Jerry Fink, a Bascom Group managing director and co-founder,says that the new JV is designed to "take advantage of SouthernCalifornia's fundamentally strong office environment of lowvacancies, increasing rents and rising employment." The venture'sfirst development is a 230,000-sf office project called PalmdaleCorporate Center in Palmdale, where the Real Group expects to beginconstruction next month and to have the first building ready foroccupancy in June 2008.

According to J.R. Pearce, principal of Realm, in addition to newconstruction the company's JV with Bascom will focus on distressedand/or poorly performing office buildings and move them up a classby modernizing and upgrading them. The business plan closelyparallels the approach that Bascom has employed in executingvalue-added plays in the apartment market in Southern Californiaand in other markets.<p.Bascom's Palmdale project withRealm will be developed at the northwest corner of Trade CenterDrive and Auto Center Drive. The location is at Palmdale'sTrade & Commerce Center, just west of the 14 Freeway. Theleasing agents for the project are Lenny Dance and Chuck Hoey ofthe Lancaster office of CB Richard Ellis.

Formed in 1996, Bascom quickly became one of the most activeplayers in the value-added multifamily arena in SouthernCalifornia, acquiring and repositioning properties throughout theSouthland. Since then, the company has expanded throughout theWestern US, acquiring more than 43,000 units and closing dealstotaling more than $5 billion.