By JOYZELLE DAVIS Staff Reporter Office buildings dominated this year’s List of highest assessed properties in the San Fernando Valley, taking six spots in the top 25. Television studios and retail properties followed, with retail garnering five entries and studios taking four spots on the List. This is the first year the San Fernando Valley Business Journal has published a list of highest assessed Valley properties. The assessments were calculated according to the values of the land plus all the structures on the property. The figures do not include non-permanent items, such as machinery and office equipment on the property. For example, the medical equipment at the Kaiser Medical Foundation in Woodland Hills is not factored into its $201.5 million assessment; if it were, the hospitals’ land value would vault to $239.4 million. Those items figure into the county’s calculation of property tax for the land, which means that many of the properties on the List have a lower assessment than they do on county records. Universal Studios Hollywood/CityWalk, an amusement park and retail center located in Universal City, ranked the highest with an assessed value of $281.7 million. Two other Universal Studios Inc.-owned buildings, the 10 Universal City Plaza office tower and the entertainment company’s studio lot on Lankershim Boulevard, also placed in the top 10. Universal Studios bought the entire 36-story “10 UCP” tower last May. Texaco Inc. had owned a 50 percent interest in the 740,000-square-foot tower, which it sold for an estimated $70 million. The Anheuser Busch Brewery in Van Nuys placed second on the List, with an assessed value of $278.9 million. When all of the brewery’s equipment and facilities are factored in, its value vaults to $695.1 million making it the fifth highest assessed property in L.A. County and the Valley’s most valuable property. Entertainment companies had a heavy presence on the List, owning seven properties. In addition to the top-ranked Universal CityWalk, the properties include three film studios, one TV studio, and two office buildings. Of those offices, Walt Disney Co. entirely occupies its Burbank Center building while 10 Universal City Plaza has a multi-tenant roster that includes Texaco and DreamWorks SKG as major tenants. Another office building on the List, Warner Center Plaza III, had sat vacant for several years because the building completed construction during the real estate slump in 1991. The 590,000-square-foot building had strong leasing activity this year and is currently 65 percent occupied. Shopping centers also had a strong presence. Two of those malls, the Northridge Fashion Center and the Sherman Oaks Galleria, have major renovation plans in the works. The Northridge mall has demolished the former Robinsons-May home store and plans to build a multiplex in its place. The Sherman Oaks Galleria was purchased this summer by Douglas Emmett Realty Advisors. The Westside investment group had earlier announced that it plans to shore up the shopping mall’s retail fortunes while possibly expanding its office space. Douglas Emmett, which acts on behalf of private and institutional investors, also owns the Studio Plaza office building, which placed 14th on the List.
