Middle Market Digest: Southwest

Here's a look at the latest news, announcements and deals that you may have missed in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

NEW & NOTABLE

LOS ANGELES—Larry Perry has joined Parkview Financial. Perry has been involved in the lending space for over 50 years, originating his first loan in 1964.  He brings his decades of experience building and maintaining client relationships across the Western U.S. to our team and we are pleased to have him join Parkview Financial. As Vice President of Loan Originations at Parkview, he meets with current and prospective clients in person to establish presence and build a positive brand, while fostering continuous client engagement. In addition to being an accomplished business development leader, Perry is well rehearsed in the loan arena, and a well-respected figurehead in the private lending industry.

IRVINE, CA—Eric Cohen has joined Kidder Mathews' Orange County office as a VP, where he will specialize in industrial and office investment sales throughout the Western United States. Prior to joining Kidder Mathews, Cohen was a director with Colliers International's capital markets team. He has been involved in advising and completion of $2 billion in sales transactions.

PHOENIX—Marcus & Millichap has hired Darrell Moffitt as a First Vice President with the firm's National Multi Housing Group. Moffitt is a life-long Phoenician, and spent the beginning of his real estate career with Marcus & Millichap, joining the firm in 1994. Since leaving the firm in 2008, he has worked in both commercial and residential real estate selling multifamily properties with Realty Executives and Berkadia. Outside of work, Moffitt enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife, Rebecca, and their three daughters.

LOS ANGELES—Marcus & Millichap has promoted Neema Ahadian to senior vice president investments. Most recently, Ahadian held the position of first vice president investments. He is also a senior director of Marcus & Millichap's National Multi Housing Group.

DEALTRACKER

LOS ANGELES—The Abbey Company has received $229.3 million in bridge financing from Citi Real Estate Lending and Barclay's Bank to recapitalize a 27-property California retail portfolio. The assets securing the loan total approximately 2.1 million square feet of space with properties located Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Fresno and Kern Counties. The loan proceeds were used in part to refinance the outstanding principal balance of an existing $309 million bridge loan from an affiliate of Prime Finance. The Sklar Kirsh legal team included attorneys Serineh Baghdasarian and William Walker, and paralegal Lola Peters.

LOS ANGELES—Parkview Apartments in Orange County has sold to Cameron Properties Inc. for $9.18 million, which is a record price per unit for the area of $417,273. CBRE's Dan Blackwell represented the seller, Brandywine Homes, which was also the developer of the property. Avison Young represented the buyer. The 21,524-square foot apartment complex, located at 6785 Knott Avenue in Buena Park, was just completed in 2014 and contains luxury two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartments, the majority of which are townhomes. The highly amenitized units measure approximately 1,000 square feet and feature washer & dryer setups, walk-in closets, granite countertops, and 9-foot ceiling. The property also boasts a landscaped courtyard and playground and is located 1 mile from The Source and in proximity to many entertainment, retail and dining options as well as Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ—1784 Capital Holdings has broken ground on its most recent class-A self–storage facility at 11061 N. Oracle Rd. in Oro Valley, Arizona. The $10 million development will be managed by LifeStorage. The development is located within the Steam Pump Village Shopping Center, next to a Holiday Inn Express and behind a Quik Trip convenience store. The four-story project includes an 807-unit self-storage facility, as well as a first floor, 3,800-square- foot retail/office suite that will be available for lease. The property will be visible and easily accessible from Oracle Road, and will offer enhanced security (individually alarmed units, bright lighting, 24-hour monitoring) and other amenities including a child's play area and customer lounge.

LOS ANGELES—Maple DTLA has purchased the Rosenthal Property Portfolio for $15.5 million. The seller, Rosenthal Property Owners is a private investment group. Kidder Mathews commercial real estate brokers, Jon Reno, Robert Thornburgh, Tom Holland and Trevor Gale, represented the seller in the transaction. Iqbal Hassan of The Quantum Associates represented the buyer. The 102,859-square-foot Rosenthal Portfolio is located in the East Los Angeles / Boyle Heights area, known for older, manufacturing buildings catering to the apparel industry. It is rare that a property of this size sells in this submarket. This is a transitioning area and a landing spot for those industries being pushed out of the Art's District due to redevelopment projects and higher end uses flooding the area. Increasing rents are driving the traditional users from this area into the East Los Angeles / Boyle Heights district. These properties are now being refurbished into high-end apparel fashion buildings creating upside in value.

PHOENIX—The Grand at Papago Park Center has leased 6.01 acres to Alliance Residential for Broadstone at The Grand. David Fogler and Steven Nicoluzakis of Cushman & Wakefield Phoenix represented the landlord, Papago Park Center, Inc. of Tempe, which is owned by Salt River Project. Broadstone at The Grand, located on the northeast corner of Priest Drive and the Loop 202, will offer 300 luxury apartments. Designed by ORB Architects, the community will feature one, four-story building and three, two-story buildings with studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 650 square feet to 1,400 square feet. At build-out, The Grand at Papago Park Center will total more than 3.2 million square feet of commercial development, with more than 2 million square feet of mixed-use office, including four, nine-story and three, four-story Class A office buildings; three hotels; 550 apartment units; retail and restaurant space. When combined with Papago Park Center's existing 3.3 million square feet of mixed-use projects, there will be more than 6.5 million square feet of urban development and approximately 18,000 employees and residents.

LOS ANGELES—Smart & Final, the value-focused warehouse-style grocery chain, has signed a 15-year lease in Huntington Park, CA. CBRE collaborated across multiple business units to structure the pre-lease and construction of the first two-story Smart & Final store. CBRE's Jamie Brooks represented the landlord, a private real estate owner, and Shahin Adeli of CBRE Debt & Structured Finance arranged construction financing via a reverse build-to-suit lease. Shahin structured an $8 million new loan to pay off the existing debt, provide cash-out at close, allow for reimbursement payments to be drawn from loan proceeds, and provide an additional $1 million cash out to the landlord once the project is completed and certificate of occupancy received. Smart & Final was responsible for obtaining building permits for the construction of the property. Brooks was able to resolve several challenges, including changing construction costs and extension of deadlines.

North Las Vegas—Fiesta Plaza, a 200,000-square-foot grocery-anchored retail shopping center in North Las Vegas, has signed a lease with a new Ross Dress for Less. With this newest retailer, Fiesta Plaza is now 80% occupied with three major anchors, according to property owner Agora Realty. Agora Realty acquired Fiesta Plaza in mid-2016 at 55% occupied with no anchors. Since that time, the firm has successfully leased more than 133,000 square feet of space, expanding La Bonita Supermarket as well as adding Conn's HomePlus and Ross Dress for Less. Agora also completed an exterior façade renovation, parking lot renovation and upgraded core utilities to the site, investing $20 million to renovate and reposition the property.