It took four years for Michael Adler to finally reap the rewards of his plan to create what he described as “the high-end destination furniture retail Center for the Los Angeles/Ventura County area.” The process was neither quick nor easy. Not only did it take three years to get all of the necessary approvals from the City of Agoura Hills but then the declining economy caused several prospective tenants to back out. “We originally had leases signed with Drexel Heritage, Henredon and Stickley and those three tenants decided not to open,” said Adler. “They halted all new store openings and that very much affected us.” The upside, he said, is that the new tenants “are the survivors.” With the signing of three new leases, and two final letters-of-intent in hand, Adler said the 120,000-square-foot Agoura Design Center in Agoura Hills is 95 percent leased. “We’re in the process of finishing it now,” said Adler, whose Adler Realty Investments is the developer and landlord. “We received our certificate of occupancy a few weeks ago.” The first three tenants Ethan Allen, Berks, and Keyboard Concepts moved in even before the COO was issued. As for the new stores, Jeffrey Dake & Associates of Westlake brokered 10-year leases for The Power of Home, moving into 17,857 square feet of space; and The Mattress Store, with 8,644 square feet, while the 19,467-square-foot West Point Furniture Design Center lease was handled in-house. The general contractor is Coury Enterprises of Woodland Hills. <!– Develop: Agoura Design Center nearly complete. –> Develop: Agoura Design Center nearly complete. BAK Moves Forward A 51,608-square-foot industrial building in the city of San Fernando will be the new home of BAK Industries. With the four-year, $1,659,713 lease, the manufacturer of hard truck bed covers and accessories will be gaining 33,000 square feet more than it currently has in its North Hollywood facility. Lee & Associates associate Peter Steigleder not only represented BAK in the lease, but also identified a subleasee who is going to move into space that BAK does not need immediately in the new building, but does expect to expand into in the future. Doug and Mike Wax of Industrial Park Associates represented landlord Cross Roads Trust. Steigleder also closed the sale of a 4,900-square-foot industrial building in Burbank for $1.4 million, along with Paul Bellgraph, another Lee associate. The sellers were represented by Randy Rohrer of Pacific West Properties. Lancaster Sales Two more buildings in the Fox Field Business Park in Lancaster have sold, leaving just two spaces left in the first phase of the project. David Young and Chad Gahr of NAI Capital represented McLain Holdings Group in its purchase of 4516 Runway Drive. The Burbank-based entertainment company plans to use the 14,659-square-foot space acquired for $1.28 million to store media archives. Claudia Gil of Guido Gil and Associates assisted Me Gusta Mexican Food Specialties in acquiring 4528 Runway Drive for $761,000. The 6,448-square-foot building will house manufacturing operations for an expanded line of Mexican foods by Pacoima-based Me Gusta Mexican Food Specialties. Dennis Marciniak and Larry McEwan of DAUM Commercial Real Estate Services represented Larwin Investment Company, the developer and owner of the Fox Field park. Near Vegas Voit Development Company of Woodland Hills announced that the fourth and final phase of Pacific Business Center in Henderson, Nev. has been completed. The 13-building business park has just under 900,000 square feet of space. The final piece of the puzzle was a third-party fee development project for Northwestern Mutual Investments/Life Insurance that included two mid-bay buildings and one distribution building totaling 216,317 square feet. The project recently earned a Development Excellence Award from the City of Henderson. Tim Regan of Voit Development was the project manager for the fee development. Go T.O. First Industrial Acquisitions, LLC purchased two buildings in Thousand Oaks as part of an investment sale by the Wood Family Trust. The 1011 Rancho Conejo Blvd. building is a 96,000-square-foot space with 45 percent commercial office and 55 percent industrial space. The 2300 Corporate Center Drive building has 109,492 square feet of office space. Both buildings were fully leased at the time of the sale. CB Richard Ellis brokers Nicholas Gregg and Kenneth Ashen represented the seller; the buyer was self-represented. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Stay Tuned In August, the Business Journal will run its annual Largest Commercial Real Estate Brokers list. A special editorial section covering the top performers in the greater Valley region will also be included. If you think you, or someone you work with, is one of the best brokers of commercial (including industrial and retail) property, send me an e-mail detailing your reasons for thinking so, and they may end up being profiled. Staff Reporter Linda Coburn can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected] .