MaguirePartners Breaking Ground on Office Projects.

MAGUIREPARTNERS is moving forward with its first groundbreakings since it built The Gas Company tower in 1991. Three office projects -- in Pasadena, Glendale and Santa Monica -- are in the works, developments that MaguirePartners started moving on before the 1990s recession hit.

The developer has gotten strong interest in the project furthest along, the 91,400-square-foot 1733 Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica, which will have 12 balconies and a prime location near the waterfront and Santa Monica hotels. Based on the strong tenant interest received, the office space will probably be leased by a single tenant, said Timothy Walker, a partner at MaguirePartners.

The sandstone-colored building will go up north of the Pacific Shores Hotel, which is set for renovation by new owner Elkor Realty Corp., and adjacent to the new proposed offices of Rand Corp. and another site under development by the city of Santa Momca.

The first floor of MaguirePartners' project will be retail and restaurant space. Completion is set for late 2001.

In the meantime, MaguirePartners is approaching city officials in Pasadena and Glendale this week to build two other office projects.

On Sanchez, west of Brand Boulevard on the south side of the 134 Freeway, MaguirePartners plans to build a 300,000-square-foot office building next to the existing Glendale Center, built in 1970. The project is a joint venture with Bank of America Corp.

At seven stories, the building would be shorter than many of the buildings along Brand and would have the largest floor plates in the market at 50,000 square feet. The project targets construction starting in late 2001.

In Pasadena, MaguirePartners is building the second phase of Plaza Las Fuentes.

The eight-story, 350,000-square-foot project is designed to have retail space facing Colorado Boulevard and 65 housing units on the northwest side of the project, kitty-corner from City Hall.

Downtown Sale

Market sources report that Sherman Oaks-based private partnership ACF Management Co. has sold the telecom building at 800 S. Hope St. for more than $40 million.

The eight-story, 240,000-square-foot building, once the corporate headquarters for Bullock's, is the first completed telecom building that has sold since the start of the trend to convert dead office space in downtown's outdated buildings into telecom uses, said David Doupe of Insigna/ESG. Doupe represented both sides in the deal.

The buyer is the California State Teachers Retirement System. The fund was advised by Thomas Properties Group, the downtown L.A. firm of Jim Thomas, former partner of Rob Maguire.

This building was ideal for telecom uses because it was empty when ACF bought it, Doupe said. In addition, the building was "over-engineered," Doupe said -- that is, it was designed to carry twice the weight load that most office buildings can hold, which made it ideal for housing the super-heavy telecom switching equipment. Besides voice and data switching equipment, the building holds co-location facilities for Web-hosting and other data transmission needs.

The building is 90 percent leased by MCI Worldcom.

"Unlike many telecom buildings where the tenants are startups, this building has credit associated with it," Doupe said.

Inner City

The Canyon Johnson Urban Fund, a $400 million real estate fund focused on inner-city and urban development, expects to start investing by the end of the year.

The fund focuses on projects nationwide similar to the Santa Barbara Plaza redo, said Ken Lombard, president of Johnson Development Co. Beverly Hills-based Canyon Capital Realty Advisors LLC partnered with Johnson Development to create the fund.

"That means urban, inner-city locations," Lombard said. "We have a number of different asset classes we're going to look at."

Canyon Capital liked the teaming because Johnson Development "understands the nuances and intricacies of urban development," including the need to partner with the public sector on redevelopment, said Bobby Turner, managing partner for Canyon Capital.

San Gabriel Valley Deal

Azusa-based Gale Banks Engineering, a company that designs power-enhancing products for truck, SUV and motor-home engines, bought a 7.53-acre parcel in Irwindale, near its existing operations in the San Gabriel Valley, as part of its expansion plans.

The company plans to build a 140,000-square-foot campus facility on the site, which it bought for $2.5 million. Ground is expected to be broken next year.

Rick Sheckter of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Gale Banks. Gene Porter of BIR Business Brokers represented seller Orban Lumber Corp.

Industrial Deal

AMB Property Corp. has bought a fully leased industrial building on East Del Amo Boulevard in Rancho Dominguez for $10.1 million. The seller was Clifford Rancho Dominguez.

Todd Taugner and David Prior of The Kiabin Co. represented both parties in the deal.

The tenant is worldwide freight forwarder Brennan International. The property also has additional acreage for container storage.

Joining Seeley

L.A.-based real estate brokerage firm Colliers Seeley International Inc. has recruited nine top producers into its ranks.

In the past year, the new hires together closed lease and sales transactions involving more than 13.6 million square feet of space and with a combined value of approximately $6 billion, said Cody Plott, the company's president.

The recruits are mostly familiar names, including departures from Cushman & Wakefield: Hayden Eaves, Shaun Stiles, Kinden Mitchell and Robin Devereux. The others are Brain Campbell, who ran a commercial real estate brokerage finn, IREG, Inc.; Marc Spellman and John Sabourin, former principals with Lee & Associates in the San Fernando Valley; Mervyn Kirshner, formerly a senior vice president with Cushman & Wakefield in Palm Springs; and Randy Kuttler, formerly with CB Richard Ellis's City of Industry office.

The firm wants to. take advantage of the strong market and its relationship with Colliers International by handling more deals with national and international companies, including plans to open a new office in Palm Springs, Plott said.