Expansion plans for Burbank Bob Hope Airport seem to be on hold for now, but property surrounding the airport is selling briskly. The latest deal involved Burbank Airport Center at 2550 Hollywood Way. The 90,000-square-foot office building was acquired last month for $19.8 million, or about $220 a square foot, by Atlantic Pearl Investments Inc. of West Hollywood, which purchased the property from an L.A. investor group that took a loss on its sale. The sellers, Unilev Capital Group of Beverly Hills; Elco Lighting of Vernon; and Legend Real Estate Management Inc. and South Park Group Inc., both of Los Angeles, paid nearly $28.3 million – or about $314 a square foot – for the building at the peak of the real estate market in 2007. They marketed it as a repositioning opportunity for an investor looking to attract creative office tenants in the media and entertainment industry, since 35 percent of its tenants’ leases will expire in the next two years. Tenants include California Federation of Teachers and Accent Home Health Care. The Burbank Airport Center shares a campus with the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport hotel, the second-largest hotel in the San Fernando Valley, with 488 rooms. That property changed hands in December, when AWH Partners and Starr Cos. acquired it for north of $100 million. Two more Burbank hotels sold this summer to Apple Hospitality REIT of Richmond, Va. It bought the SpringHill Suites by Marriott, a 170-room property at 549 S. San Fernando Blvd., for $60 million, or about $353,000 a room, from developer R.D. Olson in July. Then in August, the real estate investment trust acquired the 190-room Marriot Courtyard at 2100 Empire Ave. for $54 million, or about $284,000 a room, from Huntington Hotel Group of Irving, Texas. Also in August, the Empire Center, a two-property office portfolio at 2400 and 2350 Empire, traded hands for more than $80 million. The buildings, which are fully leased to tenants including Allianz Insurance and Deluxe Digital Studios, were purchased by UBS Realty Investors of Hartford, Conn., from CBRE Global Investors Ltd. of Los Angeles. Earlier this summer, Lincoln Property Co. bought three buildings and two parking garages at 303 and 333 N. Glenoaks Blvd. and 300 E. Magnolia Blvd. from Kennedy Wilson Holdings Inc. of Beverly Hills for $84.2 million, or $258 a square foot. The June sale included a rebranding of the properties as the Burbank Collection with the goal of turning them into a tech and media campus. Buying is likely to continue as Burbank’s office market improves. In the second quarter, the vacancy rate dropped one point to 15.7 percent, according to Colliers International. In June, the airport put a 59-acre parcel of land on the market for commercial and office development. CBRE is marketing the property, which is adjacent to the airport and was acquired by the airport authority in 1999 from former owner Lockheed Corp. Retail Sales Three shopping centers – in Woodland Hills, Moorpark and Oxnard – traded hands recently. Mayhew Plaza in Woodland Hills, a 45,000-square-foot, grocery-anchored retail center on Ventura Boulevard between Ponce and Sale avenues, was sold for nearly $20 million to SHWH by Faneg Investment. The center is anchored by a 30,000-square-foot Smart & Final. Mission Bell Plaza at 475 W. Los Angeles Ave. in Moorpark sold for $4.4 million. Buyer MB Plaza West of San Diego purchased the three-property retail portfolio from Safco Capital Corp. of Los Angeles. The 58,000-square-foot shopping center was partially leased at the time of the sale to tenants including Wells Fargo Bank and Wescom Credit Union, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. In Oxnard, Lemon Grove Plaza, a 99,876-square-foot shopping center, was sold to Lemon Grove Plaza Inc. of Thousand Oaks for $8.1 million by a private family trust. The center is located at 2001-2091 Oxnard Blvd. and is leased to national tenants including Smart & Final Extra, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Burger King and Econo Lube & Tune, according to CBRE. Grand Opening A 247-acre, master-planned residential community developed by Canadian builder Brookfield Residential has opened 18 model homes in Santa Clarita. Five Knolls features a half-dozen single-family neighborhoods that will eventually comprise nearly 500 homes at the intersection of Golden Valley and Newhall Ranch roads. Brookfield is building two of the neighborhoods and residential homebuilders Tri Pointe Homes of Irvine, KB Home of Los Angeles, Christopher Homes of Newport Beach and Meritage Homes of Scottsdale are building the other four. Prices for the two-story, detached homes will range from around $500,000 to the $700,000s. Amenities include walking, hiking and biking paths and a private recreation center called the Club at Five Knolls. Staff reporter Karen E. Klein can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected].
