Coldwell Banker Commercial real estate wants to rebuild the 110-year-old brand and its most recent step toward that might bring a higher level of customer service – such as a private jet and helicopter – to the San Fernando Valley. Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors, a Salt Lake City-based national network of 17 Coldwell Banker franchises, recently bought New York-based CBC Alliance, a Coldwell Banker 10-office brokerage network with franchises in Glendale, and West and downtown Los Angeles. The seller was Sutherland Asset Management Corp., a real estate investment trust backed by the New York hedge fund Waterfall Asset Management. Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase will put the CBC Alliance brokerages, previously majority owned by the hedge fund, in the hands of other brokers like themselves, said Greg Barsamian, a managing principal and co-founder of the Glendale franchise. “Our partner was Waterfall – they didn’t understand our business,” Barsamian said. “Hedge funds want monthly predictions on revenue. (Brokerage) commission sales aren’t predictable; you can’t count on a consistent stream. Now we’re totally aligned top to bottom on what we’re going to do and what we’re going to be.” Under CBC Alliance’s new ownership, Barsamian said he and his co-founding partners, George Issaians and Bill Ukropina, who together oversee the L.A. offices, will be able to offer the typical Valley commercial real estate investor the same high-quality services received by large institutional investors such as pension funds, real estate investment trusts or insurance companies. Those services include sophisticated financial analysis, acquisition advice, mapping software for retail investors, underwriting for loans and high-quality marketing materials. Other perks include the use of CBC Advisors’ private jet and helicopter for taking developers on shopping trips for land around Southern California. “Our goal is to deliver that quality service to noninstitutional owners and operators of commercial real estate, and we’ve (now) got a partner in the same type of suburban marketplace,” Barsamian said. “We’re thrilled.” Shaping Up Sports Academy, a new sports-based business in Thousand Oaks, has repurposed a 96,000-square-foot former Amgen Inc. building into something like a high school or four-year college dedicated to training athletes for a career in sports. The business will bring coaches, trainers and practitioners of myriad sports under one roof when it opens next month at 1011 Rancho Conejo Blvd. The large facility, previously a technical maintenance and support site, will house five volleyball courts, two sand volleyball courts, five basketball courts, batting cages, pitching mounds, a 5,000-square-foot turf field, fitness studios for yoga and cycling training, a biomechanics lab and private workout areas. Users of any age will be able to get coached on a range of sports including volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, track and soccer, among others. Services such as sports medicine, therapy and rehabilitation, sports psychology, nutrition and wellness, character development and food will also be available, according to the company. The facility will be a first for the new business, said Chief Executive Chad Faulkner. “We have a strong belief that there is demand (in Thousand Oaks) to provide a world-class training environment with resources that professional athletes are accustomed to for athletes of all ages and abilities,” Faulkner said in an email. The new facility also aims to be a training facility for local clubs, travel teams and in-house competitive leagues. It also will host tournaments, off-site community events, lectures, meetings and team-building retreats. Sports Academy is the latest in an increasingly crowded local fitness and gym space. National health club chain LA Fitness plans to build a 45,000-square-foot fitness center on a four-acre parcel in Agoura Hills next to two planned hotels. Westlake Village’s Selleck Development Group will build the new health club, which will include basketball, volleyball and racquetball courts and a pool. Office Upside The greater L.A. office market is slowing but still healthy for developers, according to the 2016 Office Investment Forecast from Calabasas-based Marcus & Millichap Inc. The Valley’s office market will slow as new buildings under construction come on line. That will keep the market moderately oversupplied and push vacancies up slightly, the report says. Asking rents will increase despite that but only by the low single digits. Interest rates remain at historically low levels so investor activity and money will continue flowing into the Valley, specifically to buildings that investors can add value to with improvements, according to the report. Returns on those investments are still better for investors than in L.A.’s urban core markets. Staff Reporter Carol Lawrence can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or [email protected].
