Mid-Wilshire investor Lee extends holdings downtown.

DR. David Lee's Jamison Properties Inc. has purchased the downtown Los Angeles World Trade Center from Haseko Corp., marking the Mid-Wilshire kingpin's third downtown buy.

The property, taking up the block bounded by Third, Fourth, Figueroa and Flower streets, includes 375,000 square feet of office space, 35,000 square feet of retail and 1,600 parking spots. The offices are 84 percent leased, with the U.S. General Services Administration leasing about 80,000 square feet.

While Lee would not disclose the price, the building sold for more than $53 million, according to one source close to the deal.

"A lot of people are talking about residential conversions in downtown, but we're just interested in office properties," said Lee. "It's in the nicer area of downtown and it will benefit from all the activity on Grand Avenue."

Jamison Properties owns more than 7 million square feet of offices in the Mid-Wilshire area, but has recently turned its investment efforts toward other markets. In October, it bought the 345,000-square-foot building at 811 Wilshire Blvd. for $26.5 million.

"Downtown has similar rental rates to some areas on the Westside, but there's more upside," said Lee. "All the residential conversions are taking space out of the office market."

Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Kevin Shannon represented both sides of the deal.

Staff reporter Danny King can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail].

Retro Rehab

Having recently scrapped plans to redevelop a chunk of downtown South Pasadena, Ratkovich Co. has moved further up the Pasadena (110) Freeway.

The company, along with partner Penner Design Group LLC, has purchased the 64-unit Orange Grove Circle apartment complex from Gyro Engineering for $20 million.

The complex at 986 Orange Grove Ave. is made up of 14 buildings built between 1952 and 1957. Ratkovich and Penner will invest about $1 million to upgrade the fully occupied property, which will be renamed Town Homes at Orange Grove Circle.

Ratkovich, whose redevelopment projects have included the Wiltern Theatre and the Oviatt Building, had been planning a $15 million mixed-use project in South Pasadena for two years but backed out last year.

Magic Number Three

Watson Land Co. finished off the year with one of the South Bay's largest industrial leases when it secured Ability-Trimodal Transportation Services Inc. as a tenant in its 300,000-square-foot building at 2000 E. Carson St. in Carson.

Ability-Trimodal, a Carson-based logistics firm that already occupies about 500,000 square feet in the South Bay, inked a five-year deal at Watson Corporate Center in a deal worth more than $8 million.

"We've had a long-term relationship with them over the years, and we had a long-term lease expiring at the facility," said Kirk Johnson, senior vice president at Watson Land. "It's really due to the growing nature of Ability-Trimodal."

Both the tenant and landlord were represented internally.

Deal Cooked Up

Raw Entertainment is taking 15,000 square feet at 6430 Sunset Blvd., moving from its Orange Drive facility and marking the third deal at the Hollywood high-rise in recent months.

Raw signed a five-year deal worth about $2 million to take a floor at the 206,000-square-foot building, best known as the CNN Building, at Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards. The building is about 88 percent leased.

M&S Management's Patrick Lachow and Rob Langer represented the landlord, Meringoff Equities, while Beitler Commercial Realty Services' Eli Nunle represented Raw.

More Maguire Money

Maguire Properties Inc. last week upped its issuance of preferred stock shares by 50 percent in an effort to raise capital for future acquisitions.

Maguire Properties is selling 9 million shares in its first preferred stock offering since going public in June. With a price set at $25 a share and an option for underwriters to buy an over allotment of another 1 million shares, Maguire could raise $250 million, more than a third of the capital raised in its IPO.

Maguire had originally gone out with 6 million shares Jan. 9 but upped that figure by 50 percent last week.

The additional capital could go toward purchases of local office properties, including Pasadena's 257,000-square-foot Western Asset Plaza and Santa Monica's 1733 Ocean Ave. Maguire Properties developed and has options to buy both properties.

Staff reporter Danny King can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail].