Arden Puts 4.6 M Feet Up for Sale, Plans to Buy More

With its transition under the ownership of GE Real Estate complete, Arden Realty Inc. is getting busy. The real estate investment company has put about 4.6 million square feet of office space on the market and plans to add considerably more space than that in short order. “Before, we were a REIT, and it was really more of a buy and hold mentality,” said Brooke Lauter, a spokeswoman for Arden. “Now we have a trading platform.” The portfolio, which will be sold as a whole or by individual buildings, includes 34 properties in Southern California and seven properties in the greater Valley area, including 425 W. Broadway, a 71,589-square-foot property in Glendale; Conejo Business Park, a 69,017-square-foot property in Thousand Oaks; Calabasas Tech Center, 273,526 square feet in Calabasas; Sunset Pointe Plaza in Stevenson Ranch with 58,105 square feet; Clarendon Crest in Woodland Hills, a 43,063-square-foot property; and the 51,828-square-foot Sherman Oaks office building, Noble Professional Center. The vast majority of the company’s Valley holdings, including properties in Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Woodland Hills, will remain in Arden’s portfolio, at least for now. GE, which completed its acquisition of Arden last May, intends to use the company as a platform to build its Western real estate portfolio. Arden, which owned and managed properties exclusively in Southern California prior to the acquisition, will be expanding into Northern California, Seattle, Portland and Arizona. Arden is one of the largest landlords in the greater San Fernando Valley. The company’s strategy has traditionally been to acquire A-minus and B-plus properties, increase the occupancy rates and hold onto them for a period of time. Lauter said that the building profiles it seeks now will remain the same, but, unlike real estate investment trusts, which have a business model based upon occupancy, the company will now be driven more by financial and asset management dynamics. “We’re not now targeting trophy properties,” Lauter said. “We really prefer value-added plays. So whether they’re B-plus or A-minus, or B-minus with greater upside, it’s definitely a value-added play.” GE acquired Arden last year for about $4.8 billion and sold off about 13 properties almost immediately to Trizec Properties Inc. Since then, Howard Stern, the company’s former chief investment officer, has left the company. Panorama City Sale A multi-tenant medical office building in Panorama City has sold for a 5.6 percent cap rate . The 29,088-square foot property, Panorama Medical Arts Building at 8215 Van Nuys Blvd., sold for $3.6 million. The building was built in 1958 and was 61 percent occupied at the close of escrow. Kevin T. Fryman and Eric L. Werner, both with Hanley Brown Group Real Estate Advisers, represented the buyer, a private investor, and the seller KNM Corp., in the all-cash deal. New Broker Opens A new residential real estate brokerage competitor is moving into the San Fernando Valley. Intero Real Estate Services, based in the San Francisco Bay area, has opened shop in Woodland Hills under the direction of Ron Ario, who tackled a similar job for Keller Williams Realty. Ario has been named Los Angeles territory chief executive for Intero, a five-year-old residential brokerage with some 2,200 agents in 63 offices in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas as well as Northern California. Ario is charged with opening new franchise offices throughout the county. At Keller Williams, Ario expanded the L.A. footprint to 1,400 agents in 14 offices in four years, including offices in Woodland Hills, Studio City, Northridge, Burbank and other Valley locations. Yoga Studio Leases Yoga Works has leased a 14,000-square-foot property at 2475 Townsgate Road in Westlake Village. The 10-year transaction is valued at $3.7 million. The Westlake Village studio will be the sixth Los Angeles location for the 18-year-old company, and the first in the greater Valley area. Marc Spellman, Mark Leonard and Mike Tingus, all with Lee & Associates L.A. North/Ventura, represented the landlord in the transaction. Mike Berlin and Bill Wetherby, both with Wetherby Realty, represented the tenant. Valencia Sale An owner/user has purchased a 7,383-square-foot office building in Valencia for $2,449,746. The building is located in Smyth Business Park at 28015 Smyth Drive. Greg Gile, Tim Foutz and Yair Haimoff, brokers with NAI Capital, represented the buyer. John Erickson, a broker with Colliers International Inc. represented the seller, also a private entity. Chatsworth Lease InfoLink Screening Services has renewed and expanded its lease at 9201 Oakdale in Chatsworth. The 19,362-square-foot lease was renewed for a five-year term. Consideration was $2.4 million. Sheryl Mazirow, with Mazirow Commercial Inc., represented the tenant. The landlord was represented by Bennett Robinson, a broker with CB Richard Ellis. Senior reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or by e-mail at [email protected] .