LOS ANGELES—The year is already off to a great start with some significant sales. It isn't a surprise, however. As fourth quarter reports begin to trickle in, it is clear that 2016 ended with a bang, and many experts expect 2017 to perform equally as well. Here are some of the deals that are making a big splash in 2017.

BY THE NUMBERS

LOS ANGELES—The office market wavered a bit in the fourth quarter, but closed the year strong, according to the 4Q reports from Cushman & Wakefield. The office market's overall vacancy across held steady the past 2 quarters around 14.0%, with a small uptick to close out the year at 14.1%. Vacancies in downtown Los Angeles also showed leveling quarter over quarter with the CBD at 20.4% and L.A. Metro at 13.1%. Leasing activity finished at 14 million square feet, about 250,000 square feet less than 2015. There were nearly 3,000 leases signed in 2016, a 6.4% increase from 2015. Interestingly, class B leasing activity was 20.0% higher from the previous year finishing at 4 million square feet. Class B space attributed to 28.6% of total leasing volume in 2016, a significant increase over the 23.3% in 2015. Asking rents continued to climb, up 6% from 2015 and finishing at $3.38 PSF/MO and $2.93 PSF/MO.

(SOURCE: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD)

NEW & NOTABLE

PHOENIX, AZ—Ware Malcomb has promoted Niki Ward to Studio Manager, Interior Architecture and Design for the firm's Phoenix office. In this new role, Ward will focus on helping lead the Phoenix office while continuing business development, managing key accounts and leading the growth of the interiors studio. With an extensive interior design background in the Phoenix market, Ward joined Ware Malcomb in April 2015 as a Senior Project Manager and has quickly grown the firm's interiors group into a significant market player. Ward previously worked as an Interior Architect and Project Manager at McCarthy Nordburg for over 13 years and then moved to Colliers International to work on a landlord team as a Marketing Coordinator for two years. Prior to joining Ware Malcomb, she worked as a Business Development professional at RJM Construction.

PHOENIX, AZ—Kidder Matthews has hired Michelle Gardner as an office and industrial specialist in its Phoenix office.

DEAL TRACKER

LOS ANGELES—Brokerage firm Madison Partners closes two off-market sales totaling $33 million. The first is a 108,000-square-foot multi-tenant office property located at 6200 Canoga Blvd. in Woodland Hills, CA that sold for $22 million between Canoga Center Holdings and Gelb Enterprises. The property consists of a four-story building situated on two acres of land and includes an on-site, seven-level parking structure containing 418 spaces. Bob Safai, Matt Case, and Brad Schlaak brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, and Mark Esses of California Realty Group represented the buyer. The second deal is a neighborhood retail center located in San Marino, which traded hands between an undisclosed institutional investor and System Property for $10 million. Situated on the highly visible intersection of Huntington Drive and San Gabriel Boulevard, San Marino Plaza is a 22,800-square-foot single-story retail center anchored by Chase Bank, Chinatrust Bank and the US Post Office.

ANONDALE, AZ—The Vitamin Shoppe has leased 187,000 square feet at Coldwater Depot Logistics Center, Phase III from landlords Trammell Crow and Clarion Partners. The lease has a 12-year term, but the overall value was not disclosed. Tenant improvements will commence this month, and the tenant will take occupancy in the later half of 2017. Pat Feeney with CBRE Phoenix represented The Vitamin Shoppe, Inc.  Rusty Kennedy and Danny Calihan with CBRE Phoenix represented the landlord.

PHOENIX, AZ—Principal Real Estate Investors and Trammell Crow Co. have sold Park Ladera at Spectrum Ridge, a state-of- the-art general industrial campus made up of three buildings located at 750, 800 and 850 Covey Lane in Phoenix, Arizona, to Meritex Enterprises for $26.4 million. Constructed in 2015, the 220,460-square-foot general industrial property features institutional quality finishes in a premier Deer Valley location. Barry Gabel and Chris Marchildon from CBRE's Phoenix office and Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons Perrier, Brett Hartzell and Michael Kendall of CBRE National Partners represented the seller. Additionally, Bruce Francis, Val Achtemeier and Doug Seylar with CBRE's Debt and Structured Finance group provided financial support for both seller and buyer.

INLAND EMPIRE, CA—MG Properties Group has acquired the Santa Rosa Apartments in Wildomar, California, for $74.5 million. Built in 2008, Santa Rosa offers 320 luxury apartment homes in a desirable low-density two-story walk-up design. Santa Rosa is adjacent to the Inland Valley Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, and Southern California Edison's regional service center, and is close to shopping, Interstates 15 and 215, and a future 80-acre community college campus. The property offers an optimal mix of large one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans that average approximately 1,000 square feet of living space and feature a garage for each apartment home.  MG Properties Group plans to perform modest interior renovations and to refresh the property's common areas. Paul Runkle, Eric Chen and Bob Patterson of CBRE represented the seller. The acquisition was financed with a $46.68M 10-year-fixed-rate Fannie Mae loan arranged by Brian Eisendrath and Cameron Chalfant at CBRE.

IRVINE, CA—Kelemen Caamaño Investments has acquired four multi-tenant, low-rise office buildings totaling 105,578 square feet for $27 million. The properties are located at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Jamboree Road and are part of the 13.55-acre, eight-building Centerpointe office project, located at the southwest corner of the Irvine Business Complex. KCI purchased the properties as part of a 1031 exchange.

LOS ANGELES—Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of 431 North La Cienega Blvd., a 32,574-square-foot, mixed-use development site along La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, for $21.25 million. The site is near Beverly Hills and the Pacific Design Center and close to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Beverly Center. At the time of sale, the property was home to Royal Car Wash and a few other local tenants. Royal Car Wash has been a fixture at this location for decades. Brandon Michaels, along with Lonnie McDermott represented the seller, and procured the buyer, a group of local and national developers.

BUILDING BLOCKS

BURBANK, CA—McCormick Construction has completed Nickelodeon's newly expanded West Coast facility in Burbank, California. The over 200,000-square-foot campus now includes a new 110,000-square-foot, five-story, state-of-the-art animation building; an expansive, redesigned courtyard; and a newly renovated 72,000-square-foot studio that first opened in Burbank in 1998. The campus is home to more than 700 Nickelodeon employees and 20 active show productions.

McCormick's scope of work included the construction of the core and shell of the animation building; the 151,000-square-foot, five-story, 450-stall parking structure; and a design-build media mesh system on the exterior of the building to display animation. The property is targeting LEED Gold certification, and incorporates a number of sustainable strategies, including reduced lighting power through efficient LED fixtures, lighting controls and use of daylighting.

LOS ANGELES—The year is already off to a great start with some significant sales. It isn't a surprise, however. As fourth quarter reports begin to trickle in, it is clear that 2016 ended with a bang, and many experts expect 2017 to perform equally as well. Here are some of the deals that are making a big splash in 2017.

BY THE NUMBERS

LOS ANGELES—The office market wavered a bit in the fourth quarter, but closed the year strong, according to the 4Q reports from Cushman & Wakefield. The office market's overall vacancy across held steady the past 2 quarters around 14.0%, with a small uptick to close out the year at 14.1%. Vacancies in downtown Los Angeles also showed leveling quarter over quarter with the CBD at 20.4% and L.A. Metro at 13.1%. Leasing activity finished at 14 million square feet, about 250,000 square feet less than 2015. There were nearly 3,000 leases signed in 2016, a 6.4% increase from 2015. Interestingly, class B leasing activity was 20.0% higher from the previous year finishing at 4 million square feet. Class B space attributed to 28.6% of total leasing volume in 2016, a significant increase over the 23.3% in 2015. Asking rents continued to climb, up 6% from 2015 and finishing at $3.38 PSF/MO and $2.93 PSF/MO.

(SOURCE: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD)

NEW & NOTABLE

PHOENIX, AZ—Ware Malcomb has promoted Niki Ward to Studio Manager, Interior Architecture and Design for the firm's Phoenix office. In this new role, Ward will focus on helping lead the Phoenix office while continuing business development, managing key accounts and leading the growth of the interiors studio. With an extensive interior design background in the Phoenix market, Ward joined Ware Malcomb in April 2015 as a Senior Project Manager and has quickly grown the firm's interiors group into a significant market player. Ward previously worked as an Interior Architect and Project Manager at McCarthy Nordburg for over 13 years and then moved to Colliers International to work on a landlord team as a Marketing Coordinator for two years. Prior to joining Ware Malcomb, she worked as a Business Development professional at RJM Construction.

PHOENIX, AZ—Kidder Matthews has hired Michelle Gardner as an office and industrial specialist in its Phoenix office.

DEAL TRACKER

LOS ANGELES—Brokerage firm Madison Partners closes two off-market sales totaling $33 million. The first is a 108,000-square-foot multi-tenant office property located at 6200 Canoga Blvd. in Woodland Hills, CA that sold for $22 million between Canoga Center Holdings and Gelb Enterprises. The property consists of a four-story building situated on two acres of land and includes an on-site, seven-level parking structure containing 418 spaces. Bob Safai, Matt Case, and Brad Schlaak brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, and Mark Esses of California Realty Group represented the buyer. The second deal is a neighborhood retail center located in San Marino, which traded hands between an undisclosed institutional investor and System Property for $10 million. Situated on the highly visible intersection of Huntington Drive and San Gabriel Boulevard, San Marino Plaza is a 22,800-square-foot single-story retail center anchored by Chase Bank, Chinatrust Bank and the US Post Office.

ANONDALE, AZ—The Vitamin Shoppe has leased 187,000 square feet at Coldwater Depot Logistics Center, Phase III from landlords Trammell Crow and Clarion Partners. The lease has a 12-year term, but the overall value was not disclosed. Tenant improvements will commence this month, and the tenant will take occupancy in the later half of 2017. Pat Feeney with CBRE Phoenix represented The Vitamin Shoppe, Inc.  Rusty Kennedy and Danny Calihan with CBRE Phoenix represented the landlord.

PHOENIX, AZ—Principal Real Estate Investors and Trammell Crow Co. have sold Park Ladera at Spectrum Ridge, a state-of- the-art general industrial campus made up of three buildings located at 750, 800 and 850 Covey Lane in Phoenix, Arizona, to Meritex Enterprises for $26.4 million. Constructed in 2015, the 220,460-square-foot general industrial property features institutional quality finishes in a premier Deer Valley location. Barry Gabel and Chris Marchildon from CBRE's Phoenix office and Darla Longo, Barbara Emmons Perrier, Brett Hartzell and Michael Kendall of CBRE National Partners represented the seller. Additionally, Bruce Francis, Val Achtemeier and Doug Seylar with CBRE's Debt and Structured Finance group provided financial support for both seller and buyer.

INLAND EMPIRE, CA—MG Properties Group has acquired the Santa Rosa Apartments in Wildomar, California, for $74.5 million. Built in 2008, Santa Rosa offers 320 luxury apartment homes in a desirable low-density two-story walk-up design. Santa Rosa is adjacent to the Inland Valley Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente, and Southern California Edison's regional service center, and is close to shopping, Interstates 15 and 215, and a future 80-acre community college campus. The property offers an optimal mix of large one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans that average approximately 1,000 square feet of living space and feature a garage for each apartment home.  MG Properties Group plans to perform modest interior renovations and to refresh the property's common areas. Paul Runkle, Eric Chen and Bob Patterson of CBRE represented the seller. The acquisition was financed with a $46.68M 10-year-fixed-rate Fannie Mae loan arranged by Brian Eisendrath and Cameron Chalfant at CBRE.

IRVINE, CA—Kelemen Caamaño Investments has acquired four multi-tenant, low-rise office buildings totaling 105,578 square feet for $27 million. The properties are located at the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and Jamboree Road and are part of the 13.55-acre, eight-building Centerpointe office project, located at the southwest corner of the Irvine Business Complex. KCI purchased the properties as part of a 1031 exchange.

LOS ANGELES—Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of 431 North La Cienega Blvd., a 32,574-square-foot, mixed-use development site along La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, for $21.25 million. The site is near Beverly Hills and the Pacific Design Center and close to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Beverly Center. At the time of sale, the property was home to Royal Car Wash and a few other local tenants. Royal Car Wash has been a fixture at this location for decades. Brandon Michaels, along with Lonnie McDermott represented the seller, and procured the buyer, a group of local and national developers.

BUILDING BLOCKS

BURBANK, CA—McCormick Construction has completed Nickelodeon's newly expanded West Coast facility in Burbank, California. The over 200,000-square-foot campus now includes a new 110,000-square-foot, five-story, state-of-the-art animation building; an expansive, redesigned courtyard; and a newly renovated 72,000-square-foot studio that first opened in Burbank in 1998. The campus is home to more than 700 Nickelodeon employees and 20 active show productions.

McCormick's scope of work included the construction of the core and shell of the animation building; the 151,000-square-foot, five-story, 450-stall parking structure; and a design-build media mesh system on the exterior of the building to display animation. The property is targeting LEED Gold certification, and incorporates a number of sustainable strategies, including reduced lighting power through efficient LED fixtures, lighting controls and use of daylighting.