COMMERCIAL
Buchanan Street Partners, a Newport Beach-based real estate investment bank that’s been involved in close to $17 billion worth of deals since its founding about a decade ago, is making some changes to its executive team.
The company recently announced the promotion of founder and current chief investment officer Tim Ballard to president.
Ballard will be tasked with overseeing all of Buchanan’s investing activities, as well as developing the long-term economic outlook and investment strategies for the firm, the company said. He’s directed more than $5 billion of real estate investments for the company, which was formed in 1999.
Ballard takes the president title from fellow cofounder Robert Brunswick, who remains chief executive of the company and added the chairman title.
Also, Buchanan Street said that Dominic Petrucci, who joined the company in 2008 as chief financial officer, is getting the chief operating officer title. Under the new role, he’ll have overall operational oversight for the firm and is responsible for asset management, finance, investment accounting and reporting, among other duties.
The executive management changes are the largest for Buchanan Street since it sold a 51% stake in its business in 2007 to Los Angeles-based TCW Group Inc., an investment management unit of France’s Société Générale that counts some $100 billion in assets under management.
The company’s slimmed down its operations since the TCW deal, because of the down market. In September, Tim Haw-thorne, one of Buchanan Street’s four cofounders, left to start a new venture, according to officials.
Managing Director Chris MacDonald, one of Buchanan Street’s other founders, oversees the company’s relations with its institutional and individual investors.
Merage Dealing
Stoneridge Capital Partners of Newport Beach, a privately held investor whose chairman is Hot Pockets creator Paul Merage, has added a shopping center near Palm Desert to its portfolio.
The company said it paid $20 million for the Village at Indian Wells, a 104,600-square-foot retail center off of Highway 111 that’s anchored by a Ralphs Fresh Fare and CVS Drugstore.
It was a cash deal. The center was sold by A&B Properties Inc., the real estate subsidiary of Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin Inc.
It’s the second big 2009 acquisition announced by Stoneridge, whose day-to-day operations are run by Chief Executive Greg Merage. His uncle is Paul Merage, whose name is on the business school at the University of California, Irvine.
In May the company closed on a $70 million acquisition of a Rancho Santa Margarita apartment complex.
The company’s on the lookout for more commercial and housing properties to buy, according to Greg Merage.
“We are using our cash position and market expertise to aggressively acquire these properties,” he said in a statement.
Wakunga Building
Mission Viejo-based Wakunaga of America Co., a maker and seller of herbal medicines, said it will be building a facility in Mira Loma.
The company, a unit of Japan’s Wakunaga Pharmaceutical Co., is building a 53,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center, which will be next to another 23,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center the company also uses.
The facility, near Ontario, will create as many as 70 new full-time jobs, according to the company.
The building’s expected to open by the end of next year. The general contractor for the project is Cypress-based Taisei Construction Corp. Irvine-based Ware Malcomb is the architect. The project is expected to create as many as 200 construction jobs.
Ontario Lease
PGP Partners Inc., an industrial and office developer based in Lake Forest, said it has landed a big lease for a master-planned office project it’s building in Ontario.
The company recently signed West Coast University for a 52,000-square-foot lease at its Ontario Airport Towers project, which upon build-out is set to total 850,000 square feet of space.
The first phase of the project, where West Coast University will be located, is a six-story building totaling 150,000 square feet of office space and is valued at $65 million. The building’s about 75% full as a result of the latest deal.
The value of the lease is about $14 million and runs for 11 years. West Coast University expects 800 full-time students will use the space beginning in May.
RESIDENTIAL
Raintree Partners, a real estate investment company based out of Laguna Niguel, has completed its second large apartment acquisition of the past year.
The company recently announced the buy of Mountain View Apartments in San Dimas, a 168-unit apartment community in the San Gabriel Valley.
The sale went for $21 million, or $125 per apartment.
It was the second big 2009 transaction for the company. In April, it bought the 204-unit Trellis Square Apartment Homes in Sunnyvale, for $38.3 million.
Raintree’s still looking for additional deals in the $10 million to $100 million range, according to Aaron Hancock, the company’s director of acquisitions. Its ideal opportunities are infill locations near large employment centers, Hancock said.
