SAN FERNANDO VALLEY The Fernando Award Foundation board of directors has elected co-chairs Mark Levinson and Pegi Matsuda. “Mark and Pegi are an excellent leadership team during this time of change and challenge,” David Honda, member of the board of directors and chair of the board’s nominating committee, said in a statement. “They have compatible experience in both business and in community leadership and will be able to lead the board and its community programs effectively.” The Fernando Award Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization that promotes volunteerism and civic engagement in the San Fernando Valley. Randy Witt resigned as chairman of the organization earlier this month. Levinson, current board vice chair, is a family law attorney. Matsuda has owned Pegi Matsuda Consulting, a Sherman Oaks- based marketing and fundraising firm, since 2018. The 2021 Fernando board members include: Levinson, Matsuda, Honda, Paul Davis, Marian Jocz, Bruce Miller, Walter Mosher, Mike Quiroga, Thor Steingraber, Dale Surowitz and Mark Villasenor. The 11-member board votes annually to determine the winner of the Fernando Award, considered the highest local award presented for volunteer leadership and philanthropy.
CALABASAS Rising Realty Partners has sold Park Calabasas — a 225,000-square-foot office campus sprawled across more than 20 acres in Calabasas — for $79 million. The property’s buyer is Pasadena-headquartered Gemdale USA, the subsidiary of China-based Gemdale Corp., which has retained Rising to manage the property. Located at 4500 Park Granada, the property was acquired by Rising in 2013 as part of a portfolio from Bank of America. The company transformed it from a vacant single-tenant alignment into the multi-tenant campus, which currently stands more than 90 percent leased. New tenants since the renovation include river cruise line AmaWaterways, which as its headquarters on the premises; Coty, a multinational beauty company; co-working entity Spaces; and worker’s compensation insurance agency Republic Indemnity. Newmark’s Co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon, Executive Managing Directors Ken White and Rob Hannan and Senior Managing Director Laura Stumm represented sellers Rising Realty Partners and Fortress Investment Group. Newmark’s Vice Chairman David Milestone and Senior Managing Director Brett Green secured the acquisition financing on behalf of buyer Gemdale USA. Said Chief Executive Christopher Rising: “When we acquired this campus, it was outdated with a floor plan for a financial company — a very closed office. Our team had a bigger vision for this campus to give it life and make an impact through property improvements and programming. This campus was a proof point that our impact strategy model works in urban settings as well as suburban office parks.” SHERMAN OAKS Encino law firm Alpert Barr & Grant has merged with Shenon Law and retains the name Alpert Barr & Grant. The merger will bring “a range of expertise” to business law clients, the firm said in a statement. Alpert Barr is also relocating to accommodate its growing employee base, from its office in Encino to 15165 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. Gary Barr, Adam Grant and Natela Shenon will lead the combined practice as equity shareholders. Lee Kanon Alpert will retain his own separate arbitration and mediation firm, Alpert Dispute Resolution & Consulting Inc.
VAN NUYS Los Angeles and Ventura counties have entered the less restrictive orange tier, but county officials are reserving the right to implement their own limits for sectors of the economy. The new tier allows bars to reopen outdoors without needing to serve food – still with social distancing modifications. Indoor capacity for houses of worship, museums, zoos and aquariums would go from 25 to 50 percent; for restaurants and movie theaters, indoor capacity is raised to 50 percent or 200 people, whichever is fewer, according to the state. Indoor gyms and yoga studios would up capacity from 10 to 25 percent; grocery, retail, hair salons, barbershops and personal care services can increase capacity from 50 to 75 percent. Bowling alleys, card rooms and satellite wagering sites will reopen indoors at 25 percent capacity. However, the L.A. County Department of Public Health has made a recommendation to keep grocery and retail capacity at 50 percent until mid-month, a deviation from the state rules. This would be to allow more grocery store workers to get vaccinated in time, the agency said. The state’s orange tier requires 2 to 5.9 daily new cases per 100,000 residents, 2 to 4.9 percent positivity rate and less than 5.3 percent positive tests. TRI-CITIESBURBANKBurbank City Council has adopted a temporary ordinance to cap commission rates for food delivery to assist in the reopening of businesses impacted by COVID-19. The ordinance caps third-party delivery fees from services such as Door Dash and Uber Eats at 15 percent of the online purchase price and 5 percent for additional services. It also requires detailed receipts for the restaurant and end consumer, as well as prohibiting a decrease in compensation to drivers due to the cap. “Temporarily capping the commission rates for third-party food delivery services will provide some economic relief for our Burbank restaurants,” City Manager Justin Hess said in a statement. During normal times, restaurants could more readily absorb the delivery service pricing because it was a small part of the restaurants’ overall business, the ordinance stated.
GLENDALEServiceTitan, the software developer for home and commercial services companies, has raised $500 million in a funding round that values the company at $8.3 billion. The company received the money from lead investors Tiger Global in New York and Sequoia Global Equities in Menlo Park. Existing investors also participated including Arena Holdings, Battery Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. ServiceTitan makes software to help contractors such as plumbers schedule and organize their business. “The fact that some of the most respected investors in the world are paying attention to the trades validates the importance of the work our customers do, the impact all Titans have been able to make thus far, and as importantly, the opportunity ahead of us,” said ServiceTitan Chief Executive Ara Mahdessian in a statement. The company has surpassed $250 million in annual recurring revenue, having grown more than 50 percent during the past 12 months.
VENTURA COUNTYCAMARILLO Oaktree Capital Management has acquired two industrial buildings for $154 million, or $210 per square foot. The warehouses, at 3001 and 3175 Mission Oaks Blvd., were both fully leased to Amazon.com Inc. at the time of sale. Bret Hardy, Jim Linn, John DeGrinis, Patrick DuRoss, Jeff Abraham, Scott Schumacher, Andrew Briner, Kevin Shannon and Alex Foshay of Newmark represented seller Greenlaw Partners while buyer Oaktree brokered its end of the sale in-house. The 3001 Mission Oaks Blvd. property was built in 1969 and spans 308,780 square feet on 18 acres. The warehouse at 3175 Mission Oaks Blvd., built in 2000, spans 425,039 square feet and sits on 20 acres. Situated east of the Camarillo Airport, the distribution buildings total 733,819 square feet and are loaded with amenities, including 5 percent office buildouts, 69 loading docks, three drive-ins and 35-foot clear heights. Oaktree Capital is based in downtown Los Angeles.
THOUSAND OAKS Amgen Inc. has acquired Rodeo Therapeutics Corp., a private biopharmaceutical company based in Seattle. The pharma giant will buy all outstanding shares of Rodeo in exchange for an upfront payment of $55 million, plus future milestone payments worth up to an additional $666 million in cash. Rodeo will be a “strategic fit” for Amgen’s inflammation portfolio with its 15-PGDH program, Amgen said in a statement. The program is developing small-molecule drugs for use in repairing diseased or damaged tissue in the body. “The enzyme 15-PGDH plays a key role in many disease-relevant processes such as stem cell self-renewal and epithelial barrier repair,” Dr.
Raymond Deshaies, vice president of global research at Amgen, said in a statement. “Given the encouraging preclinical data to date, we are excited about the opportunity to develop a novel therapy.”
AROUND THE VALLEYS
