Investors clamor for quality office product.

If you list it we will come.

That was the mantra for San Fernando Valley investors clamoring for quality office product in the fourth quarter. Attracted by some of the lowest vacancies in the county and rising rental rates, buyers had their checkbooks ready; the problem was a lack of inventory.

"Non-institutional assets, in the $10 million to 25 million range, have offered the best chance of meeting investor demand. But rental growth has been outpacing value, so sellers have stayed on the sidelines," observed Mark Leonard, senior vice president and principal with Lee & Associates in Calabasas."

Office buyers may have been left wanting, but they were hardly the only ones chasing product. Living Spaces Furniture paid close to $24.2 million for a 250,000-square-foot warehouse in Panorama City, while Tucker Investment Group paid $26.2 million for an Agoura Hills shopping center.

The West Valley was one the few submarkets where large footprints could still be found, if only in unusual circumstances. For example, local educational non-profit, Child Care Resource Center, leased nearly 80,000 square feet of Chatsworth office space, but only after Washington Mutual terminated early.

One of the East Valley's largest employers, NBC Universal, went public with long-term expansion plans that will add nearly half-a-million square feet of new office space near the Universal City MTA station as part of an upgrade of its Universal Studios entertainment center. Entertainment firms are expected to jump at the chance for more space.

Office Market At a Glance

Inventory: 25.4 million square feet

Under Construction: 0

Class A Asking Rents: $2.49

MAIN EVENTS

* ECI Owensmouth LLC purchased a four-story office building at 6800 Owensmouth Ave. in Canoga Park from Weinreb Family Trust for $14.8 million. The Class A, 80,000-square-foot parcel sits across the street from Westfield's refurbished Topanga Mall.

* The San Fernando Valley's largest holder of Class A office buildings, Douglas Emmett Inc., a REIT based in Santa Monica, went public at the end of October, raising $1.39 billion and countering the trend by other local REITs to be sold to private equity investors.

* Child Care Resource Center leased a two-story office building at 20001 Prairie St. in Chatsworth. The 78,783-square-foot space was handed back to landlord Prairie Northridge Venture LP by Washington Mutual Inc. in an early lease termination. Overall value of the seven-year deal was in excess of $14 million.

* Arete Associates, a scientific research defense firm that builds sensor technology, took more than 84,000 square feet in a Class A, low-rise structure at 9301 Corbin Ave. from landlord 9301 Corbin Associates. The 15-year deal, beginning in August 2007, was valued at close to $40 million.

* Trillium Capital Group leased 15,000 square feet at 6300 Canoga Ave. in Warner Center in a $1.9 million deal.

* Silgan Containers Corp. renewed for 31,301 square feet in Warner Center from landlord Douglas Emmett for 10 years at $2.20 per square foot. Tower No. 5, at 21800 Oxnard St. is roughly 225,00 square feet, giving the food-packaging giant almost 15 percent of the space in the Class A building.

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