Real Estate Quarterly: Q1 2022 SubMarkets

Conejo Valley

Office tenants took 77,921 square feet off the market during the quarter, driving down the vacancy rate to 21.8 percent. Asking rents held at $2.73 a square foot, up 2 cents from the previous quarter. In the industrial market, vacancy rose to 3.2 percent.

Main Events

• Atara Biotherapeutics entered a collaboration with Fujifilm Corp. for the right to operate Atara’s facility at 2430 Conejo Spectrum St. for $100 million.  
• The 202,241 square-foot warehouse at 6000 Condor Drive in Moorpark sold for $50.7 million. American Realty Advisors purchased the 202,421-square-foot site, which is fully leased to Amazon.com Inc. 
• EQ Office sold 5601 Lindero Canyon Road  in Westlake Village for $32 million to developer Garden Commercial Properties.. 
• Harbor Associates and Gemdale USA acquired Agoura Hills Business Park for $29.7 million. 

Santa Clarita Valley

Office vacancy moved up 1 cent to $2.68 a square foot in the first quarter, even as vacancy jumped to 20.8 percent. Office tenants gave back 31,272 square feet. In the industrial sector, vacancy was 0.3 percent while rates jumped 30 cents to $1.34.

Main Events

• Rexford Industrial Realty acquired a 214,436-square-foot warehouse at 24903 Avenue Kearny in Santa Clarita for $58.5 million, part of a five-piece portfolio sale valued at $170 million.  
• Harbor Group International and Azure Partners entered a joint partnership for the acquisition of Jefferson Vista Canyon, a 480-unit, mixed-use project in Santa Clarita. JPI was the seller. 
• A single-story 7,383-square-foot office building at 28015 Smyth Drive in Highridge Business Park in Valencia sold for $2.7 million.
• LA North Studios signed a pre-lease agreement at 29051 Avenue Valley View. 

Antelope  Valley

A total of 54,452 square feet of industrial space was sold or leased in the High Desert during the quarter. The submarket’s vacancy rate rose to 3.7 percent compared to 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter. Industrial rents grew 10 cents to 95 cents a square foot. 

Main Events

• Exan Capital paid $59.7 million for a renovated warehouse located at 600 W. Technology Drive in Palmdale. The site is fully leased to Amazon.com Inc.
• Tejon Ranch Co. sold a 12-acre land parcel entitled for up to 250,000 square feet of industrial development within the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center. The buyer was Dedeaux Properties.  
• Dallas-based industrial developer Covington Group purchased a vacant 77-acre site in Palmdale for $6 million from an undisclosed seller. Covington Group plans to build an industrial warehouse of 1 million square feet or larger on spec at the site, which is at 400 W. Avenue M, just west of the Palmdale Regional Airport. 

San Fernando Valley

Office tenants gobbled up 140,538 square feet during the first quarter, according to Colliers data. As a result, vacancy rose to 17.3 percent, up from the fourth quarter’s 16.9 percent, placing it higher than a year ago at 16.7 percent. Asking rents stayed steady at $2.67. In the industrial market, 746,048 square feet were sold or leased during the quarter. 

Main Events

• Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield sold the 34-acre site of the former Westfield Promenade mall in Woodland Hills to private investors for an undisclosed price. 
• Butler Family Trust sold the vintage Catalina Yachts building in Woodland Hills for $61 million to buyer W-F Catalina Owner IX. The true purchaser of the two-story 187,000-square-foot industrial building with 60,000 square feet of office space, which sits on 9.3 acres, is rumored to be Amazon.com Inc., which will supposedly use the site as an Amazon Studios production facility. 
• NMS Properties sold a pair of multifamily properties with 140 units in Northridge for $52.5 million. The structures at 9710 Zelzah Ave. and 17819 Superior St. sold to Bascom Group. 
• A 231,769-square-foot flex office campus within Chatsworth Business Park sold to Rexford Industrial Realty for $42 million. The two-buildings — located at 21415-21615 Plummer St. in Chatsworth — are 85 percent leased. Upon lease expirations, Rexford plans to raze the structures and construct two warehouses.
• NMS Properties sold an 80-unit apartment complex located at 21021 Vanowen St. in Canoga Park for $30 million to Domino Realty.
• A freestanding North Hollywood warehouse sold for $3.1 million. The 7,899-square-foot industrial building at 7306 Varna Ave. is situated on an M2-zoned parcel. 
• A retail property at 5780 Canoga Ave. in Woodland Hills has sold for $9 million in an off-market deal. Buyer Bolour Associates used the deal as part of a 1031 exchange and received a value-add opportunity with the purchase. The seller was Flamingo Investments. 
• Pittsburgh-based Howmet Aerospace sold a 104,903 industrial building at 12975 Bradley Ave. in Sylmar for $24 million to Dallas-based Xebec Realty Partners. 

Burbank & Glendale

A little more space is available in Burbank as tenants gave back only 691 square feet during the quarter, keeping the vacancy rate stable at 8.2 percent. Office rents ticked up 24 cents to $4.27, the highest rate in the Valley region. Meanwhile in Glendale, vacancy rose to 23.8 percent with tenants vacating 65,668 square feet. Glendale office rents climbed 3 cents to $3.22.

Main Events

• Rexford Industrial Realty bought a 117,000-square-foot industrial building located near Glendale at 2800 Casitas Ave. in an off-market deal for $43 million. Rexford acquired the property from Pan Am Equities, which had purchased it in 2016 for $22 million with the intention of redeveloping it into multi-family residential.
• Swift Real Estate Partners paid $92.5 million for Reframe Studios, a film production studio under construction in Atwater Village near Glendale. The 7.3-acre campus at 4561 Colorado Blvd., which will total nearly 189,000 square feet is currently going through an adaptive reuse conversion to soundstage and creative office space. The project has a 2023 completion date.
• Glendale Marketplace, a 154,049-square-foot urban retail center located in Glendale, sold for $64.1 million. EB Arrow sold the retail center, situated on 2.2 acres at 106-146 S. Brand Blvd., to Chicago-based retail-centric real estate firm Pine Tree. Glendale Marketplace, which is 94.8 percent leased, has among its tenants Ross Dress for Less, LA Fitness, HomeGoods, Five Below, Buffalo Wild Wings and Old Navy.