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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Real Estate Column—Feder Returns to Lee & Assoc. After Going It Alone

It seems that bigger really is better, even when it comes to the most independent spirits in real estate. Ron Feder, who left Lee & Associates two years ago to form RJ Feder & Associates, has merged his company back into his former employer’s fold. “I’ve always had a desire to own my own business,” Feder said. “It was very fruitful for me, but the corporate clients, the institutional clients, it’s hard for a small boutique to attain them.” With the merger, Feder takes over as president of Lee & Associates’ Los Angeles North and Ventura County office based in Sherman Oaks. His associate at RJ Feder, Jack Schlaifer, joins him and will set up the brokerage’s first Conejo Valley office. Feder was a managing principal of Lee & Associates when he decided to go off on his own, opening a full service commercial brokerage in Calabasas in 1998 and developing a client list that included City National Bank, Litton Industries, Performance Products and Coast United Advertising. But the small size of the shop made it difficult to recruit brokers and limited the firm’s ability to attract larger client prospects. “The larger entities are looking for national or regional firms,” Feder said. “It’s a safe bet.” Feder said middle managers responsible for real estate decisions in corporate America prefer suppliers with well-known brand names because it’s easier to sell those decisions to top management, and it can help to insulate them if something goes wrong. In other words, as the saying goes, you’ll never get fired for choosing IBM. Lee & Associates, a brokerage with 19 offices, covers a territory that spans San Diego to Stockton and the west side of Los Angeles to Phoenix and Las Vegas. At the same time, Feder said, the company’s organizational structure allows brokers to retain upward of 90 percent of the fees they bring in. “You can’t get that anywhere else,” he said. Each of the Lee & Associates offices is set up as a separate corporation with brokers holding partnership positions that allow them to share in the profits at the end of the year, said Bill Lee, the company’s founder. Last year, company’s revenues reached $100 million, he added. The brokerage saw several high-profile departures last year. John Sabourin and Mark Spellman, who handled the deal that brought Health Net to the LNR Warner Center, left to join Colliers Seeley, and Jeff Woolf, the former head of the Sherman Oaks office, left to join Cushman & Wakefield Inc. More Action for Empire Center It looks as if the office portion of Burbank’s Empire Center is following in the successful footsteps of the retail segment. Less than a month after taking over 17.2 acres of the project under development by Zelman Cos., Menlo Equities has signed its first tenant. Allianz Insurance Co. inked a deal for a 97,000-square-foot build-to-suit on the site at Empire Avenue and Buena Vista Street in Burbank. When completed in March 2002, the Allianz building will become part of a 390,000-square-foot corporate office park within the 103-acre Empire Center. Allianz will relocate from other offices in Burbank. Zelman Cos., the primary developer of the site, has nearly completed leasing the retail portion of the project, about 900,000 square feet of the complex. The retail center will be anchored by The Great Indoors, Costco and Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse and include Best Buy, Target, Linens ‘N Things, Sportmart, Staples and Marshalls. It will also include a food court. Zelman, which acquired the Empire Center site from Lockheed Martin Corp., in December sold the office portion of the project to Menlo, a Palo Alto-based real estate investment firm. Two hotels are also planned for the Empire Center complex. Mark Sullivan, Seth Dudley and Rosey Miller, brokers with Julien J. Studley, represented Allianz in the deal. The developer was represented by Paul Stockwell and Onno Zwaneveld, also of Studley. Legacy Oaks Sold Adler Realty Advisors has acquired Legacy Oaks Corporate Center in Thousand Oaks for $24.2 million. The Woodland Hills-based private investment group bought the 156,000-square-foot center from Legacy Partners. Legacy Oaks Corporate Center, at 225 W. Hillcrest Drive, is 96 percent leased. Kevin Shannon and Tom Festa, both with Grubb & Ellis Co., represented the buyer and the seller. Locals Redevelop Directors LLC has purchased a 3.2-acre site at 2999 Thousand Oaks Blvd. for $3.1 million. The buyers, managed by local residents Robert Hamilton and Frances Prince, plan to redevelop the parcel into an office building. The planned three-story, 60,000-square-foot office building would replace Rubber Duck Auto and Tire Repair, which currently occupies the property. Tony Principe, a broker with Westcord Commercial Real Estate Services, represented the buyer and seller, a privately held company headed by Walter and Valerie Heinz and Lee Cohn. Newhall Roundup Several sale transactions were completed in Newhall Land and Farming Co.’s Valencia Gateway center. Sheldon Appel Associates acquired an 18.6-acre parcel in Gateway IV. Circle W Enterprises Inc. acquired a 15,513-square-foot industrial building in the Gateway’s Clifford Rockefeller Business Center. Doug Sonderegger and Craig Peters with CB Richard Ellis Inc. represented the buyers and Newhall in both transactions. Don Manning with CB Richard Ellis Inc., represented Aronoff and Steve Scott of Lee & Associates represented the seller in that transaction. Staff reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at (818) 676-1750, ext. 14 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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