RESIDENTIAL
Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. might walk away from its proposed acquisition of Hollywood, Fla.-based TOUSA Inc. unless a lower price for the bankrupt homebuilder is accepted.
Standard Pacific’s new chief executive, Ken Campbell, has said he plans to grow the company through acquisitions. TOUSA had been expected to be Standard Pacific’s first buy, based on comments from both companies, as well as common ties between the two homebuilders.
Campbell, a turnaround specialist, came to Standard Pacific from its largest shareholder, New York-based hedge fund MatlinPatterson Global Advisors LLC. MatlinPatterson also is one of TOUSA’s larger debt holders.
TOUSA, which filed for bankruptcy about 14 months ago, confirmed it was in talks with Standard Pacific in mid-December. A deal was expected to be reached as soon as last month.
Now, it appears that Standard Pacific is having second thoughts, according to court filings in the Southern District of Florida, where TOUSA’s case is being overseen.
Recent TOUSA court filings note that an unnamed homebuilder,understood to be Standard Pacific,was nearing the completion of due diligence for a potential acquisition.
Its research must have found some problems. On Jan. 16, the builder told TOUSA that “it would insist on a substantial purchase price reduction in connection with the transaction.”
In addition, a delay “of several weeks or even more” could be needed for Standard Pacific to finish its analysis of the company, according to court filings.
An initial purchase price for TOUSA was never disclosed. But the lower price may dissuade TOUSA from completing the deal; it has asked the bankruptcy court to extend the time it has to complete an alternative reorganization plan, which might not include an outright sale.
At the housing boom three years ago, the combined companies sold nearly 20,000 homes a year. TOUSA, which builds in Florida, the Southwest and the Mid-Atlantic, had debt of $1.8 billion at the time of its bankruptcy.
McMonigle’s New Home
Luxury home brokerage McMonigle Group has opened its headquarters in Fashion Island.
The new offices for the Newport Beach-based company, which counts an $87 million compound in Newport Coast among its listings, are at 1000 Newport Center Drive.
Another big McMonigle listing, Corona del Mar’s Portabello Estate, has been taken off the market after being up for sale for $75 million for three years.
The McMonigle Group was named the No. 1 broker team in sales nationally for the second year running by Lore Magazine, with $436 million in sales last year.
Developers Team Up
Irvine-based consulting firm Developers Research LLC added a construction arm.
The company said it has combined operations with Irvine-based Classic Pacific Construction Co., a homebuilding and development company headed by John Patterson. The combined companies will be housed in Developers Research’s existing office on Michelson Drive.
The combination will offer holders of distressed property the ability not only to analyze a partially built project’s problems, but to fix them, according to Developers Research President Barry Gross. The combined company’s clients will include banks and other financial institutions, as well as investment companies and court-appointed receivers in Southern California.
COMMERCIAL
Cincinnati-based shopping center developer Phillips Edison & Co. is looking to make a name for itself here.
The company, which owns nearly 225 grocery-anchored shopping centers in 35 states, but none in Orange County, has opened an office in Irvine,its first in California.
The local office is being headed up by Paul Mittman, who previously was the vice president of acquisitions at the Irvine office of Passco Cos.
Phillips Edison reportedly plans to invest $1 billion in Southern California-area properties, as well as shopping centers in Arizona and New Mexico, using up to $500 million of equity it is raising in a new fund.
Leasing Assignment
The Newport Beach office of Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co. has grabbed the leasing assignments for four shopping centers here totaling about half a million square feet.
Costa Mesa’s shopping center developer Donahue Schriber owns the four centers.
The largest of the four properties is the 190,000-square-foot Fountain Valley Promenade, at Brookhurst Street and Ellis Avenue.
Other properties include Callens Corner, a 103,420-square-foot Albertsons-anchored center in Fountain Valley; South Coast Marketplace, a 97,800-square-foot center in Santa Ana anchored by a Ralphs grocery store; and Village Center at Rose, a 108,000-square-foot center in Placentia also anchored by a Ralphs.
Grubb & Ellis’ Ian Brown, Walter Pagel, Vanessa Brown and Tom Carpenter will manage leasing for the four centers. Donahue Schriber previously had handled its own leasing.
