Taisei Converting Downtown Offices to Apartments
PacifiCare Sells Four Buildings for $12.8M; Homebuilders Grab Southland Lots
REAL ESTATE by Daniel D. Williams
COMMERCIAL
Cypress-based Taisei Construction, part of Japan’s Taisei Corp., has signed on with Los Angeles-based The KOR Group to convert a 13-story office building at 612 Flower St. in downtown to a 322-unit apartment complex.
Built in 1949, the 480,000-square-foot building has been vacant for the past eight years. The project includes demolishing the building’s interior and preserving sections designated by the National Park Service’s Historical Division.
“Adaptive re-use projects are new to Los Angeles since the city is relatively young,” said Emery Molner, senior vice president of Taisei Construction. “The move to revive downtown L.A. and the serious need for new housing has spurred this new segment of commercial real estate development.” The finished project is set to include studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as retail and parking below. Plans call for 12,000 square feet of retail, a rooftop pool with landscaping, and nearly three floors of parking.
Taisei is set to manage seismic upgrades and oversee work on electrical, mechanical, plumbing and fire sprinklers as well as asbestos removal. The project is set to wrap up a year from now.
Taisei Construction is working on another project with KOR: the renovation of the Pacific Shore hotel, recently renamed the Viceroy, in Santa Monica.
PacifiCare Sells Buildings
Santa Ana-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. sold four buildings worth $12.8 million to Levy Affiliated Holdings LLC, a Los Angeles-based investment group.
The buildings, which are leased by Costa Mesa-based Talbert Medical Group, are in Huntington Beach, Compton, Anaheim and Downey. Health insurer PacifiCare has been restructuring its business and paying down debt in the past year or so.
David Desper of CB Richard Ellis Services Inc.’s Newport Beach office, and Wayne Lamb and Brett Merz of The Staubach Co.’s Irvine office represented PacifiCare. Shaoul Levy of Levy Affiliated Holdings represented his firm.
RESIDENTIAL
Newport Beach-based CT Realty Corp. is mounting a push into the Los Angeles real estate market, according to a company executive. The latest move: the $20 million buy of the 168-unit Tara Village Apartments in Tarzana.
“We are actively seeking additional multifamily properties and we’re very positive about opportunities in the greater Los Angeles area,” said Raymond A. Polverini, vice president of CT Realty.
CT also plans to look at office, industrial and self-storage projects in Los Angeles selling for $5 million to $75 million, according to Polverini.
The company plans to invest another $1.7 million to renovate Tara Village, upgrading the interiors and adding new washers and dryers in some units.
Built in 1972, Tara Village is about 95% occupied.
Dan Naddor of CT represented his company. Melinda Russell of the Encino office of Hendricks & Partners represented the seller, Palo Alto-based Essex Property Trust Inc.
Now For Some Dirt
Home builders continued to look for land in the second quarter, according to Irvine-based land brokerage Whittlesey Doyle. In recent weeks, Whittlesey Doyle handled three land deals worth $30 million.
One of the deals was with John Laing Homes, a unit of part of Newport Beach-based WL Homes LLC that formed a luxury division a few months ago. Laing bought 26 lots from New Millennium Homes in Calabasas and paid $12 million to build estate homes at the masterplanned community known as The Oaks. The Calabasas project has15,000-square-foot lots with homes starting at 5,700 square feet. Prices are set to start around $1 million with models opening in April.
In a second deal, the Orange office of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes acquired 159 lots in West Palmdale. Beazer paid New West Properties $3.2 million for the lots.
In a third transaction, Irvine-based Stra-tham Properties acquired 244 lots in Chino. Stratham paid $15 million for lots on the community known as The Reserve.
Les Whittlesey represented Stratham Properties in the deal.
And More Dirt
Pacific Communities Builder of Newport Beach bought 299 lots for an undisclosed amount in Moreno Valley from Highpointe Communities of Laguna Woods.
The buy adds to 118 lots Pacific Communities bought in the same community earlier this year.
Pacific Communities has a project, Pacific Iris, under construction on the site. It plans to offer homes ranging from 2,100 to 3,700 square feet.
Tom Dallape and Graham Gilles of Irvine-based The Hoffman Co. represented both parties.
