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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

NoHo Tower Project Stalled, CRA to Review Status

The 14-story mixed-use development in North Hollywood built by JSM Capital sits empty, a sign announcing that condos will be available in the Fall of ’07. Now it’s nearly Spring ’08 and, neighbors report, there’s no obvious activity at the site. Cecilia V. Estolano, executive officer of the Community Redevelopment Agency. “The latest I heard was it was 93 to 97 percent done, but you should talk to JSM,” she said. JSM executives have passed up multiple opportunities over many weeks to comment for this report. Discussion of the status of the building is set for the March 6 CRA/LA meeting. Estolano said that JSM is due to amend their contract with the CRA, an Owner Participation Agreement that called for 14 units of low-income housing when the project was proposed as a rental facility. Now that it’s been re-configured as condos for sale, Estolano said, the proposal for affordable housing was cut by half so, despite getting approval from the city, the OPA has to be amended. She said because JSM got a discretionary land use agreement, it’s a contract that requires the OPA to be amended. JSM has other conflicts with the CRA/LA, significantly a lawsuit filed late last year on the NoHo District’s design changes impacting two other developments JSM has proposed for the area. The changes are meant to control where the highest density and tallest buildings are situated, directing it to property nearest to the mass transit station and furthest from lower density residential. Although not yet formally introduced, preliminary plans show the JSM projects are counter to that design, Estolano said. In a statement released at the time of the filing of the suit, JSM asserted improper advance notification was provided by the CRA and the design guidelines are in conflict with state and local laws. EDIC Stays Put Employers Direct Insurance Company renewed and expanded their facility at 30301 Agoura Road in Agoura, for 67,000 square feet. EDIC was represented by Sheryl Mazirow of Mazirow Commercial. Mazirow Commercial specialized in Tenant Representation and Advisory Services for the past 28 years. Development Opens 2nd Phase OakView, the new health center adjacent to the campus of University Village Thousand Oaks, has a second phase nearing completion and scheduled to open next month with 48 apartments. OakView at University Village will provide assisted living, memory support and skilled nursing. The first phase of the continuing care retirement community opened last fall at the corner of Campus Drive and Olsen Road just north of California Lutheran University. According to Sharon Friedman, director of marketing and admissions, OakView is currently accepting applications and is already more than 50 percent reserved. OakView Skilled Nursing, the third component of the new health center, is scheduled to open later this spring as a 48-bed skilled nursing center. 5-Year Lease for Penthouse Unit Morgan Peabody signed a five-year lease for the 16th floor in the Comerica Bank Building at 15303 Ventura Blvd. They will be occupying a 7,732-square-foot penthouse office unit. Total consideration for the lease, transacted with Douglas Emmett Realty Fund 2000, is $1.72 million. Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, Inc.’s Senior Vice President Len Effron assisted the transaction. Effron said the move gives Morgan Peabody a high-image space with a prestigious address. Chatsworth is New Neutraderm Home Neutraderm, Inc., has acquired a 35,755-square-foot headquarters building in Chatsworth for $4.5 million. Scott G. Caswell, senior vice president of Van Nuys-based Delphi Business Properties, Inc., represented both Neutraderm, Inc. and RGH Holdings, LP, the sellers. The facility is on approximately two acres of land at 20660 Nordhoff St. Neutraderm plans a second-quarter occupancy for about 50 people in its new headquarters, which represents a seven-fold expansion from its current 5,000-square-foot facility in Canoga Park. The building is a concrete tilt-up structure with 14,600 square feet of office space, three ground level doors and on-site parking for 94 cars. Renters Buy Hollywood Rentals, LLC, has purchased a 83,538-square-foot building at 12800 Foothill Blvd. in Sylmar for $7,850,000 ($93.97 per square foot) from PCSP Foothill, LLC. The buyer was represented by Brenton C. Weirick, Colliers International senior vice president, and George Stavaris assisted in the deal. Hollywood also leased an adjacent parcel of approximate 1.75 acres for 10 years at a rate of $0.23 per square foot. The facility will be used to rent movie production equipment. Brokers Earn Kudos Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, Inc. recognized its top performing brokers for 2007. Trevor Belden, a principal at the firm’s Sherman Oaks office, was named Top Broker for his performance in 2007. Brent Avis, also based in Sherman Oaks, was named Top Associate and elevated to the position of principal. Grant Fulkerson, an associate at the firm’s Calabasas office, was named Rookie of the Year. Lee & Associates also named its top 10 performers for 2007. They are principals Mark Leonard, Calabasas; Jim Fisher, Sherman Oaks; Craig Stevens, Sherman Oaks; Robert Flink, Ventura County; John Battle SIOR, Sherman Oaks; Ron Feder, Calabasas; Brett Warner, Sherman Oaks; Grant Harris and John Ochoa, both in Ventura County; and Ken Shishido, Sherman Oaks. New Frontier for Newmark NewMark Merrill has established a Rocky Mountain division based in northern Colorado. The Wooodland Hills-based owner and developer of shopping centers teamed with Allen Ginsborg, a Fort Collins, Colorado, real estate investor and founder of Pacific Retail Partners in Long Beach, to create NewMark Merrill Mountain States. NewMark expects the new division to generate $25-50 million in shopping center acquisitions a year and the same in new development. Initially, the projects inline are the redevelopment of three shopping centers totaling 300,000 square feet and an investment of $30 million, the company said. NewMark was started in 1997 by Sandy Sigal and currently owns more than 45 shopping centers, including 6 million square feet of space, in Southern California, Colorado and Illinois. Bank Opens New Office First Federal Bank of California announced the opening of its newest banking office in Chatsworth. Located at 20505 Devonshire Blvd., the branch is full-service, providing a full range of both consumer and commercial banking products and services. With over twenty-five years of banking experience, Phyllis M. Barber, branch manager, heads the Chatsworth branch team. Barber is a Chatsworth resident with long-standing ties to the community, working with the Chamber of Commerce, BID and Depot Foundation. First Federal Bank of California, based in Santa Monica, was selected to U.S. Banker magazine’s list of Top 25 Banks of 2007, and First Fed’s Chairman and CEO, Babette Heimbuch, was selected to U.S. Banker magazine’s list of Top 10 CEOs.

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