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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Around the Valleys

Antelope Valley MOJAVE Stratolaunch Systems has completed the first phase of engine testing on its Roc aircraft at the Mojave Air & Space Port, according to the company. Stratolaunch Chief Executive Jean Floyd wrote in a posting on the company’s website that all six of the aircraft’s turbofan engines were started and allowed to idle. Stratolaunch is building the first-of-its-kind airplane to launch satellite-carrying rockets into orbit. Northrop Grumman Corp.’s subsidiary Scaled Composites is building the craft. When completed, Roc will be the largest aircraft in the world with a wingspan of 385 feet – longer than a football field. The Stratolaunch flight system uses the Roc to take a rocket to high altitude and release it so the rocket can fly into space. Stratolaunch was founded in 2011 by billionaire Paul Allen to launch satellite-carrying rockets into orbit as a lower cost alternative to ground-launched rockets. The Roc’s first launch demonstration could come as early as 2019. Conejo Valley AGOURA HILLS American Homes 4 Rent, one of the nation’s largest single-family home landlords, has been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding brokers price opinions on the value of its properties, according to regulatory filings. The Agoura Hills company uses broker price opinions to determine the values of its assets. Some of those properties it partners on with other companies that contribute capital toward the ownership and operation of those rentals. In its SEC filing American Homes said it received a letter from the federal agency that it was investigating securitizations, or debt financing, of certain single-family home rentals. As part of the letter, a subpoena requests American Homes to produce documents and communications that include broker price opinions on properties the company financed with debt. American Homes owns 48,000 homes in 22 states and has a market capitalization of $10.7 billion. WESTLAKE VILLAGE Dole Food Co. Inc. in Westlake Village has announced another mass layoff relating to strawberries as the company continues to back out of its California berry operations. The company told the state’s Employment Development Department that it would lay off more than 400 employees at its Northern California strawberry harvesting and cooling operations in Watsonville, and portions of the business will close starting Oct. 28. In April, the grower of fresh fruit and vegetables applied to go public for a third time, and the company has been liquidating assets to help reduce its massive $1.3 billion debt. Dole’s closure is the most recent in a series of strawberry and raspberry ranches and facilities that have closed over the last three years in Ventura County and other key berry growing areas in California, as growers react to market oversupply, lower profits and other issues. San Fernando Valley BURBANK Private aviation firm Zetta Jet Pte. Ltd. and its U.S. subsidiary have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure debt after discovering a former executive had allegedly misappropriated funds. Zetta Jet, headquartered in Singapore, has its charter sales and operations center at the Hollywood Burbank Airport. The debt restructuring was necessary after the company discovered early this month that former managing director Geoffrey Cassidy had allegedly misappropriated funds and committed other fraudulent activities. Zetta filed a lawsuit against Cassidy in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Sept. 8, according to a company press release. Chief Executive Michael Maher said Zetta will continue to provide its air charter services. New York City hedge fund giant Blackstone Group has bought a majority stake in several iconic buildings in Burbank’s Media District, according to the company. Blackstone has closed on its purchase of four office buildings in the portfolio and expects to close on two more at some near-future time. The value of the overall portfolio is $1.7 billion, according to the transaction, and the properties total more than 3 million square feet of Class A space that hosts many of the top media and entertainment companies, including Walt Disney Co. and Yahoo Inc. Several buildings are and were owned or developed by Santa Monica developers Jeff Worthe and M. David Paul. Worthe will continue to manage the buildings. The properties include the Tower at 3900 W. Alameda Ave.; Central Park at 3500 W. Olive Ave.; Pinnacle I and II at 3400 and 3300 W. Olive Ave., respectively; the Pointe at 2900 Alameda Ave.; and Media Studios at 2255 N. Ontario St. VAN NUYS Valley Industry & Commerce Association had a success rate of 74 percent on the bills it advocated for and against during the state legislature’s 2017 session, which ended last month. The Van Nuys business advocacy group issued a statement saying that it backed bills in support of housing, a Valley medical center and protections from cost overruns for the 2028 Olympic games. The housing bills supported by VICA help streamline housing development while others will assist families in need of affordable housing. VICA President Stuart Waldman said the bills sent to Gov. Jerry Brown to be signed into law will help stem the state’s housing crisis. The group opposed bills related to increasing the amount of renewable energy generated in the state to 60 percent by 2030 and to prohibit state agencies from being less stringent than federal guidelines when it comes to clean air and water because they presented unaffordable mandates without cost containment mechanisms. Both those bills failed to make it out of the legislature. The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners recommended amending a lease agreement with Signature Flight Support to allow the aviation company to do required improvements to property at Van Nuys Airport. The move was necessary because Signature would not have been able to do the necessary $6.3 million in improvements required by the lease because of objections from the Federal Aviation Administration. Signature had planned to build new facilities on the 17.4-acre site at 16233 Vanowen St., including hangar and office space. The FAA, however, said the construction would degrade the instrument landing system at the airfield that allows pilots to land when unable to establish visual contact with the runway. The airport commission granted Signature permission to spend only $2.5 million on the Vanowen property, which would include repair and maintenance of aircraft parking ramps and maneuvering areas and the rehabilitation of structures already existing on the premises. WEST HILLS Source Photonics has opened a new facility in Jintan, China for manufacturing Indium Phosphide lasers and related components. The West Hills optical equipment manufacturer will use the factory for metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, a process for growing layers to create complex semiconductors. The plant will also engage in chip processing and related component production. The new facility augments an existing fabrication plant in Hsinchu, Taiwan which has more than doubled its output over the past three years. Source Photonics develops and manufactures optical components used by telecommunications service providers for high-bandwidth video, voice and data communications. The company is owned by Redview Capital and Asia-IO in Hong Kong. Santa Clarita Valley Newhall Ranch developer Five Point Holdings in Aliso Viejo and environmental and culture groups that had been locked in legal battles over the proposed Santa Clarita Valley project have settled. Under the agreement, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, the Wishtoyo Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society will withdraw their legal objections in federal and state courts, the parties said. In return, Five Point said it will shrink the project’s size, which runs 6 miles along the Santa Clara River, and establish $25-plus million in the form of the First Nations Ecological and Cultural Conservancy to build a Native American cultural facility, as well as the Santa Clara River Conservation Fund – an endowment for threatened and endangered wildlife in the river’s ecosystem. VALENCIA River Oaks shopping center in Valencia has sold to a real estate investment firm for $115 million, according to the company. InvenTrust Properties Corp., a retail-oriented real estate investment trust in Downers Grove, Ill., said it bought the center at 24201, 24235 to 24285 and 24237 to 24425 Magic Mountain Parkway as part of a national value growth agenda that has involved selling certain non-strategic assets and buying instead multi-tenant, open-air, grocery-anchored retail properties. The center features national tenants such as Target, Sprouts, buybuyBaby, Ulta, Total Women Gym & Spa, Pier 1 Imports and Big 5 Sporting Goods. InvenTrust owns 85 retail properties, representing 15.2 million square feet of retail space. – Compiled by Iris Lee

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