San Fernando Valley AGOURA HILLS American Homes 4 Rent and J.P. Morgan Asset Management have launched a joint project to build 34 single-family homes in the Sovana and Spring Valley neighborhoods of Las Vegas. The project will comprise 12 three-bedroom homes and 22 four-bedroom homes, the first of which are expected to be ready in June. Completion of all 34 homes is anticipated for October. The project is the first manifestation of a joint venture with J.P Morgan Asset Management, which has put up $625 million of equity to build 2,500 single-family rental homes throughout the West and Southeast United States. That calculates to $250,000 per home. “We see this shift as particularly prevalent among the millennial generation … who are looking to transition away from apartment living,” Mike Kelly, head of Real Estate Americas at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said in a statement. “The move towards more spread-out living is also expected to accelerate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.” NORTHRIDGE The California State University system plans to cancel nearly all in-person classes in the fall and move classes online, Chancellor Timothy White has announced. The decision will affect all 10 campuses, including California State University – Northridge and California State University – Channel Islands in Camarillo. Online classes are needed in light of “evolving data surrounding the progression” of the virus, White said during a virtual meeting of CSU trustees. White said researchers predict a second, smaller wave of the virus in the summer, followed by a larger wave in the fall. NORTH HILLS A retail portfolio of two adjacent parcels totaling 52,260 square feet of land and two buildings in North Hills has traded hands for $6.3 million. The combined properties at 15701 Roscoe Blvd. and 15725 Roscoe Blvd. have 7,835 square feet of interior space. CoStar Group identifies Joyce Leahy Alyn of Encino as the seller of the twin properties. The Encino-based Marcus & Millichap team of Brandon Michaels, senior managing director of investments; Steven Schechter, first vice president of investments; and Sean Brandt, associate, held the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller. Michaels, Schechter and Brandt also represented the buyer, a partnership. SUNLAND Parkview East Apartments in Sunland has sold for $11.7 million, according to Encino-based Matthews Real Estate Investment Services. Located at 8608 Foothill Blvd., Parkview East was built in 1983. The property — a two-story, garden-style building spanning 37,394 square feet and consisting of 38-units — is comprised of a unit mix ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. CoStar Group data identified the seller as Woodland Hills firm Sussex Capital Group and the buyer as Valencia-based Ekins Family 1989 Intervivios Trust. Sussex had acquired the property in 2018 for $9.15 million. VAN NUYS Clay Lacy Aviation received a $27 million federal grant from the stimulus bill passed by Congress, the largest amount received by a private aviation company. CNBC reported that the air charter and management company based at Van Nuys Airport would not have to pay the money back. It is part of the CARES Act program to “compensate aviation industry workers and preserve jobs.” The site stated that out of 96 aviation firms on a list provided by the Treasury Department that received payroll support payments, Clay Lacy Aviation got the largest amount of private aviation companies. Commercial airlines received more money. Stay-at-home orders in April negatively impacted San Fernando Valley’s real estate market, according to a Southland Regional Association of Realtors report, which showed a 47 percent drop in the number of houses and condominiums sold for the month. In April, 263 single-family homes closed, a 46.9 percent drop from April 2019. Also, only 82 condos changed hands, a 47.1 percent drop from the year before. The volume of listings and new open escrows also fell, while the median price of properties that closed escrow in April continued a long trend of price increases, at $740,000 — up 6.5 percent from the same month a year ago. By the end of April, there were 969 active listings on the Multiple Listing Service, marking a 23.2 percent decline over April 2019. Capstone Turbine Corp. received an order for two of its microturbines for use at a resort in the Bahamas. The two C1000 Signature Series microturbines from the manufacturer are expected to be commissioned in the fall at the Walker’s Cay redevelopment project in the Northern Bahamas. The order was secured by E-Finity Distributed Generation, Capstone’s exclusive distributor for the Caribbean and Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. The two liquefied natural gas-powered microturbines will replace the island’s outdated and inefficient diesel reciprocating engine power plant, the company said. WOODLAND HILLS The former headquarters of Weider Health & Fitness in Warner Center has sold for $12.8 million, according to Jim Markel, vice president and regional manager of Marcus & Millichap’s Encino office. The 41,058-square-foot office building was built in 1971 and functioned as the headquarters for Weider’s muscle magazine and event business. The property is walking distance from Uptown at Warner Center, a 47-acre mixed-use development that includes retail, office, hotel, research and development and assisted living. CoStar Group identified the seller as Betty Weider of Woodland Hills and the buyer as Robert Kopple of Los Angeles. “New ownership plans to use the building as a medical laboratory and flagship corporate location,” said Chase Cohen, of Marcus & Millichap’s Encino office, in a statement. Ventura County SIMI VALLEY AeroVironment Inc. has received a $76 million contract for one year’s worth of purchases by the U.S. Army of its miniature aerial missile system. The unmanned aircraft manufacturer expects to begin deliveries of the Switchblade tactical missile system in September. The contract is funded through a Joint Urgent Operational Need Statement from the U. S. Army Tactical Aviation and Ground Munitions project office. The Switchblade is a portable, rapidly deployable, precision strike loitering missile for beyond line-of-sight targets up to 6 miles from its launch location that minimizes collateral damage. It can be tube launched from air, land and sea platforms. THOUSAND OAKS A subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Inc. is manufacturing image sensors called charged coupled devices, or CCDs, for use in COVID-19 diagnostic tools. The CCD Fabrication team operated by Teledyne e2v in the U.K. has made hundreds of CCD77-358 sensors in the last few weeks. They will be placed in camera systems designed for microscopy research and diagnostic testing of the novel coronavirus. The sensors have a high dynamic range, with image resolution of 512 x 512 pixels and pixel size of 24 micrometers. “The coronavirus outbreak has triggered increased demand and interest,” said Teledyne e2v President of Space and Quantum Miles Adcock in a statement. “We expect to have manufactured several times the forecasted annual demand for the CCD77-358 devices by the end of this quarter alone.” Teledyne has not revealed any contracts with camera suppliers or medical companies for the sensors. WESTLAKE VILLAGE PizzaRev, a Westlake Village-based franchisor of build-your-own pizzerias, has eliminated its retail presence in the San Fernando Valley and throughout most of L.A. County because of the financial effects of COVID-19. The company has permanently closed locations in Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Burbank, Glendale, Studio City, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Van Nuys and Valencia. Only two PizzaRev restaurants remain in Los Angeles County, in Palmdale and Rowland Heights. Like all restaurants, PizzaRev has closed its dining rooms for more than nine weeks. PizzaRev hasn’t made a formal announcement regarding the closures, but confirmed them on social media and cited “the impact of COVID-19.” It isn’t clear how the pandemic has affected the company’s corporate operations, though several of the shuttered L.A.-area restaurants were corporate-owned.
