Nine show interest in lumber property

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City attorney says it is unknown when a decision will be made on who shall lease the property. New owner of Trancas shopping plaza says remodeling will take place and new tenants introduced.

By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor

The deadline to submit bids to lease the city-owned property formerly home to Malibu Lumber closed last week, and nine parties have submitted offers, according to a city document.

Those who have submitted bids for the 2.2-acre property located on the Chili Cook-Off site are: Santa Monica-based J.S. Rosenfield & Co., which this month purchased the Trancas shopping center; World Vest Land & Development, an equity firm whose managing partner, local Realtor Kristen Corri, said she wants to make sure only small, unincorporated businesses would operate on the property; Beverly Gemini Investments, a local commercial real estate development company; Robert K. Futterman and Associates, a New York City-based real estate company; Koss Real Estate Investments, the owner of Malibu Country Mart headed by Michael Koss; Landwin Management, a San Gabriel-based commercial real estate company; attorney Patrick Saboorian; local commercial property investor Richard Weintraub; and Watt Realty Advisors, a Santa Monica-based commercial property company.

The leasing of the lumber property was on this week’s City Council closed session agenda, the portion of the meeting at which real estate and legal items are discussed behind closed doors by the council and relevant city staff before the public portion of the meeting. Council members are prohibited by state law from commenting on what discussions may have taken place during the closed session. City Attorney Christi Hogin said on Monday she did not know when any decision would be made on who would be chosen to lease the property.

The lessee, whoever it is, will most likely tear down the current facility and build a new one. According to the city’s purchase agreement with the Malibu Bay Co. for the Chili Cook-Off site, any of the structures on the site can be torn down, but they can only be replaced with buildings of the same size.

The old Malibu Lumber space includes a 17,000-square-foot main building, 5,000-square-foot mezzanine and 5,000 square feet of accessory buildings. The city is anticipating an $850,000 annual lease, according to an advertisement placed in The Malibu Times last month.

Malibu needs to rent out the vacant space to generate income to pay off the certificates of participation it sold to raise funds for the Chili Cook-Off site purchase.

Late last year, Malibu Bay extended the date for the city to close escrow on the site from Dec. 31 to late March because it said it wanted to continue negotiating with an unnamed party (rumored to be retailers Urban Outfitters or Anthropologie, which is owned by Urban Outfitters) about renting the vacant former Malibu Lumber space. It was never revealed why Malibu Bay was concerned who would be the lessee, since it was selling the Chili Cook-Off site. But no deal was ever reached and the city was left to find a tenant.

New owner of Trancas shopping center

J.S. Rosenfield & Co., which owns Brentwood Country Mart, earlier this month purchased the Trancas shopping center located on Pacific Coast Highway off Trancas Canyon Road. The company bought the property for $20 million, J.S. Ronsefield partner Dan Bercu said.

“It’s a great under-utilized piece of real estate,” Bercu said. “Since I live in the area, I want to improve it and make it nicer.”

The approximately 17-acre property includes HOWS Trancas Market and a garden center, and a building containing Starbucks, Zuma Beach General Store, a dry cleaner, private mail center and a karate studio. Also included in the purchase is the acquisition of a nearby gas station and a piece of land formerly used by Trancas Riders and Ropers as an equestrian arena.

Bercu said it was too early to tell exactly what would be done with the plaza, but he said he expects some remodeling to be done and new tenants to be introduced.

“We’ve already been getting 50-plus phone calls from small businesses wanting to come,” Bercu said.

Bercu added that he did not know what would be done with the former Trancas Riders and Ropers land.

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