LOS ANGELES-GlobeSt.com has learned that EVOQ Properties has sold Union Lofts, a 10-story building downtown, to Onni Group of Vancouver, BC, for $34 million. The property contains 92 luxury apartment homes and a one-acre development site. The seller was represented in the transaction by Marc D. Renard, Manfred W. Schaub and Meredith L. Johnson of Cushman & Wakefield of California.

MALIBU, CA-Malibu Residential Housing Group Ltd. has selected Chris Maling and David Maling of Colliers International to market for sale the Wave Property, approximately 9.2 acres of land located in the heart of downtown Malibu. The asset, which is offered at $14 million, is currently zoned as community commercial, allowing for a wide variety of uses, including office, retail, restaurants, senior housing and storage. It is the largest undeveloped contiguous commercial land parcel available in Malibu.

BERKELEY, CA-Read Investments LLC has acquired for development three retail properties in Washington and Oregon. Combined, the three deals are valued in excess of $10 million. The properties include a 49,000-square-foot shopping center at 911 N. Stratford Rd. in Moses Lake, WA; a 26,000-square-foot former Albertson’s at 705 N. Ruby St. in Ellensburg, WA, which was purchased from the Catholic Diocese of Central Washington; and a 38,000-square-foot center at 694 S.E. Third St. in Bend, OR. The firm anticipates adding another 250,000 square feet to its portfolio in 2013 as part of its long-term strategic growth plan.

WEST LOS ANGELES, CA-The nonprofit Reason Foundation has purchased 5737 Mesmer Ave., a 6,108-square-foot building on this city’s border with Playa Vista, for $2.4 million to expand its operations and establish an independent headquarters. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank managing director Ron Burkhardt and associate Cory Noonan represented Reason in securing the space, a two-story structure built in 1992 and substantially renovated in 2008. The foundation, which has leased a 4,451-square-foot office at the Sepulveda Center here for the past 21 years, will occupy the entire building and plans to add new HVAC systems and a soundstage.

DEVELOPMENT

SAN DIEGO-Terramar Retail Centers has advanced construction of the Headquarters, a $40 million adaptive re-use and renovation of the old police-headquarters building into an approximately 100,000-square-foot retail, dining and entertainment destination in the Seaport District here. Workers have removed original building elements such as windows, doors, tiles and fixtures, which are being preserved, restored and reused as part of the reinvention of the property. The existing three buildings are being transformed into a collection of up to 30 shops and restaurants. The project is a key component of the Port’s vision for the future of San Diego’s waterfront. Work on the Headquarters is expected to be completed in fall 2013.

AGOURA HILLS, CA-Davidson Hotels & Resorts has completed a multi-million-dollar renovation to the Sheraton Agoura Hills Hotel here. The hotel was reflagged as a Sheraton in June 2011 when it was purchased by Wheelock Street Capital. Davidson, which has managed the hotel since 2000, oversaw the renovations, which covered all public areas, technology upgrades, upgrades to the hotel’s restaurants and fitness center and refreshing of the outdoor pool and sundry shop.

MERIDIAN, ID-CenterCal has completed construction on the first phase of Meridian Town Center, a 970,000+-square-foot shopping center at the intersection of N. Eagle Rd. and E. Fairview Ave. here. Phase one consisted of building a 325,000-square-foot power center on 30 acres of land next to the city’s new, 60-acre Julius M. Kleiner Memorial Park. In phase two, the adjacent 49 acres will house a 645,000-square-foot, upscale shopping village featuring retail, entertainment and office space. CenterCal began the project in 2006, but was halted due to the recession. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2014.

SEATTLE-Harbor Urban LLC, Goodman Real Estate Inc. and equity partner Capri Capital Partners LLC have reached the six-month milestone on the $92-million construction of Viktoria Apartments, a 24-story luxury multifamily mixed-use project at 1915 Second Ave. in the Belltown neighborhood here. Viktoria is expected to contribute to the economic development of Belltown and the Pike Place Market District, neighborhoods that spill into Seattle’s commercial and downtown core, by providing an estimated 300-350 jobs from pre-construction to delivery of the project, plus tax revenue to the City of Seattle. It is scheduled for completion in late 2013.

PORTLAND, OR-Interface Engineering, in coordination with NAI Norris, Beggs & Simpson, will issue a request for proposals to develop a highly sustainable office environment for the engineering firm’s Portland staff. The team is distributing a submission of interest request, which can be downloaded from Interface’s website by clicking here. Interface’s current lease expires in 2014, and the firm plans to maintain its headquarters in downtown Portland. The RFP will require a minimum 30,000 square feet of office space with capacity for up to 50,000 square feet of future expansion.  Interface is open to creative proposals ranging from constructing an entirely new building to renovation or adaptive reuse of an existing building or potentially shared space with complementary owners/tenants.

BELLEVUE, WA-Kidder Mathews’ SVPs Jason Rosauer, Andy Miller, and Dave Speers and investment specialist Rob Anderson are exclusively marketing a development site at 437-527 108th Ave. NE here in the heart of Bellevue’s office corridor and one of the last remaining prime development sites in the CBD. Located between One Bellevue Center and Key Center, the property consists of approximately 58,500 square feet of land area in 4 tax parcels and includes over 285 lineal feet of frontage on 108th Ave. NE. Kidder Mathews expects the site to appeal to developers of high-rise hotels, apartments and class-A office buildings.

LEASING

ONTARIO, CA-Cardenas Markets, a family-owned supermarket business, has signed a new, 10-year, 263,000-square-foot industrial lease with MK Associates Ltd. at a multi-tenant building at 2501 East Guasti Rd. here. The lease encompasses the majority of the 420,000-square-foot building. Joe Miller, a VP in Voit Real Estate Services’ Anaheim office, represented the lessor in the transaction.  He worked with Mike Leifer of Palmieri, Tyler, Wiener, Wilhelm & Waldron on land use issues, as well as with Ruben Goodsell, Peter McWilliams and Michael McCrary of Jones Lang LaSalle on the marketing assignment.

LA MIRADA, CA-Dan Berkenfield of Voit Real Estate Services has completed the lease-up of the Voit La Mirada Distribution Center, a 259,648 square-foot multi-tenant industrial business park located at 14325-14451 Industry Circle here, which the company owns and manages. The property, which consists of 11 units, is now fully occupied. The three new transactions Berkenfeld completed encompass 81,004 square feet in the center, including a new 19,967 square-foot lease with Ricardo Beverly Hills, a new 19,926- square-foot lease with Group One Inc., and a new 41,111 square-foot lease encompassing two units with G&H X-Press Inc.

IRVINE, CA-Pacific Trust Bank has renewed its lease with a 50% expansion of its corporate headquarters space in Irvine Towers at 18500 Von Karman Ave. here. The bank has leased an additional 21,000 square feet from the Irvine Co., bringing its total occupancy at Irvine Towers to nearly 63,000 square feet. Total consideration for the long-term lease was approximately $3.3 million. The tenant was represented by David Giglio, VP, and Lori Smith, associate VP, from Transwestern’s Orange County office. The building owner was represented in-house by Mike Hodges.

PORTLAND, OR-UESCO Inc. has leased 10,000 square feet of industrial space at 2523 NE Argyle St. here from James McCarter. Greg Nesting of Norris & Stevens represented the tenant, and Stu Peterson and Eleanor Aschoff of Macadam Forbes represented the lessor.

FINANCING

OREGON-Beech Street Capital LLC has provided $15.3 million in Fannie Mae DUS and Freddie Mac capital markets execution loans to refinance two Oregon apartment complexes totaling 304 units. Kristen Croxton and Greg Reed, EVPs in Beech Street’s Newport Beach, CA, office, originated the transaction, and Paul Conzelman of SC Development represented the borrower. The properties include Forest Ridge, a 180-unit complex, in Beaverton, a suburb of Portland; and the 124-unit Fountain Court in Springfield, a suburb of Eugene.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

LOS ANGELES-Connie Hwang has joined Avison Young as the regional research director of Southern California. Effective immediately, Hwang will provide the region’s three offices with market intelligence, custom research and specialized reporting. As a veteran in the field of commercial real estate research, Hwang brings to Avison Young considerable industry expertise in competitive research standards. Prior to joining the firm, she served in the public sector as the economic development associate–research & special projects for the Downtown Center Business Improvement District.

SEATTLE-Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services has promoted Spencer H. Hurst from VP investments to first VP investments. He has been with the firm since April 2001 and is a senior director of the tax credit group, a specialty group dedicated exclusively to low-income housing tax-credit multifamily property advisory and brokerage services throughout the US.