Our list of the largest commercial real estate brokerages in the greater San Fernando Valley area will run on April 12. And we’re asking for help from the commercial real estate community to make sure this year’s ranking is the best and most accurate reflection of our local industry. You may recall that last year’s list was an alphabetical directory, versus a ranked list. And we left a couple big players off. The move was controversial because many brokers use these lists for marketing purposes. And brokers were already feeling the pinch from the economic meltdown. Here’s what happened last year and why we’re asking for your help and cooperation. We consulted with local firms to determine the list criteria. Then our researcher, Brian DeWolf, sent out surveys and followed-up with firms. He asked for the value of deals, number of local brokers, services offered, number of offices, and top local executive. Many firms responded promptly. But a number of the big players did not provide information by deadline. We were also unable to resolve questions about whether some data only represented deals done in the greater San Fernando Valley area. As business journalists we’re always trying to produce content that’s accurate and fair. Publishing a ranked list without a few of the biggest brokerage firms did not seem like an accurate reflection of our local industry. We left the unresponsive firms off because we didn’t have any information for them. Back to this year’s issue Brian DeWolf sent out surveys to all of the commercial brokerage firms in the Valley. If you have not received one, please contact him ASAP at 818-316-3130. The deadline for submitting information is April 2, and this is not a flexible deadline. Once the list is compiled, we’re also considering asking principals at five of the largest firms to provide some peer review. I know the past year has been a rough one for many brokers. But this could make for one of the most interesting ranked lists to date. DeGrinis Double Deal Colliers International recently completed a $1.5 million sublease of 63,136 square feet of industrial space, located at 15955 Strathern St. in Van Nuys. The new tenant is Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, and Colliers represented La Brea Bakery in the deal. Following the sublease, Colliers negotiated a five-year lease extension for La Brea Bakery for the company’s 66,333-square-foot space located at 15963 Strathern St. Both properties are part of a larger 129,469-square-foot site owned by Prudential. The site was fully leased, with 4.5 years remaining, to La Brea Bakery for the manufacturing and distribution of its baked goods. “La Brea Bakery was only utilizing half of the space for its operations and was looking to maximize cost efficiency, said John DeGrinis of Colliers. “We were initially hired to sublease the 63,000-square-feet of underutilized space, but after finding a great credit tenant within a short time-frame, our client decided it would be best to structure a direct lease between the landlord and Fidelity.” DeGrinis worked on the transaction with Patrick DuRoss and Jeff Abraham of Colliers’ Encino office. “La Brea Bakery also sought an extension to their existing lease of 66,333 square feet, so we were called on to negotiate the terms of the extension with the landlord,” said DuRoss. “In doing so, we extended their lease an additional five years. The end result of the two transactions was a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on our client’s behalf and mitigated risk associated with a sublease by structuring a direct lease with the landlord.” Hans Miller and Kathryn Snyder of Orion Realty Group, and Cushman and Wakefield represented Fidelity National Title Insurance Company. The landlord was represented in-house in both the direct lease with Fidelity and the 66,333-square-foot lease extension with La Brea Bakery. Industrial Bob Hoyer of Delphi Business Properties represented the seller of a 21,202 square foot industrial space located at 9007 Lankershin. The building is located on approx. 36,000 square feet of land. Stone-Miller represented the buyer, Rescue Mission Alliance. The property sold for $1.65 million, or approx. $77.50 per square foot, according to Hoyer. Tim Foutz of NAI Capital’s Encino office and Rick Hollman of The Hollman Company represented Newman-Nordhoff Industrial, LLC in the sale of an 11,268 square foot industrial building in Northridge Business Center. Bulls Investments, LLC purchased the property, located at 19843 Nordhoff Street in Northridge. The transaction value was not disclosed. The buyer was represented by TOLD Partners, Inc. Staff Reporter Eric Billingsley can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected].
Ranking The Area’s Commercial Real Estate Brokerages
