ANTELOPE VALLEY LANCASTER Hunter Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram broke ground June 15 on its Ram of the West Truck Center at the Lancaster Auto Mall. The 40,000-square-foot facility is the latest expansion at the auto mall and will open at the end of the year. The center will include heavy duty lifts, large service bays, three dedicated stalls for oil changes and maintenance and over-sized parking spaces. The staff is made up of certified truck experts, service advisors and technicians. Ram trucks are manufactured by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. CONEJO VALLEY AGOURA HILLS Football season is still months away, but the L.A. Rams have already scored a touchdown in community service with a new education- and poverty-focused partnership with United Way of Greater Los Angeles. The NFL team, headquartered in Agoura Hills, held a joint press conference to announce the new partnership, which will include programs geared toward boosting literacy and career readiness among Los Angeles Unified School District students. United Way and the Rams have worked together previously to implement a character-building initiative in area schools. Specific plans for the partnership are job shadowing opportunities for students interested in sports industry careers and a community book festival on Sept. 16. Additionally, the Rams in November will host a Thanksgiving dinner for families who have recently moved into United Way-sponsored housing, the organizations said. THOUSAND OAKS California’s first water market for individual landowners opened in Ventura County, giving farmers on the Oxnard Plain a centralized channel for buying and selling groundwater. The launch is part of a pilot program involving the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency and a coalition of municipal officials, environmental groups and roughly 50 farmers. Led by Thousand Oaks-based California Lutheran University faculty members, the goal of the project is to establish a market-based solution to groundwater depletion in the region. After months of building the necessary infrastructure, now farmers can sell their surplus water to others in times of drought. All transactions will be overseen by the university’s Center for Economic Research, which receives a 3 percent fee from each buyer and seller. Water prices will rise as it becomes scarcer, creating an incentive to conserve. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Condominiums in the San Fernando Valley hit an 11-year record price in May, according to the Southland Regional Association of Realtors Inc. The median price reached $419,000, a leap of 17 percent from a year ago last month, and the highest price since February 2006. In terms of activity, the number of condominiums sold rose only 1 percent to 203.Single-family home prices saw a far smaller increase of 6 percent to $635,000, according to the association. Sales activity, however, was up 6.7 percent. For-sale inventory of both home types continued to drop in May, and was down more than 18 percent. BURBANK Burbank Empire Center has been purchased for more than $133 million, according to CoStar Group Inc. The 350,000-square-foot, Class A office at 2300 W. Empire Ave. sold to New York Life Real Estate Investors in San Francisco, the real estate arm of a subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Co. The seller was Walton Street Capital, a private equity firm in Chicago. The firm sold it for a gain of nearly 196 percent. Tenants at the center, which was built in 2009, include Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, a film production accounting firm. The company has been at the location since 2011, but leased an additional 20,000 square feet earlier this year, bringing its total space there to nearly 90,300 square feet. Other tenants include Point.360 and Modern VideoFilm. GLENDALE Nestle is considering a sale of its U.S. candy business, the Swiss-based conglomerate with U.S. headquarters in Glendale announced. The company’s sales of candy in the U.S., which includes some well-known brands such as BabyRuth, Butterfinger, Crunch and SweeTarts, generated revenue of about $923 million in 2016, according to the company. Nestle’s global revenues for all of its businesses was almost $92 billion last year. The potential sale comes as other candy companies, including Virginia-based Mars Inc., are trying to shift their business away from sugar in response to Americans’ changing dietary preferences. Nestle plans to keep its Toll House baking products and global confectionary business, which includes KitKat, the announcement said. NORTHRIDGE Orbital ATK Inc. delivered its 500th advanced anti-radiation guided missile to the U.S. Navy, the company announced. Produced at the Northridge facility of the Dulles, Va.-based defense and aerospace firm, the guided missile is a supersonic, air-launched weapon that can rapidly engage traditional and advanced land- and sea-based air-defense threats. It is used on the Navy’s Hornet, Super Hornet and Growler aircraft and the Italian Air Force’s Tornado aircraft. The company has been developing the guided missile since it received its first development contract in 2003. In September 2013, Orbital received its first full production contract for the weapons system valued at $71 million. In addition to the guided missile, Orbital also produces a missile warning system for aircraft and support equipment for weapons systems at the San Fernando Valley location. PACOIMA Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced that his office has filed a civil lawsuit against the operators of Dulceria El Venado in Pacoima for illegally dispensing prescription drugs without a license. The store, located at 11653 N. Glenoaks Blvd., sells miscellaneous items including candy, snacks and herbs. Investigations revealed that the store allegedly sold illegal, mislabeled and counterfeit pharmaceuticals including the injectable anti-inflammatory drug Diprospan. The lawsuit seeks the permanent termination of the lease at the business and an injunction prohibiting the defendants from illegally selling any pharmaceutical products as well as operating any business that manufactures, sells or stores commonly counterfeited goods. The lawsuit stems from a crackdown operation coordinated through the Health Authority Law Enforcement Taskforce that targets distributors and sellers of illegal pharmaceuticals at swap meets and small local stores. WOODLAND HILLS A 64,000-square-foot Warner Center office building has sold for $14.5 million, according to CoStar Group Inc. The three-story property is at 5959 Topanga Canyon Blvd., where it sits on a knoll facing the Warner Center Marriott Woodland Hills hotel. The building was purchased by limited liability corporation Dimtam, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors in Glendale. Dimtam is registered to Tamara and Dimitri S. Dimitri, founder of semiconductor firm Delta Tau Data Systems Inc. in Chatsworth. Dimtam was represented by Coldwell’s Senior Vice President Michael Neil and Managing Principal Greg Barsamian. The seller, Younan Properties in Woodland Hills, was represented by Mark Perry of Los Angeles real estate brokerage CBRE Group Inc. SIMI VALLEY SIMI VALLEY Monster Digital Inc. has signed a letter of intent to engage in a reverse merger with a North Carolina biotech company, a move that will likely see its core business of action sports cameras spun off or sold. The Simi Valley company would make Innovate Biopharmaceuticals Inc., in Raleigh, into a subsidiary and as the surviving company would change its name to Innovate. A new ticker symbol would be selected to continue trading on the Nasdaq. Monster Chief Executive David Clarke said the company’s board and management believe the merger is the best option. Innovate Biopharmaceuticals is focused on developing autoimmune and inflammation medicines. Holders of securities in Innovate would be the majority owner in the merged companies. – Compiled by Iris Lee