Fred Sands Realtors, a $5-billion-a-year residential real estate brokerage in Los Angeles, says it will buy an Orange County brokerage and open an office--possibly in Newport Beach--by the end of the year.

Sands himself, meanwhile, said he had recently led a partnership in buying a small shopping center in Laguna Hills called Christian's Farmers Market for $12.8 million.

The center's 60,000 square feet of space is fully leased by 24 retailers.

The shopping center is on seven acres at Moulton Parkway and La Paz Road.

Sands is the second-largest broker in dollar volume on Los Angeles' Westside.

Compiled by Michael Flagg / Times staff writer