I attended the Valley Economic Summit last week. But rather than walking away from the event enlightened about the current state of business in the San Fernando Valley, I walked away confused. It all started at a panel discussion about distressed commercial properties. The group laid out a pretty bleak picture. Increased vacancy rates, decrease of property values, and lack of access to capital are causing a flood of distressed commercial assets nationwide. California will not walk away unscathed, they said. Commercial real estate just lags behind the residential market, and ?e?e in the second inning of an eight inning game.? The next panel was Office/Industrial: Vacancies on the Rise, Who Will Fill in the Openings. Panelists admitted things are tough all over, but deals are happening and optimism was in the air. Distressed assets? They didn? seem to think it was much of an issue, at least in the San Fernando Valley. So how can two panels of business and real estate pros, who work in more or less the same markets, be touting such seemingly disparate information? Granted, part of the problem is that the panel was trying to address complex issues in an hour-long discussion. But some real estate pros are making blanket statements, and not getting into the nitty gritty of each sub-market in the Valley. The fact is the San Fernando Valley may not see as many distressed assets as say, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other markets in California where speculative development was rampant. But that? only a matter of scale and perspective. Distressed assets are popping up, and some of these cases are a mess. And within the San Fernando area there are regions that have an abundance of speculative development. Will property owners default on loans or file bankruptcy. Only time, and whether or not they?e well capitalized, will tell. Optimism is an institution in the real estate business. Brokers, agents and the like have to be upbeat to loosen up the purse strings of buyers and sellers. And in this crummy market, focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel is one of the only ways to stay sane. Pessimism also serves a purpose, because pessimists refuse to blindly buy into other? optimism. Things can only get better if you start from the bottom. But either camp making generalized statements about the market is going to lead to misinformation and more than just me being confused. Every sub market is unique. So when we talk about the state of commercial real estate, let? talk specifics. A Delicious Deal The Townhouse Restaurant & Wine Bar is taking over the space previously occupied by Macaroni Grill in the Sherman Oaks Galleria at 15301 Ventura Blvd. Irwin Hyman of NAI Capital? Encino office represented the lessee in signing a long-term lease for 7,000 square feet of restaurant space. Roger Greenfield and Ted Kasemir of Restaurants-America, a company that owns and operates more than 60 restaurants nationwide, developed the Townhouse Restaurant & Wine Bar concept. The restaurant has roots in Chicago. Hyman says the Sherman Oaks location is the first effort to bring it to Southern California. The space will be built out with hardwood floors, mosaic tiling, wine wall and floor to ceiling windows. The remodel is expected to be completed by July and the restaurant is scheduled to open in August. The company is looking for additional restaurant sites from 5,000-8,000 square feet to continue the expansion. Speaking of NAI Capital, the company has also been expanding. It recently added six new brokers to its Orange County office. Calabasas Office Sale Robert D. Erickson and Marc Spellman of Lee & Associates completed the sale of a 36,660 square feet office building in Calabasas. The duo represented seller, Arden Realty, in the transaction. The two-story building, located at 26010 Mureau Road in the Calabasas Commerce Center, fetched a sales price of approximately $7 million. Kasower Properties LLC acquired the building to house its own business, Mighty Net, Inc., said to be a leading credit information authority in North America. The company runs the web site creditreport.com. Arden put the property on the market late last year along with three other buildings in the complex. Another property, 26135 Mureau Road sold to an owner-user within weeks after listing. The M & M Wrap-up Rick Raymundo of Marcus & Millichap represented buyer, H.K. Properties, and seller, Trion Properties II LLC, in a deal for 12717-12733 Barbara Ann St. in North Hollywood. H.K Properties paid $3.2 million for a 24-unit complex. The purchase price breaks down to $133,000 per unit. The complex has 22,200 square feet of space and contains 12 two-bedroom/one bath units and 12 three-bedroom/1.5 bath units with balconies, patios, on-site laundry facility and vaulted ceilings. Marcus & Millichap sold an 11,770 square feet retail property at 14917 Delano Street in Van Nuys. The asset, which was constructed in 1988, fetched a sales price of $1,610,000, or $165.68 per square foot. Tony Azzi had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a partnership. The buyer was a private investor. Solar Burbank Ten years after the City of Burbank? first solar energy project came online, the city surpassed a milestone of generating more than 3 gigawatt hours of local solar energy. That? enough energy to power almost 6,000 homes in Burbank for a month. Mayor Dave Golonski says Burbank has been recognized by the solar industry as one of the top ten municipalities in the nation for solar power. Burbank Water and Power has funded 36 solar energy projects, all of which are online with total capacity of 1,428 kilowatt hours. Projects are located throughout the city, including on carports, residential and commercial rooftops, ground mounted, city pool facilities, movie studio stages, Jay Leno? green garage, and a new airport hangar. The utility offers a solar incentive program called Solar Support, to offset the cost of installing a solar energy system. Staff Reporter Eric Billingsley can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .
