Natural Balance Adds 10 Jobs In Move to Larger Site

Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc.’s three-year lease for a 113,500-square-foot industrial building in Pacoima is one of several large deals negotiated by Colliers International in recent months. The pet food developer decided to move its distribution center to a larger industrial building in Pacoima, adding 10 jobs, according to Rick Rockhill, the company’s marketing executive. The property’s lease was valued at about $1.7 million. The company moved to the new site at 12224 Montague St. from another location in Pacoima, where it has been since 1989. “We just needed more space and should be moved by June 1,” Rockhill said. The landlord, private investor Michael Lichstein, was represented by David Hoffberg and Jerry Scullin of Delphi Business Properties. The tenant was represented by John DeGrinis, senior executive vice president based at Colliers International’s Encino office; Patrick DuRoss, associate vice president; and Jeff Abraham, senior associate. “The (fourth) quarter of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 witnessed some larger transactions in our region,” DeGrinis said. He added that the Natural Balance Pet Foods deal was one of five larger transactions – those of 80,000 square feet or more – just completed in the last four months. “Despite a smaller inventory of available larger buildings, we are still seeing ongoing erosion in lease rates,” he continued. “Rents for all five of those transactions are in the $0.40s per square foot range, which evidences the continuing slide we have seen in average rental rates over the past few years. We expect that as supply and demand forces get closer to equilibrium, we will see some firming in rates.” Apartment Sale Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services has recently sold a seven-unit apartment building in Sherman Oaks to an unnamed investor. The property at 13951 Milbank St. sold for just under $1.5 million. Tony Azzi, the senior vice president of investments for Marcus & Millichap’s West Los Angeles office, represented the unnamed seller and buyer. “At the time of the sale, there was one apartment vacant and it became a deal breaker for the buyer,” said George Azzi, a Marcus & Millichap associate. “Even though we normally don’t do rentals, we had to satisfy the buyer, who is from Los Angeles, and find a renter.” The seller was from abroad. The building, which was built in 1990, has two two-bedroom/two bathroom loft units, one one-bedroom/one bath loft unit, three two-bedroom/two bath units and a one-bedroom/one bathroom unit. Mixed-Use Filled In Encino, Capital Realty Solutions completed a lease-up of a 10,140-square-foot mixed-used commercial development in Van Nuys. An immigration and tax preparation firm owned by Frances Rocha has now filled the final 1,000 square feet of vacant space in the mixed-use building, which is located at 6815 Sepulveda Blvd. Other tenants include Domino’s Pizza, Louisiana Fried Chicken, which have offices above. Ash Joshi represented the property owner, ALITA Property LLC, in a three-year lease and has also represented the same owner before on a Van Nuys commercial property and an apartment building in Canoga Park. Valencia Sale Lee & Associates sold a recently constructed 30,000-square-foot shopping center at 28656 The Old Road in Valencia. Larry Twomey, of Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, represented the buyer, Old Road Realty LLC. Mike Tingus and Paul Capra, also with Lee & Associates, represented the seller, First California Bank. In Van Nuys, Lee & Associates completed a $3.1 million sale of a property, located at 5651 Sepulveda Blvd. Randy Kobata and Jack Schlaifer, of the Lee & Associates brokerage, transacted the sale of the 47,846-square foot property to Osteon Enterprises LLC, an orthopedic practice from Encino that specializes in spinal injuries and has a surgery center in the office. “We are seeing more of these kinds of transactions in today’s market – transactions that the buyer can relocate to a larger building and generate some income by renting a portion to other tenants,” Schlaifer said.