Communities Southwest Lot Sales Picking Up Steam
COMMERCIAL
Local real estate advisory firm Johnson Capital Group has acquired an unspecified interest in Denver-based Cantwell Moody & Associates, one of Colorado’s largest commercial mortgage holding companies.
Guy Johnson, president of Irvine-based Johnson Capital, said the move is a continuation of his company’s strategy to entrench itself as a premier real estate advisory firm in the Western United States. Johnson Capital Group serves primarily as a conduit between real estate investors and capital sources, including opportunity funds, life insurance companies, pension funds and banks.
The deal with Cantwell Moody & Associates, which has been renamed Johnson Capital Group of Colorado, now gives the company six total offices across the Western United States,Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver. That’s in addition to its Irvine headquarters.
Johnson said confidentiality agreements prevented him from discussing how much his company invested in Cantwell Moody & Associates; it will use the proceeds to grow its Colorado operations. Still, the investment gives Johnson Capital Group a substantial stake in the Colorado company, he said.
Established in 1987 with four employees, Johnson Capital now has 40 full-time staffers. The company will continue to look for growth opportunities, targeting Texas and the Pacific Northwest, Johnson said. While the firm has traditionally established its own offices, it may look to acquire other companies as it grows, he said.
“We could do it either way,” Johnson said. “Starting offices from fresh is a lot of work so if we can acquire an interest or acquire somebody who could use a little bigger identification, that would work for us.”
Koll Launches Pasadena Project
Staying true to its aggressive nature, Koll Development Company has launched construction of a five-story, 176,000-square-foot speculative office project in Pasadena.
Koll Pasadena Center,on a 1.9-acre site at 1055 E. Colorado Blvd.,is the first new office building in the area in almost 10 years. Similarly, Koll Development was one of the first developers to launch new office construction in Orange County coming out of the recession of the late ’80s and early ’90s.
The Pasadena project will feature 153,000 square feet of Class A office space, 23,000 square feet of retail space and a four-story parking structure. Koll Development purchased the land in September 1998 from Taiwan-based Allwin Investment Corp. The company expects to complete the project by February.
RESIDENTIAL
Communities Southwest, which aggressively acquired land in Orange County and the Inland Empire as the Southern California real estate market was awakening from its long recessionary slumber, is doing rather well these days.
The Anaheim Hills-based company has sold 56 lots in the Riverside masterplanned community of Orangecrest Country to Steven Walker Homes. The latest transaction brings total lot sales in the community to 434 for Communities Southwest, which has found eager and willing buyers in homebuilders Standard Pacific, Woodside Homes and Kaufman & Broad.
Communities Southwest acquired the 525-acre undeveloped portion of Orangecrest Country in 1996 from Wells Fargo Bank. Originally planned for 1,300 homes, the masterplanned community has been positioned by Communities Southwest as a move-up neighborhood.
Mac O’Donnell, Mike Hunter and Paul Grover of land brokerage firm O’Donnell/Atkins Company represented both Communities Southwest and Steven Walker Homes.
Sares-Regis Re-enters Inland Empire
The Sares-Regis Group has broken ground on Estancia at Mission Grove, a $22 million development of 208 luxury apartment units in Riverside.
The project is the first Inland Empire multi-family development for the Irvine-based company in almost 10 years, said Barry Kamel, president of Sares-Regis Group.
“With the area’s dynamic job creation and strong population growth, we see the region as one of great opportunity for us,” Kamel said.
A joint venture with Beverly Hills-based FSC Realty, the two-story project is being constructed by Regis Contractors. Completion is scheduled for late this year.
Estancia at Mission Grove, at the northeast corner of Mission Grove Parkway and Trautwein Road, was designed by Danielian Associates of Irvine and will consist of one- and two-bedroom, fully appointed apartment homes with private garages.
Separately, the Sares-Regis Group has launched construction on CenterPointe at La Mirage, a 340-unit luxury apartment community in San Diego. The $60-million, 11-acre project is being built for Equity Residential Properties Trust of Chicago.
Scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2001, the four-story CenterPointe project will consist of one- and two-bedroom apartment homes over subterranean parking. CenterPointe is part of the final phase of the existing 1,070-unit La Mirage apartment community.
