COUNTRYWIDE SPACE IN SIMI VALLEY SOLD.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - In the city's biggest commercial real estate transaction this year, a Los Angeles investment firm has paid $33 million for the Countrywide Home Loans Inc. building, officials said Wednesday.

The property, at Tapo Canyon Road and Los Angeles Avenue, also includes a vacant three-acre parcel.

Countrywide recently signed a 10-year lease for the 180,000-square-foot building, which was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

The new owner, Century Park Partners, bought the property from Schmid-Moulton Parkway, a unit of Anaheim-based private trust Schmid Development.

Schmid-Moulton declined comment on the sale because the company's owner was out of town.

Paul Daze, a principal at Century Park, said his company is bullish on the Los Angeles area.

``All we do is buy single-tenant assets around the country, and when Countrywide extended the terms and took the rest of the space, we realized it was a good deal for us. It was right up our alley and in our backyard,'' he said.

Dennis Slattery, senior managing director in Charles Dunn Co.'s downtown Los Angeles office and one of the brokers involved in the deal, said that with a vacancy rate of just under 5 percent, Simi Valley is one of the tightest markets in the area.

``There is so much pent-up demand for good investment property today, a lot of money is chasing very few deals. And here we have an excellent property,'' said Slattery, who was part of the team representing Schmid. The others included Steve Dome of Marathon Realty Advisers and Michael Swanston of Swanston Properties.

Slattery is quite familiar with the property. Eight years ago, he was the broker who represented Wells Fargo Bank in the sale of the property to Schmid-Moulton and he inked the lease deal with Calabasas-based Countrywide.

There is now about 40,000 square feet of office space left in Simi Valley, he said.

The deal also underscores Simi Valley's growing popularity. The city recently celebrated the openings of the Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and its first regional mall, the Simi Valley Town Center.

City Manager Mike Sedell said it's all by design.

``The City Council has spent a lot of energy and reserves in upgrading the quality of life in this community and I think more and more people are beginning to recognize that,'' he said.

And the sale price also points out there is demand for more office space.

The problem is finding it,'' Sedell said. ``There is clearly a need for it. People are looking; however, there is very little area on which to build and most of the valley floor is built out.''

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com

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