Maneuvers at 811 Wilshire top tally of downtown L.A., Westside activity.

Prudential Insurance Co. of America has taken full title to downtown L.A.'s troubled 811 Wilshire office project as a result of maneuvers in the former "master leaseholder's" Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

Prudential's Premisys Real Estate Services affiliate has taken over management of the renovated 315,467-square-foot tower at Wilshire Boulevard and Flower Street. And Prudential Realty Group has listed the property for sale - at an asking price to be announced shortly - with Richard Plummer of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., according to PRG Vice President Jeff Baize.

Prudential has been the property's "fee" owner, collecting $2 million annually through a long-term master-leased arrangement. A limited partnership affiliated with Houston's Treptow Development Co. acquired the leasehold interest in 1989 and embarked on a much-lauded renovation program financed through a $31 million loan from Chase Manhattan Bank.

But as the downtown office market nosedived during the early 1990s, the partnership known as InterGen Associates wasn't able to service its debt under the ultra-competitive market's hard-hit effective rents. Chase foreclosed and took back the leasehold estate last August, incorporating an entity known as Flower Wilshire Corp. as the estate's owner.

According to bankruptcy court documents, Flower Corp. sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last February when Chase and Prudential reached an impasse in negotiations over the master-lease payments. Pru served Flower Wilshire with a three-day notice to cure an alleged default under the master-lease on Feb. 2, and Flower Wilshire filed its Chapter 11 petition two days later.

Late last month, Flower Wilshire opted to reject its interest under the master lease, effectively relinquishing full control of the property to Prudential. The building is about 48 percent occupied, according to court documents.

In other downtown office market news, securities brokerage/investment banker The Seidler Cos., formerly Seidler Amdec, has restructured and renewed its approximately 20,000-square-foot lease at Manulife Real Estate's 20-story Manulife Plaza, 515 S. Figueroa St.

Manulife's Parker Jones noted that landlord and tenant began discussions more than three years before the current 15-year lease term's June 1997 expiration date. A new 15-year term, commencing immediately, gives the tenant more efficient remodeled offices at a lower occupancy cost, Jones noted.

Onno Zwaneveld, formerly of Charles Dunn Co. and currently with Julien J. Studley Inc., represented Seidler in the restructured lease deal, details of which weren't announced.

In another sizable recent downtown deal never formally announced, the Barger & Wolen law firm subleased 35,000 square feet in the Arco Plaza north tower, 515 S. Flower St., from Pillsbury Madison & Sutro.

Jim Travers and Lawson Martin of Travers Realty Corp. negotiated the nine-year deal on behalf of Barger & Wolen. Pat McRoskey and Alan Aufhammer of CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc. represented Pillsbury. Details weren't disclosed, but Aufhammer said he and McRoskey still have another approximately 40,000 square feet of Pillsbury sublease space available.

CB and Prudential/Premisys were both involved in another just-closed office lease deal on the Westside. Transit Casualty Co., an insurance firm now operating under receivership as its claims are gradually being liquidated, is relocating from the Mid-Wilshire district to just over 41,000 square feet at Century Plaza Towers in Century City.

CB's Chris Houge and Rick Buckley represented the tenant, whose lease is soon to expire at 3700 Wilshire Blvd. Scott Chalmers of Premisys negotiated the five-year, $3.2 million deal for the landlord, Prudential-led Delta Towers Joint Venture. Transit Casualty took 25,221 square feet on the second floor and 16,000 feet of "windowless" space on the 44th at the north tower, 2029 Century Park East.

Newfield Enterprises International, the Century City-based firm that manages the extensive U.S. property portfolio of Saudi Sheik Abdul-Aziz al Ibrahim - including the largest block of properties in Marina del Rey - has opted to "outsource" nearly all oversight activities. Newfield recently retained Boston-based Landauer Realty Advisors to oversee accounting and direct asset management activities nationwide, while PM Realty and Outrigger Lodging Services will continue to manage the Marina properties.

But the move could be good news for two real estate professionals who were top Newfield executives until earlier this month. Clay Corwin and Don Bredberg had been heading Newfield's negotiations with L.A. County - which owns all Marina land - over extensions of long-term leases and potential redevelopment plans for the sheik's Marina properties.

Now the duo's just-formed consultancy - Stone Creek Advisors - will continue assisting Newfield in those negotiations as a third-party consultant at least on an interim basis, the partners noted.

The Stone Creek principals also hope to assist Newfield as development opportunities arise at the Sheik's other properties across the country. And they're also planning to market their development and asset management services to other firms and investors.