former owner, Computer Parts Unlimited, is relocating to a 104,000-square-foot facility in Simi Valley. John DeGrinis and Michael Tingus of the Seeley Co. represented CPU in the deal. Stuart Scott of Daum Commercial Real Estate Services represented Kretek. Back to school Hoping to preempt a move by the Los Angeles Unified School District to appropriate its North Hollywood property, Robinsons-May has engaged consultants to conduct a demographic analysis of the projected needs for high school facilities and help identify alternate sites. Working with Charles Dunn Co., Robinsons-May has identified two sites it says would meet LAUSD needs: a 26-acre parcel at Sherman Way and Tujunga Avenue that currently houses the Sun Valley Junior High School and an LAUSD bus facility; and the Sun Valley Recreation Center, a 16.5-acre site at Vineland Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard. Using research gathered by Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler Inc., a consulting firm that compiles and analyzes demographic data, Robinsons-May is arguing that the majority of the student body that will account for the overflow of students in the area’s current three high schools (North Hollywood High School, Francis Polytechnic High School and Grant High School) are clustered in the northern end of the east San Fernando Valley, rather than the southern portion where the Robinsons-May facility is located. Robinsons-May also included in its list of recommendations three sites previously identified by other groups: Valley Plaza, a 40-acre shopping center in North Hollywood; a 17.9-acre site that includes a Target store and some Los Angeles city park land at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Vineland Avenue; and a 19.2-acre parcel owned by the Department of Water & Power and the Department of Recreation and Parks at Whitsett Avenue and Vanowen Street. The LAUSD has begun conducting a feasibility study on the Valley Plaza parcel and is considering conducting feasibility studies on the Target site. But the Robinsons-May study suggests that the best options would be the two Sun Valley sites. “Based on the demographics, we recommended the two that are best-situated,” said Milinda Martin, a Robinsons-May spokeswoman. Robinsons-May is currently meeting with a number of school, city and state officials to discuss its research, Martin added. In October, the LAUSD began conducting a feasibility study on the 24-acre property that Robinsons-May owns at Victory and Laurel Canyon boulevards in North Hollywood as part of an effort to find locations for 100 new schools needed to accommodate a projected 80,000 additional children in the next eight years. The board is under pressure to locate sites and draw up design plans by June 2000 or risk losing $1.5 billion in funding from Proposition 1A, a state bond measure that will provide about half the monies needed to build all the schools. Shopping center moves ahead Agora Realty has submitted design plans to the city of Los Angeles for a 197,000-square-foot shopping center in Panorama City, the first step in securing the necessary permits for the project. The Toluca Lake-based company, which acquired the 11.8-acre property last summer, plans to build a center geared to the Latino community on the site at Van Nuys Boulevard and Parthenia Street. In October, the Los Angeles Unified School District identified the 11.8-acre property as part of a parcel the board is considering for the construction of a high school. However, in a meeting on Nov. 23, the board rescinded the decision to consider the site. Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 710-2731, ext. 4316 or at [email protected].
