Real Estate Column—Large Land Deal Would Extend Topanga Park to Beach

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A $43 million deal for 1,659 acres adjacent to Topanga State Park could ensure preservation of parkland stretching from the Santa Monica Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

The American Land Conservancy has an agreement to buy the site from LAACO Ltd., the parent company of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and will would turn over the property to the state of California to add to Topanga State Park upon closing.

LAACO has had the property under agreement before the money never came through and the deal fell out and there are no guarantees the conservancy will keep the massive site from falling into the hands of developers.

This time, the potential snags are in the form of some 100 residents in 47 well-below-market rental homes on the site who are not ready to give up their homes, views and proximity to the beach.

The matter is scheduled for a public hearing before the Department of Parks and Recreation, which will authorize the purchase on behalf of the state, the week of July 9. The nonprofit conservancy’s option expires July 13.

Fred Zepeda, vice president of real estate for LAACO, said several parties have approached the company about buying portions of the land for commercial uses, and LAACO itself has considered developing the land.

Still, the deal appears solid this time because the American Land Conservancy has money from California Proposition 12, the Parks, Water and Coastal Protection Act, passed by voters last year.

“With Prop 12 money available, it makes it a good deal for everyone,” Zepeda said. “We’re not developers. We’d have to joint venture with someone else so it starts to diminish returns to us.”

Because the property isn’t worth a whole lot to a developer without entitlements for development, the $43 million LAACO would receive if the sale goes through is seen as a good price.

Zepeda said LAACO would reinvest the money, most likely in its growing self-storage business, Storage West. Those who would be displaced by the state would be offered compensation equal to 43 times the difference between the rent they pay and the market-price of similar housing. That number is designed to provide the displaced residents with a down payment on a home or keep them in decent digs for close to four years.


San Gabriel Swaps

The San Gabriel Valley was home recently to some $58 million in sales and leasing activity.

Computer parts and technology distributor Avnet Inc. sold 9320 Telstar Ave. in El Monte for $14.1 million to Franklin Properties Inc. Franklin Properties turned around and sold the 258,600-square foot building to Crown Realty & Development Inc. for $17.3 million.

Among all that deed shuffling, Los Angeles County signed a 10-year, $27 million lease for 161,000 square feet at the site to house branches of its Department of Health Services and Department of Public Social Services.

Avnet has moved to 21700 E. Copley Drive in Diamond Bar, where it has leased 18,500 square feet. The three-year lease is worth $2 million.

Working the deals were Tom Taylor and Clyde Stauff of Colliers Seeley International Inc., who represented both sides in the Avnet-Franklin Properties deal. The pair also represented Franklin Properties in the sale to Crown. Ron Heim of Trammell Crow Co. assisted the Colliers Seeley brokers on the sales deals and represented Avnet in the lease with Los Angeles County. The lease was assigned to Crown Realty & Development after the sale, according to Heim.


Hollywood BID Battle

Aaron Epstein won his battle to gain access to the Hollywood Boulevard Business Improvement District when the state Supreme Court refused to hear the BID’s appeal of his complaint to open up the board’s meetings.

Epstein lost the first round of the suit, but the California Court of Appeals for the Second District found that the BID is a legislative body and subject to California’s Brown Act, which requires public bodies to meet in public. The city of Los Angeles, which enables the formation of BIDs, then appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court.

Further, State Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) has agreed to a compromise on legislation she introduced that would have, among other things, exempted the non-profit boards running BIDs from the Brown Act. The compromise, which still is working its way through the General Assembly, identifies BID boards as private entities that must conduct business in public.

Epstein said he’s content with the compromise legislation, and BID Executive Director Kerry Morrison said the bill puts her at ease as well. She had been concerned that the BID board would dissolve for lack of participation if members were forced to disclose personal financial information because they were considered public officials.

Still up in the air are roughly $120,000 in legal bills. Epstein has asked that the property owners’ association be ordered to cover his legal costs, which he said amounted to more than $60,000. Morrison said the association has spent about the same amount.

Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235 or at [email protected].

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