17351 W. Sunset Blvd.

LOS ANGELES

9 Mile Investments of Sonoma, CA has acquired a vacant, six-story mixed-use apartment building called Sunset Pacifica at 17351 W. Sunset Blvd. in Pacific Palisades from US Bank for $8.4 million, according to announcements from Jones Lang LaSalle and Investment Real Estate Associates. The buyer plans to begin immediately on the build-out of 16 luxury apartment units and two commercial condominiums with completion planned for 12 to 24 months, according to VP Patrick Shiver of Jones Lang LaSalle’s West Coast multifamily team. Shiver and VP Javier Rivera of JLL represented US Bank, while the buyer was represented by vice presidents Clark Everitt and William Everitt of IREA. The Everitts report that Sunset Pacifica was purchase by a private investment group for $17 million in 2006 and was in the process of being converted to high-end luxury condominiums. The property was constructed in 1983 and includes 68,842 square feet of gross building area.

Yoav Abourmad acquired a 49-unit apartment complex called Coronado Tower at 610 S. Coronado St. from She Investments LLC for $2.2 million. According to Rod Delson of NAI Capital’s Westlake Village office, who represented the seller, the complex in the Mid-Wilshire district was once popular with film industry pioneers such as Mae West and Stan Laurel, and also has appeared in several movies. The buyer was represented by Brian Volk of Whitehouse Properties.

Mezze Restaurant

Real Restaurant Group of Los Angeles has opened the Mezze Restaurant at 401 N. La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood after acquiring the  leasehold interest in the property in what was a complicated transaction, according to EVP David Chasin of Los Angeles-based Pegasus Investments. Chasin, who represented RRG alongside Pegasus president Ken Chasin, reports that RRG bought the leasehold interest in 401 N. La Cienega from a partnership of investors who had owned and operated the former restaurant at at the site, Sona. The grand opening of Mezze in March “marked the culmination of a complicated asset purchase which was the subject of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” Chasin explained. "Over a year of legal negotiations, court approvals and city approvals were navigated to get to the Mezze you see today." Pegasus worked closely with RRG's legal counsel, Jordan R. Bernstein of Los Angeles based Michelman & Robinson LLP throughout the entire process, Chasin noted. RRG is a development and management company founded in 2010 by restaurant/hospitality veterans and Cornell University Alums Matt Bendik, managing partner; Michael Kassar, managing partners and general manager of Mezze; Micah Wexler, managing partner and chef at Mezze; and business partner David Koral, managing partner.

SAN FRANCISCO

Strategic Storage Trust Inc. of Ladera Ranch, CA has entered the San Francisco market with the acquisition of two properties totaling approximately 1,350 units for an aggregate purchase price of $14 million. The new sites will be rebranded under the SmartStop Self Storage trade name. H. Michael Schwartz, SSTI’s chairman and CEO, said in a news release that the company is targeting the San Francisco Bay Area as part of its “emerging growth in Northern California.” One property is at 3480 Tennessee St. in the suburb of East Vallejo near the Blue Rock Springs Golf Club and at the intersection of Columbus Parkway. It measures 75,000 rentable square feet with 860 units on approximately 4.1 acres. Built in 2001, the facility consists of seven single-story buildings. The other property is at 222 San Pedro Ave. in Morgan Hill, in Santa Clara County, and measures 61,000 rentable square feet with 490 units on approximately three acres. Built in 1997, it consists of three single-story buildings. The undisclosed sellers were represented by HFF senior managing director Aaron Swerdlin.

LaSalle Investment Management of Chicago has named Jones Lang LaSalle for leasing and management of Waterfront Plaza, a 297,000-square-foot, four-story office complex close to the downtown San Francisco waterfront.  LaSalle Investment recently acquired the class A office property, which features a half mile of frontage along the Embarcadero. Wes Powell and Travis James will handle leasing for the building, which is 70% leased.  Todd Robinette and Hal Brownstone will oversee property management. Powell noted that the building includes an adjacent five-story parking garage that gives it the highest parking ratio (one space per 750 square feet) of any office building in the city.

LAS VEGAS

Broadstone Ravello

Alliance Residential Co. of Phoenix acquired The Pueblos, an unfinished 152-unit class A condominium project at 4034 Adabella Ave. in North Las Vegas. Alliance closed the existing land and improvements on March 31 and plans to complete the remaining buildings by early 2012. The project was stopped in 2008 after the condominium market collapsed, at which time five buildings totaling 40 units had been completed. In 2010, the original lending institution was seized by the FDIC and The Pueblos was foreclosed upon. Alliance then purchased the unfinished property, with plans to complete the 112 unfinished units and reposition the asset as a best-in-market rental project. Dan McCadden, partner and managing director of development, notes that this is the second multifamily acquisition for Alliance in Las Vegas in the past six months. Alliance now owns more than 3,500 units in the Las Vegas Valley and “will continue to pursue both land and quality assets that fit our investment strategy," McCadden says. Alliance plans to rename the complex Broadstone Ravello and brand it as an Alliance-owned asset. At completion, the property will consist of 19 two-story, wood-framed buildings, designed as “Big House” architecture by Humphreys and Partners, with attached garages. Total capitalization upon completion will be below $14 million.

INLAND EMPIRE

Software firm iMedRIS Data Corp. bought a 9,730-square-foot building at 464 Missouri Court in Redlands from Sun Coast Prop Holdings LLC for approximately $739,000 to serve as the headquarters for the company, which provides software solutions for research management.  The company, which relocated to Redlands from San Bernardino, was represented by Eric Hutchins and Chris Remund of the IE Industrial Team at Coldwell Banker Commercial Lazar & Associates. Hutchins and Remund report that the relocation to Redlands is a strategic move that will allow iMedRIS to further expand its software development team and project management staff. Hutchins says that the acquisition by iMedRIS “demonstrates that the Inland Empire East market is starting to see growth again as industrial buildings are being absorbed.” Redlands, he says, “is especially attractive to tenants that want to be a part of this high-image market to be near companies that have succeeded locally and are ripe for expansion.”

Newport Medical Instruments Inc. leased 34,886 square feet of industrial/R&D space at 1690 Scenic Ave. in Costa Mesa from Sang T. Nguyen for a total consideration of $1.3 million. The property owner was represented by SVP Greg Velastegui of the Irvine office of Voit Real Estate Services and Ted Sawyer of Lee & Associates. The tenant was represented by Pat Lacey of Lee. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, Newport Medical Instruments is a privately owned, physician-led company that manufactures, stores and distributes medical ventilators, which are designed for use with neonate, pediatric and adult patients and distributed in over 116 countries worldwide. The company leased the facility as an expansion.