Residential project site in Warner Center sells for $60 million.

THE site of a future large Warner Center residential complex has traded hands for close to $60 million.

Pacific Properties sold the 10.7-acre site at 6301-6325 DeSoto Ave. and 6300-6324 Variel Ave., for which the firm recently received entitlements on a 522-unit residential complex.

The buyer is Fairfield Warner LLC, an entity of San Diego-based luxury apartment developer Fairfield Residential LLC, which in the last several years has become increasingly active in the L.A. market.

Fairfield Residential built some of the first apartments at Playa Vista, the mega Westside project being overseen by Playa Capital LLC. The firm is partners with developer Jerry Snyder on the NoHo Commons mixed-use project in North Hollywood and partners with Crown Realty & Development in a Burbank condominium project.

Pacific Properties bought the parcel, which contains eight buildings totaling more than 189,000 square feet, from General Electric Capital Corp. two years ago. For much of that time, Las Vegas-based Pacific Properties worked on obtaining the entitlements for the project from the city.

Because 60 tenants had to be relocated from the buildings, the entitlement process took longer than usual for developments at Warner Center, a business district of Woodland Hills.

Fairfield Residential plans to begin demolishing the buildings on the site within the next several weeks, according to Joe Emerson, the company's development manager.

Construction on the project, a mix of apartments and condominiums, is planned to begin by fall, Emerson said.

Lyn Fields with Madison Partners represented Pacific Properties and Craig Stevens and John Battle of Lee & Associates represented Fairfield Residential.

Selling out

Chandler Partners is selling its recently completed Museum Gardens mixed-use apartment complex to BlackRock Realty for $39.5 million.

The 94-unit project at 5353 Wilshire Blvd. sits on a 1-acre parcel in the Miracle Mile. Museum Gardens includes four residential floors totaling 85,000 square feet over two levels of parking.

Ground floor shops totaling 4,000 square feet front Wilshire Boulevard. Retail tenants include a Subway restaurant, a Robeks Corp. juice shop and a Starbucks Corp. cafe.

Miracle Mile, a stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between La Brea and Fairfax avenues, is home to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the La Brea Tar Pits and a bustling office district serving as a base for numerous media companies. But the strip has traditionally offered few amenities for residents in the neighborhoods to the north and south. Office workers clog the artery during the day but leave it relatively empty at night.

However, mixed-use residential developers have begun flocking to the district.

Legacy Partners Inc. has approvals to build a 197-unit condo project that includes nearly 34,000 square feet of ground floor retail. The developer could begin construction this summer, which first requires razing the site at 5570 Wilshire Blvd.--a former Office Depot store. Legacy Partners also purchased the former Desmond's department store, an art deco icon of the Miracle Mile, for conversion into condominiums.

Publicly traded apartment developer BRE Inc. has approvals for a 288-unit, six-story building on a city block bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, Eighth Street, Hauser Boulevard and Ridgeley Drive.

And developer David Schwartzman has approvals to convert a small office building at Wilshire Boulevard and Ogden Drive into 45 apartments.

Still, Chandler Partners and its partner on the Museum Gardens project, Ameriton Properties Inc., were one of the first residential developers to move ahead with a project in the neighborhood.

Curtis Palmer and Herb S. Chase in the L.A. office of Transwestern Multi Housing Capital Advisors, a division of Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services, represented both sides of the deal.

Re-leasing Life

Securities brokerage and asset manager ML Stern & Co. LLC has renewed its lease at 8350 Wilshire Blvd. for 10 years.

ML Stern, a subsidiary of Pacific Life Insurance Co., occupies about 27,000 square feet in the building, which is owned by North American Realty. The deal is worth about $8.5 million to the landlord.

Studley's Mike Catalano represented ML Stern, which occupies 90 percent of the building, and North American Realty was represented by Madison Partners' Mitch Stokes.

Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached at [phone], ext. 263, or at [e-mail].