Re Column

By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter With office vacancy rates hitting all-time lows in the Warner Center area, an investment group has put one of its properties up for sale. Warner Atriums, a 122,000-square-foot office building, is quietly being shopped around by Cushman & Wakefield, sources said. The building is owned by Archon Group, a Dallas-based company that specializes in renovating undervalued buildings and then reselling them, according to sources. The Warner Atriums is expected to fetch about $18 million. Archon officials declined comment on the reports, referring calls to Steven Silk, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield. Silk declined comment. Vacancy rates for class-A properties in the West San Fernando Valley have hovered around 9 percent for the past several quarters, brokers said, and there are few large blocks of space available in Warner Center. Office rentals in the first quarter of this year in the West Valley averaged $2.11 per square foot, increasing from $2.06 per square foot in the last quarter of 1998. The situation could change next year, however, when another half-million square feet of space is expected to come on the market due to construction currently underway. First for Calabasas Park Centre Kilroy Realty Corp. has signed its first lease on a new office development under construction in Calabasas. VPA Inc., currently located in the Calabasas area, has inked a deal for 40,000 square feet of office space in the Calabasas Park Centre at 24150 Parkway Calabasas. VPA Inc. administers self-insured disability plans for Fortune 500 companies. The company is moving from a 28,000-square-foot space. The Calabasas Park Centre will feature three buildings totaling 210,000 square feet when it is completed next year. Bryan Lewitt, a broker with the Staubach Co., represented VPA, and Bill Inglis at CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented Kilroy. NetZero takes more Westlake Gardens Office Complex II will reach full occupancy thanks to a change in plans at NetZero, an Internet service provider in Westlake Village. The company, which had originally signed a lease for 30,000 square feet of space in the building located at 2555 Townsgate Road, has decided to expand. The company’s new deal is for 49,000 square feet of space, which represents the entire building. The new lease is valued in excess of $12 million, according to Tom Festa at Grubb & Ellis, who, along with Gray DeFevere represented the tenant. Westlake Gardens Office Complex II is one of two buildings developed by Silagi Development. The first was sold to Arden Realty last year, and sources report that the sale of the second building, also to Arden, is about to be completed. Tony Principe and Darryl Zilberstein at Westcord Commercial Real Estate Group represented Silagi in the lease to NetZero. Open for business Warner Marketplace, a $30 million shopping center at Canoga Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Canoga Park, opened with its first tenant at the end of April. Borders Books & Music is one of six tenants that have leased space in the center, developed by J.H. Snyder Co. The Good Guys will open during the first week of May. The rest of the tenants, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sportmart, Pier One Imports and Zany Brainy, will complete move-in by July, when the 160,000-square-foot center will be fully occupied. RealSelect expands RealSelect, the online real estate brokerage, has expanded into a 50,000-square-foot space at the Legacy Oaks Corporate Center in Thousand Oaks, according to Tom Festa, a broker with Grubb & Ellis, who represented developers Legacy Partners Commercial in the deal. Jim Lindvall with Grubb & Ellis represented RealSelect, which had been occupying 35,000 square feet of office space at the center. Sun Valley deal Crest Office Furniture Inc. is moving from downtown L.A. to Sun Valley. The company has leased 32,000 square feet of space at 9201 Sunland Blvd. from Alfred C. Young Trust, according to David Young of Capital Commercial/NAI, who represented the tenant. The company plans to use the new facility for warehousing, distribution and corporate offices. The trust, which owns and manages industrial properties in the East San Fernando Valley, was represented by Mike LaRocque of Delphi Business Properties. Another one for Regent Regent Properties has signed its second deal in the West Hills Corporate Village. The company, which developed the 30-acre site with Shamrock Holdings, has leased 30,000 square feet to Software Dynamics Inc., which will be relocating its corporate offices from Chatsworth. It specializes in developing banking software for uses such as branch automation and customer relations. Hal Cook of the Cook Co. represented SDI. Mark Sullivan, a broker with Julien J. Studley, and attorney Anton “Tony” Natsis, a partner at Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble & Mallory LLP, represented Beverly Hills-based Regent. Lancaster courts construction MBK Southern California Ltd. has entered into a development services agreement with L.A. County to design and develop a new courthouse in Lancaster. The 370,000-square-foot structure will house 15 courtrooms (with room for an additional six) for Superior and Municipal courts, as well as offices for the district attorney, public defender, probation department and sheriff. The goal is to break ground in the first quarter of next year, said Andrew Trachman, president of MBK.