Voit’s Malliet Setting Out on His Own After 15 Years
Tiarna Picks Up LAX Portfolio; John Laing Touts Surf and Rails in Carlsbad
REAL ESTATE by Daniel D. Williams
COMMERCIAL
With his manicured moustache and goatee, Brian Malliet has the look of a young Errol Flynn.
And it might be something of a swashbuckling move to leave the comfort of a vice presidency with the Orange County offices of Woodland Hills-based Voit Development Co. to start a new real estate development firm, bkm Development Co. of Newport Beach.
Malliet had been a member of The Voit Cos. for the past 15 years, first as a broker with Voit Commercial, and then as a vice president in Voit Development.
With the development arm, Malliet worked on Voit Brea Business Park, a 500,000-square-foot, 16-building industrial project. The recently completed project was the largest of its kind to break ground in the North County area in a decade.
“We’re just filling in the pie that never got filled in the first place,” Malliet said at the time.
In his new venture, Malliet said he plans to look for similar in-fill projects, though on a smaller scale.
Malliet leaves Voit with the blessing of the company’s president, Robert D. Voit.
“Brian has impressed me with his ability to envision the creation of value on a parcel or an existing property,” Voit said. “I also greatly admire his tenacity to get a deal to happen and have no doubt that he will succeed in his new venture.”
Malliet said he plans to serve as a consultant to Voit Development for the next two months before starting work on bkm fulltime.
Tiarna Picks Up L.A. Deal
Newport Beach-based Tiarna Real Estate Services won a pact to manage an 800,000-square-foot industrial portfolio near Los Angeles International Airport.
Tiarna is set to manage 28 buildings, ranging in size from 7,000 square feet to 61,000 square feet, which are owned by various partnerships. Tenants include Avis Rent-A-Car, Tyco International Ltd. and LSG Sky Chef.
Charles Dunn Co. previously managed the portfolio.
RESIDENTIAL
Newport Beach-based John Laing Homes thinks it has a great mix for its Waters End development in Carlsbad: the beach on one side and a train station on the other.
The new 214-home development is wedged between a Coast Express (known as the Coaster) Rail station and Interstate 5 and is a short walk from the beach, my colleague Mandy Jackson at the San Diego Business Journal reports.
“It’ll probably draw from a wider area than normal, only because it’s close to the beach, and if you’re working in a major employment area, you want to be able to commute,” said Ken Nishikawa, a vice president at John Laing Homes, part of part of Newport Beach-based WL Homes LLC.
Sales at Waters End are set to start in the fall. The developer expects to start prices in the $500,000 range, but they may be $600,000 and higher.
Poinsettia Cove by Fieldstone Communities Inc., and Hanover Beach Colony by Shea Homes, are two new developments next to Waters End that the city and John Laing Homes officials have cited as successes because of their proximity to the beach and transit, as well as intense buyer interest.
Walnut-based Shea completed its 112 houses at Hanover earlier this year. The sold-out project east of Pacific Coast Highway was one of Shea’s fastest selling projects in the area. Prices started in the high $400,000 range.
Newport Beach-based Fieldstone is building 117 houses in Poinsettia Cove, a gated community west of the Coaster line and across the tracks from Waters End.
“A lot of the area around Coaster stations is built up,” said Brenna Corson, assistant planner in the service development division of San Diego’s North County Transit District.
Some buyers indicated they were attracted to the station near Poinsettia Cove, but the first priority for buyers was to be close to the beach, according to Andrew Murphy, president of Fieldstone’s San Diego division.
“The real appeal as we saw it was that it is brand new beachfront housing. You really can’t find it in Southern California, where you can walk to the beach,” Murphy said.
Going Once, Going Twice
Newport Beach-based high-end home seller Strada Properties has secured an exclusive pact with Christie’s Great Estates Inc., a unit of Christie’s International PLC, the London fine arts auction house.
According to an official on Christie’s Great Estates Web site, “being selected as an affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates means a company is among the leading real estate firms in the world and has demonstrated a proven record of success in handling distinctive properties.”
Christie’s affiliated with The Grubb Co. in Oakland, Berkeley, and Piedmont in Northern California. It has teamed with Strada in Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Coto de Caza, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Newport Coast, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano.
