D.C. TRUST BUYS 12 OFFICE BUILDINGS IN WARNER CENTER.

Byline: Chip Jacobs Daily News Staff Writer

In one of the biggest San Fernando Valley real estate deals since the recession, an East Coast real estate trust has bought a dozen buildings at the Warner Center Corporate Park from the Voit Companies for $52 million.

A Voit official said the unsolicited offer by Washington, D.C.-based CarrAmerica Realty Group to buy the 343,000 square feet of prime office space was too good to ignore.

``This is a big deal,'' said Brett Baumgarten, the Voit Development Co.'s vice president of operations. The sale ``is a major steppingstone into the future,'' he said.

The deal will give Voit a chance to finance new real estate ventures throughout Southern California and Arizona, he said.

He said Robert Voit will continue his 25-year involvement in the Woodland Hills complex where his company manages the corporate center, including four skyscrapers and the Marriott Hotel in which Voit sold his partnership interest three years ago.

Voit was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

CarrAmerica spokeswoman Karen Whidmayer said the company finalized the mostly-cash deal July 23 in the belief the Southern California commercial market will expand.

``This area was identified because we believe it has good growth prospects,'' Whidmayer said. ``It's fair to say we'll continue to look at investments in the San Fernando Valley.''

The sale involves 12 buildings, all but one single-story structures, inside the office park formerly known as the Warner Center Business Park. The complex is bounded by De Soto Avenue, Burbank Boulevard and Warner Center Lane.

The properties are 95 percent occupied and include El Camino Resources, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the Pacific Bell Directory and a trio of insurance companies, Whidmayer said.

Local business leaders said the transaction is evidence of a rebound in the real estate market, which was slowed by the recession and office space glut of the early 1990s.

In addition to the Warner transaction, they cited the recent sales of the prestigious Biltmore and Bonaventure hotels in downtown Los Angeles and the tentative agreement to transform the former General Motors plant at Van Nuys into a retail-industrial complex. Voit is a partner in the GM development.

``It's been a stagnant market, and there hasn't been anything this size,'' said Marvin Selter, chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. ``But people throughout the country are seeing the Valley revitalized after the earthquake and the recession. You are seeing a tremendous bounce back.''

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents the area, said she had mixed emotions about the Warner sale because of Voit's overarching role in creating Warner Center, which she and others have labeled the ``crown jewel of the San Fernando Valley.''

``It's kind of a sad moment, but his legacy will live on,'' Chick said. ``He's the one who developed Warner Center and came up with the concrete vision for . . . a center where people could live, work and play. I don't know, other than Century City, where else we have this in Los Angeles.''

Unlike others, Chick wasn't as upbeat that the commercial market is loosening, contending it is in retail where the new business opportunities are. She said Toys `R' Us, Home Depot and a retailer of bathroom and bedroom merchandise have expressed interest in setting up stores in the West Valley.

The Warner deal began early this year when CB Commercial, an influential real estate brokerage, approached Voit, said Bill Palmer, senior vice president of CB's major property group.

Palmer said Voit had repaired Northridge Earthquake damage to his properties, made infrastructure improvements and, just as importantly, raised monthly rents from $1.65 per square foot to $2 per square foot the past few years without losing tenants.

Those factors, plus the relatively high cost of new construction, made Warner an attractive site that generated six ``very aggressive offers,'' he added without naming the other suitors.

``We told Voit that, with all the repairs and high rents they were getting, it might be a good time to sell,'' Palmer said. ``He allowed us to represent him in a confidential manner.''

The timing also was good for CarrAmerica. Another real estate trust had invested $250 million in the company, providing the capital it needed to make a mega-deal possible, Palmer said.

Some said the fact an East Coast institutional investor would pay $151 per square foot in what is still a lackluster office market is a harbinger of better days ahead.

Jack Kyser, chief economist of the county's Economic Development Corp., said: ``It's a very positive signal that big institutional investors are favorably disposed toward Southern California. When you say San Fernando Valley, people think of 1994 and the earthquake. They don't understand you have a lot of positive things going on.''

Voit officials said they will continue to play an active role in the Valley, where Voit retains ownership in a parcel inside the center and a number of properties nearby and in Chatsworth.

Voit, along with Selleck properties, hopes to remake the abandoned 63-acre GM site into an eclectic mix of retail shops, theaters and manufacturing that could cost $75 million to $100 million to develop. The GM project depends on final city approval for the joint venture.

The Warner Center specific plan approved in June 1993 envisioned 35.7 million square feet of commercial and industrial office in the next two or three decades. To date, there is about 15 million square feet.

Voit manages more than 13 million square feet of floor space throughout the western states and, after the sale, owns about 1 million square feet.

Several park tenants said the transition between owners has been smooth and they have warm feelings toward the Voit Companies.

``They were very good to us,'' said Jo Glascock, the corporate services officer for El Camino Resources, a computer sales, leasing and software company. ``Voit informed us what was going on. It's been seamless to us.''

IN THE DEAL

Biggest tenants at the properties purchased by CarrAmerica:

Federal Bankruptcy Court (60,000 square feet)

El Camino Resources (60,000)

California Compensation Insurance (21,500)

Fred Rothenberg & Associates (17,677)

Zurich Insurance (25,000)

United Insurance (21,740)

Pacific Bell Directory (25,000)

CAPTION(S):

Box, Map

Box: IN THE DEAL (See text)

Map: OFFICE SALE

CarrAmerica purchased 343,000 square feet of office space in the Warner Center area from the Voit Companies.

Perry Perez/Daily News