Stories in this week’s Orange County Business Journal
TOP STORIES
The state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal declared a deal to sell the 150-acre Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa void. The ruling will stand unless overturned on appeal to the California Supreme Court. Facilities Management West, a Costa Mesa-based consortium headed by the Fait family trust, won a bidding process with an offer to buy the fairgrounds for $100 million. Opponents of the sale challenged the deal and the court ruled that the state failed to provide the legislature with an appraisal of the property, instead presenting the bidding process as a determinant of fair market value. The court also took issue with a lack of any procedure for losing bidders to protest the outcome. The decision called on state officials to start the sale process over if newly elected Gov. Jerry Brown “so chooses.” Facilities Waste Management said the process was fair and that it is considering an appeal.
Santa Ana-based homebuilder City Ventures LLC, one of the more aggressive buyers of land in California the past few years, struck a $75 million revolving construction loan with Housing Capital Co. of San Mateo and Minneapolis-based US Bank. The money will be used for City Ventures’ projects along the coast. City Ventures now has 11 projects under construction in cities including Carlsbad, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Signal Hill and Brea. It expects to launch four more by the end of the year. City Ventures owns more than 4,500 lots across California. Late last year it started CV Communities LLC to focus on suburban development, particularly in the Inland Empire. The company got a $100 million investment from Los Angeles-based asset management firm Ares Management LLC last year. It has since gotten another infusion of cash from Ares, and has other private investors.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
DOWN: Sales of businesses in Orange County in May, when 94 deals marked the lowest total since November, according to tracking website bizben.com. May marked the second consecutive month-to-month decline but was up 5.6% from a year earlier.
MANUFACTURING
The Huntington Beach operation of Chicago’s Boeing Co. will cut 100 jobs from its space exploration division as the space shuttle program comes to an end. The local job cuts were part of a larger companywide reduction of 510 employees in Huntington Beach, Houston and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Some employees will be reassigned to other operations, according to Boeing, which is Orange County’s fourth-largest employer with about 8,000 workers in Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Irvine, Seal Beach and Cypress. It’s seen a drop in local employment of about 5% in the past year with a shift away from work on big-ticket projects. The new focus is on satellites, unmanned planes and other vehicles equipped with communications gear. The Business Journal reported last month that Boeing’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization program—designed to upgrade Army communications in combat—is set to slash hundreds of positions nationwide through October. The program is spread over Huntington Beach and other Boeing sites.
REAL ESTATE
Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. agreed to sell all of the assets of Alesco Global Advisors, a real estate investment fund business, to New York-based Lazard Asset Management LLC. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed. Alesco is an investment adviser that focuses on real estate securities and manages three registered mutual funds. The deal with Lazard comes as Grubb seeks new funding or a merger partner for its core commercial real estate brokerage business. It’s also looking to sell its Daymark Realty Advisors subsidiary.
A developer with plans for 130 houses, 500 horse stables and some commercial space in San Juan Capistrano scored a win at the ballot box when Measure B passed with about 55% of the vote in a special election. The measure confirmed the city’s approval of the development, called Distrito La Novia/San Juan Meadows, by Lake Forest-based Advanced Real Estate Services Inc.
TRANSPORTATION
Costa Mesa-based T3 Motion Inc. landed another $300,000 in sales of its single-rider stand-up electric vehicle, with the latest ordered by several law enforcement agencies in Mexico. T3 has made similar deals with the U.S. Department of Defense, the New York Police Department and law enforcement agencies in South Africa, France and Argentina. T3 has sold more than $1.2 million worth in Mexico through distributor Telecommunicaciones y Servicios del Norte, which now is the company’s top distributor.
Unique Spectronix Inc. and Edwards Global Services Inc., both based in Irvine, were among 20 companies nationwide to receive the Presidential “E” Award for Exports. Edwards helps other companies set up franchise systems in overseas markets. Spectronix sells appliance components to customers in South Korea, including Samsung Group and LG Corp.
