Office Buildings

Playa Vista was the last major coastal community in Los Angeles to be built, but a crucial retail development to give it its own downtown was stalled by legal challenges. That's about to change. With court victories in hand, developers have unveiled the design of a long-anticipated shopping and apartment complex they will begin building in June as the key element of the second and final phase of Playa Vista. The $260-million project, called Runway at Playa Vista, is intended to be the commercial and social heart of the planned community that has been under construction for more than a decade on land once controlled by aviation mogul Howard Hughes south of Marina del Rey. Playa Vista already has more than 3,200 residences and 2 million square feet of offices but lacks a commercial and social town center, said Patti Sinclair, co-president of Playa Capital, the master developer of Playa Vista.

Orange County social service staffers who say they work inside a toxic building that has made them sick now contend that the county has tossed out some of their most damning evidence -- 350 tons of potentially contaminated soil. But on Friday, when the employees' union went to court to get a restraining order to prevent any more soil from being disposed of, the judge said it was too late. "Whatever has occurred, has occurred," Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Perk said.

The largest Korean American bank in the country will soon be ensconced in a Wilshire Boulevard office complex built decades ago by of one of Southern California's most storied financial institutions. BBCN Bank, formed in a November merger between Nara Bank and Center Bank, will make its headquarters in Wilshire Colonnade. The marble-clad complex at 3731 Wilshire Blvd. - built in the early 1970s by H.F. Ahmanson & Co., parent company of Home Savings & Loan Assn. - was formerly known as Ahmanson Center.

Former executives of office landlord MPG Office Trust Inc. have launched their own property company with the purchase of a landmark Los Angeles office building. Nelson and Christopher Rising of Rising Realty Partners expect their acquisition of Pacific Center at 6th and Olive streets to close Monday. Terms of the purchase from Alliance Commercial Partners were not revealed, but experts familiar with downtown real estate prices value the deal at $60 million. The new owners will change the name of the complex to the PacMutual Building, in keeping with origins of the Beaux Arts-style complex that can be traced to railroad tycoons Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins.

Two Playa Vista office buildings have changed hands, marking one of the largest commercial property sales in Los Angeles County in recent years. The buildings, rented mostly by Fox Interactive Media, were purchased by a J.P. Morgan-managed investment fund from developer Lincoln Property Co. and its partner ASB Capital Management. The price wasn't disclosed but real estate experts familiar with property values in Playa Vista said the buyers paid nearly $300 million. Lincoln started work in 2007 on a campus called Horizon at Playa Vista intended to appeal to young information-industry workers.

A joint venture of Oakfield Realty Partners and Long Wharf Real Estate Partners has acquired three office buildings in the Warner Center district of Woodland Hills for $26.4 million. Oakfield, a privately held commercial real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles, bought 5950 Canoga Ave., 5955 De Soto Ave. and 21155 Califa St. for about $145 per square foot, real estate broker Bob Safai of Madison Partners said. Long Wharf is a Boston private equity real estate manager. The identity of the seller was not released, but real estate data provider CoStar identified the last owner as New York lender-based Guggenheim Commercial Real Estate Finance.

For some, construction kicked off during better years, when office rentals in prime locales seemed a sure shot for developers. Others are older, once bustling but now deserted after hemorrhaging tenants during the economic downturn. But one way or another, they are among the emptiest office buildings in Southern California. A number of the highest- vacancy buildings are in Burbank and Glendale, according to data from CoStar Group Inc. The real estate research firm looked at the percentage of space that was rented out at Class A office buildings with 300,000 square feet or more.

High-rise office towers in Los Angeles are a lot more secure - sometimes exasperatingly so - than they were a decade ago. Fears turbo-boosted by the terrorist attacks pulled up the welcome mat of yore, when the only obstacle to visiting the 50 t h floor was finding the right bank of elevators. Since 9/11, local landlords have spent tens of millions of dollars buttoning up their buildings in an effort to ensure that no unwelcome strangers make it inside. Such strict security is here to stay at the region's trophy office buildings, industry observers said, but the darkest predictions about the future of America's downtowns made in the aftermath of 9/11 did not come to pass.

Santa Monica's status as the destination of choice for technology and entertainment businesses got another boost with the $90-million sale to a Houston real estate investment firm of five "creative" office buildings — those highly designed, edgy alternatives to typical corporate environs. Lionstone Group, one of the largest owners of creative offices on the Westside, bought the buildings from a limited partnership made up of investors who are in the entertainment industry, brokers said.

Twin office buildings on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles were sold Tuesday for $44 million in a transaction that may help establish the bottom of the local commercial real estate market, a broker said. The five-story offices at 6310 and 6330 San Vicente Blvd. were bought by a joint venture of Beverly Hills-based Cambra Realty and PRP Real Estate Investors of Washington from a company headed by Beverly Hills billionaire Lou Gonda.

Former executives of office landlord MGP Office Trust have launched their own property company with the purchase of a landmark Los Angeles office building. Nelson and Christopher Rising of Rising Realty Partners expect their acquisition of Pacific Center at Sixth and Olive streets to close Monday. Terms of the purchase from Alliance Commercial Partners were not revealed, but experts familiar with downtown real estate prices value the deal at $60 million. The new owners will change the name of the complex to the PacMutual Building, in keeping with the origins of the Beaux Arts style complex that can be traced to railroad tycoons Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins.

The former Marina del Rey headquarters of automotive legend Carroll Shelby was sold along with two office buildings for $6.5 million. Shelby, once a race car driver, set up shop for his fledgling car company Shelby-American at 1042 Princeton Drive in March 1962, his website said. That year he introduced his first Cobra sports car, and in 1963 a Cobra won the United States Road Racing Championship. The company operated out of a red brick industrial and office complex built in the late 1950s that, according to books on Shelby, had previously been leased by playboy race car driver and entrepreneur Lance Reventlow.

Playa Vista was the last major coastal community in Los Angeles to be built, but a crucial retail development to give it its own downtown was stalled by legal challenges. That's about to change. With court victories in hand, developers have unveiled the design of a long-anticipated shopping and apartment complex they will begin building in June as the key element of the second and final phase of Playa Vista. The $260-million project, called Runway at Playa Vista, is intended to be the commercial and social heart of the planned community that has been under construction for more than a decade on land once controlled by aviation mogul Howard Hughes south of Marina del Rey. Playa Vista already has more than 3,200 residences and 2 million square feet of offices but lacks a commercial and social town center, said Patti Sinclair, co-president of Playa Capital, the master developer of Playa Vista.

Endemol USA, the producer of the house-fixing television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” has more than doubled the size of its own quarters in West Hollywood and North Hollywood. Endemol develops popular reality-style shows such as “Big Brother” and “Wipeout” as well as scripted dramas including the railroad western “Hell on Wheels” on AMC. The company has consolidated in two office buildings while expanding its overall space to 75,000 square feet, said broker Michael P. Arnold of Newmark Knight Frank.

A powerful and prolonged earthquake rocked Mexico on Tuesday, toppling houses near the epicenter in the south, cracking building facades in this sprawling capital and briefly terrifying a population well schooled in natural disasters. Despite the quake's 7.4 magnitude, however, there were no reports of serious injury, according to President Felipe Calderon and officials across the country. Aftershocks rattled the area through the rest of the day. "This is one of the strongest we've ever felt," said Calderon, who urged Mexicans to remain calm.

With the economy apparently stabilizing, commercial real estate investors have jumped into several markets in the West, brokers said. “There is a lot of capital that needs to get out,” said broker Kevin Shannon of CBRE Group Inc. “People have fresh allocations for both debt and equity and … want to put it to work.” The hottest markets for buyers in search of Class A office buildings are Seattle and San Francisco, he said, but...

California officials accepted a winning bid Monday of $2.33 billion to sell 24 state office buildings to a consortium of three U.S. investment companies. The state will lease back the buildings, including two in downtown Los Angeles, from the new owners for at least 20 years. The sale will generate $1.2 billion for the state general fund and $1.09 billion to pay off bonds on the buildings. "This offer presents the best value for the state and achieves the goals set forth by the Legislature and governor," said Ron Diedrich, acting director of the state Department of General Services.

The Building Owners & Managers Assn. of Greater Los Angeles will hold its annual Office Buildings of the Year Awards showcase and luncheon Sept. 8 in downtown Los Angeles. The awards honor excellence in office building management, operational efficiency, tenant retention, emergency planning and community impact. A panel of judges reviews buildings in a variety of categories, ranging from historic structures to office parks.