Does the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley need to revamp its marketing campaign? Yes, says Alliance President Bruce Ackerman. That’s because the Alliance first came about in the aftermath of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The goal at inception was to help the Valley physically rebound from the quake, while re-branding it as a place that deserved to be known for more than the disaster that quickly came to define it during that period. “They have currently outgrown their initial vision. They really started as an earthquake recovery center. Now, they’re way past that point,” said Jean-Marc Durviaux, chief executive officer of Distinc Design and Communications. The Los Angeles-based company is now in the process of giving the Alliance’s marketing campaign a facelift of sorts. Distinc’s clients have included the Aveda Corporation, the American Cinematheque, the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Balcony Press, the California League of Conservation Voters, Chronicle Books, Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Centers, the Fine Arts Dealers Association and Inner-City Arts. It has received an AIGA Environmental Award and a Prize of Excellence from American Printers Association. The Alliance chose Distinc out of a pool of a half-dozen firms to help re-brand its image. Ackerman said that last year the Alliance decided it was time to reassess its campaign. “The Alliance has had a huge impact on the Valley,” Ackerman said. “We wanted to make sure our programs are still relevant. It started as a result of the earthquake, but where are we now, and where are we going? Are we still meeting the needs out there?” The Alliance, a private, nonprofit economic development and marketing corporation, works with public and private stakeholders to grow and sustain the economic base and improve quality of life in the San Fernando Valley. It offers economic development programs and business assistance to help companies expand and relocate, obtain permits, recruit and train employees, obtain financial assistance, obtain up-to-date market data information, expand and retain international trade development and take advantage of measures such as enterprise zones. From the campaign the Alliance has now, however, one might not realize all of the work the group does, according to Durviaux. “The consequence [of having an outdated campaign] is very clear,” he said. “They do have a lot more than what the general public is aware of.” With help from Distinc, by July the Alliance will have a blueprint for a campaign that more accurately describes what the group does and what its mission is, not to mention the fact that it partners with the Valley cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale and San Fernando and hosts summits, expos and related events. Durviaux said that re-branding the Economic Alliance is a six-month process of with hiring Distinc just the beginning. “We’re currently working with them on assessing their brand equity,” Durviaux said of Distinc’s work so far with the Alliance. “We’re currently helping them with brand architecture, brand identity and brand position.” Next up is charting the Alliance’s goals and objectives and trying to implement them. “The last part is going to identify a marketing strategy to reach out and make people aware of all of [the Alliance’s] initiatives,” Durviaux said. Distinc’s CEO considers this final component to be the real beauty of the process because it will result in the community knowing all that the Alliance offers. “They’re still growing based on their initial image all these things they do to help the employees, the community as a whole, is far beyond what they’re known for,” he explained. Though he has an inkling of what the final marketing plan will look like, Durviaux said that it’s a little premature at this point for Distinc to reveal its plan for the Alliance. For one thing, the company isn’t exactly sure how it will play out. “All we know for now is that they do need help,” he said.

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When Carolina Garcia officially takes over as editor of the Daily News in two weeks she faces a familiar situation in different surroundings. Familiar because like the Daily News, her previous paper, the Monterey County Herald, is owned by MediaNews and that means a shrinking news hole and staffing cuts. It’s different, well, because this is the San Fernando Valley. There’s no mistaking Lake Balboa for the Pacific Ocean and while many nice golf courses are found from Burbank to Westlake Village none can be mistaken for Pebble Beach. Two visits to the Valley gave Garcia a taste of what she can expect after April 28. To get up to speed on the issues and the personalities involved, she intends to rely on the experience and knowledge of the news staff although there are fewer of those around than there were two months ago. “I look to get immersed and I’d like to get to know the community,” Garcia said. Immersion is just what Garcia will need to get to know the politics and the players, said Jill Banks Barad, president of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils. <!– Carolina Garcia –> Carolina Garcia After all, her predecessor certainly did, Barad said. That would be Ron Kaye, who gave 23 years to the Daily News, the last two-and-a-half as editor. The official story is that Kaye resigned April 4; the reason is open to interpretation, coming as it did five weeks after cuts eliminated 22 newsroom positions through layoffs and buyouts. Did he say “enough is enough” when ordered to pare down an already depleted staff, knocking heads with those at MediaNews who understand profit margins better than journalism? “He finally got canned by the powers that be,” was how staffer Julie Scott put it in her Bargain Hunter blog. While described as a bombastic, gruff crusader, Kaye showed a soft side, becoming tearful on the day in February when he addressed staffers about job cuts. “All good things in life come to an end sooner or later, even my love affair with the Daily News,” Kaye wrote in an e-mail on the day he left. “What will always be with me is my love and respect for all of you.” To make a comparison between Kaye’s decades of experience with the blank slate of Garcia’s is unfair, said Brendan Huffman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. After all, Kaye may not have known much about the city when he went to work at the late Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. “There is a learning curve,” Huffman said. “We are excited to meet [Garcia] and show her the business side of the Valley.” There are others waiting to meet Garcia as well. She can expect invitations from Bruce Ackerman at the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, and from Barad, whose group last summer hosted a visit from Los Angeles Times Publisher David Hiller. What they want to hear is that Garcia won’t make many changes in how the Daily News covers the Valley. As managing editor and, later, editor Kaye positioned the paper as the Valley’s paper. During the secession movement of the late 1990’s the coverage in the Daily News drew criticism of bias in favoring those advocating splitting from Los Angeles. Kaye strongly believed in citizen democracy, Barad said, and his support of the grass-roots movements energized the VANC. “Even with the staff cuts, it is now, and continues to be [the Valley’s paper],” Barad said. Diversity Letting staff go is not unfamiliar to Garcia, who has seen two rounds of layoffs at the Herald since becoming part of MediaNews in 2006. The paper also experienced downsizing in content and size with the elimination of a Sunday opinion section and the consolidation of sports and business sections. The turmoil in the newspaper industry in general, caused by shrinking circulation, loss of advertising revenue and competition from more immediate forms of media, poses a challenge to achieving a newsroom reflective of the community it serves. Yet it is a challenge that Garcia is ready to take up. When she started at the Herald in 2003, the editorial staff was 11 percent ethic minorities. That number grew to a high of 33 percent until the cutbacks. Growing up in Texas, Garcia did not speak English when she started school. She later participated in civil rights marches in the Chicano movement. Once settled in the Valley, she looks forward to learning and understanding the dynamics of the Latino community. “I have found it invigorating to make change, to take creative risks, and to hire a diverse staff to better reflect our values,” Garcia wrote in 2004 for the American Society Newspaper Editors for which served as diversity director. Two years ago the Daily News joined the Parity Project of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to increase minorities on the editorial staff. In its first year the paper formed an advisory committee of educators, students, business people, media relations professionals and retirees and hired an intern it had found through a program with the California Chicano News Media Association. Well-Respected With the Herald, Garcia was visible in the business community and intends to continue that practice in the Valley. Garcia regularly attended lunches and dinners sponsored by the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and made it a point to introduce her new reporters, said Brad Smith, marketing and communications director for the chamber, who got to know Garcia when working in retail advertising at the Herald. Garcia is personable, well respected and will be missed, Smith said. Until Garcia takes over the editor duties later in the month, managing editor Melissa Lalum will be overseeing the Daily News newsroom. Then the learning begins and Garcia will do that by finding leadership programs and other issue-oriented classes like ones she took in Monterey. “I am looking for things like that; groups and organization that offer insight and training, something a little bit formal so it’s not just for the editor of the paper,” Garcia said. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected] .

For baseball players in the minor leagues, the season goes from April to early September. Not so for those in the front office. Lancaster JetHawks General Manager Brad Seymour and his staff are a year-round sales business during the off-season plugging ticket packages and getting businesses as sponsors of the 6,800-capacity Clear Channel Stadium; group sales take priority during the months the team plays. For five years now, Seymour has headed up the business operations of the Class A California League team based in the Antelope Valley. The JetHawks had been affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks until last year when the team became part of the farm system for the World Champion Boston Red Sox. The team is owned by Cleveland attorney Peter Carfagna. While having a winning team on the field is nice, Class A ball places an emphasis on developing the players and preparing them for the parent club. Seymour’s role is creating an environment where the players can focus on their careers. Some 70 JetHawks have made it to the major leagues. “It is fun to see the guys that come in unheralded make their name here and then be able to accelerate themselves to the big-league level,” Seymour said. “It seems that every year we have one or two of those guys.” Q: What are the duties of the general manager? A: The primary duties for me are the business side. What I tell people is I take care of everything in foul territory. It’s handling parking and personnel to the sales and marketing of the club. I am the main liaison between the JetHawks and Boston, and in that I make sure we are providing an environment that is comfortable and meets their expectations so they can develop players and move them on and eventually get them to Fenway Park. Q: How long have the JetHawks been playing and what is your background? A: We are going into our 13th season and this is my fifth season in Lancaster. Prior to here, I spent nine seasons in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I began my career in San Jose with the San Jose Giants. I got into this when I realized I wasn’t any good at playing baseball and wanted to figure a way to stay involved. I’ve really turned this franchise around into a profitable business and into a business respected within the community, not that we always haven’t been. The team started out gangbusters, kind of dipped down a bit and now we are on our way back up. Q: What’s your role been in that turnaround? A: Each year I set a challenge or a goal for a major project; something that keeps me challenged but keeps the organization challenged. My first couple of years we were able to sell naming rights to the facility here. The affiliation change was a challenge last year. We are going through an entire team identity process this year where we are changing the logo, changing the uniforms; that’s been a fun project to work through. A couple years ago we added the first capital improvement to the facility, which was our video board. That’s also through a partnership with Clear Channel Radio. We measure our success by attendance and by revenues and those have continued to increase each of the last five years. Last year we had a big jump in attendance; a big jump in overall revenues. That is how I am judged and that is how the front office is judged. Q: When did Clear Channel buy the naming rights for the stadium? A: That was before the 2005 season when we sold the naming rights. It’s a 10-year agreement with Clear Channel in which we and the city of Lancaster split the revenues for it. It is a true partnership. Clear Channel is involved here at the facility in different events and obviously they get the brand recognition from having their name on the ballpark. Q: What was that process like? A: When I came in 2004 my primary goal was to get a naming-rights agreement. It is something you are seeing industry-wide. I felt if I could get that it would set the organization on the right track and give us the recognition that we need and get us a great partnership. We put the word out and started to meet with some folks. Clear Channel expressed immediate interest. The process moved fairly quickly. Q: The Antelope Valley is 60 miles from Los Angeles and on the edge of the desert; would you consider this to be a sports-starved area? A: The area is not driven toward sports entertainment or anything of that nature. I think it’s driven toward quality-of-life entertainment; things to do on the weekend, things to do after work. We play a major part of that. Between us, Lancaster Performing Arts Center, there is a fairly new amphitheatre in Palmdale; I think all of these things is what the community wants and needs. As this area continues to grow at a record pace those are the natural things that go along with it. Q: Is it a situation where because there are so many people moving up there that they become the new fans rather than going out and attracting people to come to the park? A: I think it is a combination. Certainly a big part of our job is marketing and educating the new folks who have moved up here. A lot of folks moving from the Los Angeles basin don’t know what minor league baseball is. A lot of what we do is education we are professional baseball, we are an affiliate of the Red Sox and before that an affiliate of the Diamondbacks, and talking of the quality of play and quality of entertainment. Q: It’s interesting that after the 1994 strike major league teams began using the same promotions and between-innings entertainment used by the minor leagues for years. A: Those are the things we need to do survive. We don’t have the big name player coming through that the fans will want to see or buy a ticket for. Certainly in the last year we have attracted a new demographic/fan base with the Boston connection and we are getting a lot of Boston fans here that are very baseball knowledgeable. By and large in our research we have figured that over 80 percent of our fans are here for reasons other than baseball. They may be here for watching their granddaughter or son perform in their band pre-game, or they are here for a bobblehead give away or t-shirt giveaway or a social event. That’s our bread and butter. That’s why we do all the different promotions because it’s attracting the whole fan base. We can’t just focus on the baseball fan so to speak. At the major league over the last decade, decade-and-a-half you see them trending more toward the promotions, more toward the different entertainment aspects. Q: Can you talk how you go about marketing and getting sponsors? A: It’s a lot of cold calling; it’s building relationships. We have been very fortunate to have a good group of core sponsors that have been with us for many years. Naturally you have turnover and you have to go out and solicit new businesses to promote their product out here. We are different from a radio station, or a newspaper company or a billboard company. We can offer so much. If your focus is on print we have scoreboards, we have pocket schedules, and we have branding on the outfield signs. Another popular thing that we can do to make business stand out is the promotions. The giveaway items go so far in branding your product but it also gives the ability to be part of the community. It’s putting your product in a positive light. SNAPSHOT: Brad Seymour Title: General Manager, Lancaster JetHawks Professional Baseball Club Age: 32 Education: B.S. Business Management, Colorado Technical University Career Turning Point: Being given the opportunity at a young age to take on tremendous responsibilities and learn things about operating a business earlier than most people have the chance to do so, thus accelerating my career quickly and providing a solid foundation for my current role. Most Admired Persons: My parents, for setting the example of what it takes to be successful and for encouraging me to pursue my career in baseball and successfully attain many of the goals I set for myself when I began this journey. Personal: Wife: Michelle; Children: Brandon, 7 and Ashley, 4

The San Fernando Valley is affordable, home to tourist attractions and not far from the beach and the bright lights of Hollywood. Yet, it is oft-overlooked by tourists, who decide to spend their Southern California stay in other parts of Los Angeles. In light of this trend, a roundtable was hosted by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley on April 3 to generate discussion about how best to spread the word that the Valley is a choice destination for tourists. Because General Manager Michael Spencer is new to the Sportsmen’s Lodge, having most recently worked in Hollywood, he arguably had the freshest view of the Valley among the roundtable participants. “The Valley is below the radar,” Spencer said. One way to make the area more prominent, he and other roundtable participants agreed, would be to market its proximity to Hollywood, the one destination in Los Angeles familiar to tourists from all over the world. “Hollywood is ten minutes away,” Spencer said. Roundtable participants stressed that this fact needs to be played up because many tourists have no idea where the Valley is in relationship to Hollywood. Thus, they end up dishing out loads of money to stay in the vicinity of the Sunset Strip when they could cut the costs of their vacations significantly by lodging in the Valley. Spencer and fellow G.M. Bert Seneca of Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn said there can be more than a $100 differential between Valley and West Los Angeles hotel rates. In addition to trying to publicize this discrepancy to tourists, Economic Alliance’s Bruce Ackerman believes the many business executives who visit the Valley need to be provided with reasons to return here on vacation with their spouses and children in tow. Ackerman also believes that there is a huge opportunity for Valley hotels to offer packages to delegations, in hopes that they will choose to meet at a hotel in this area instead of elsewhere. The Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills was cited by roundtable participants as an ideal hotel to fill this role. The Marriott could also serve as the destination for local industries to have their meetings. “The higher quality hotel will attract more of that product,” Spencer said. Scott McGookin, Burbank’s economic development manager, believes that we will shortly see more luxury hotels in the San Fernando Valley. “I receive inquiries every week for hotel development,” he said. “I think there’s a real pent-up demand for hotel space.” Asked how their hotels have done thus far in 2008, Spencer and Seneca seemed optimistic. “The indication is that the industry is doing as well as it did last year,” Seneca said. “Some brands aren’t hitting their target markets, but my [first] quarter [2008] exceeded last quarter. I don’t anticipate that we’re going to slow down.” Spencer agreed. He said that his hotel will likely do as well as, or better than, last quarter. He also expects it to rebound from last fall when the hotel was particularly hard hit by the Writers Strike. The amount of construction going on at nearby hotels is also likely to give the Sportsmen’s Lodge a boost, Spencer said. Burbank’s hotel industry is also excelling, according to McGookin. “Our transient occupancy rate is up,” he said. “There’s a lot more activity around the Marriott Convention Center downtown. With the exchange rate being the way it is, we should see more foreign travel.” Seneca is also counting on the dollar’s devaluation to help push occupancy rates up. “We anticipate ’08 being a healthy year,” he said. “There will be a lot of international travel coming in, specifically to my hotel.” So far, the only notable disappointment in the hotel industry this year has been that Easter was observed so early that it fell into the first quarter rather than the second, which could mean that second quarter occupancy rates will be lower than those of 2007, Ackerman said. In addition to motivating tourists to stay in Valley hotels, Ackerman believes they should also be motivated to arrive at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank rather than at Los Angeles International. The pitch would be that Burbank airport is close to major tourist attractions and is markedly less busy than LAX, making it a more convenient point of entry. “We should position the airport as more than just an airport,” Ackerman said. The Valley, home to Universal Studios and Warner Brothers Studios, as well as a slew of television and radio stations, should also find a way to push the offerings that tourists likely don’t know about. There’s the Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa & #324;a, named for St. Ferdinand, King of Spain, and founded in September 1797 in the North Valley, where Interstate 5, Interstate 405 and the Simi Valley Freeway (California 118) meet. There’s also Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in Agua Dulce. Part of the San Andreas Fault, the jagged rocks were formed 25 million years ago and take their name from Tiburcio Vasquez, a bandit who eluded the authorities in 1873 and 1874 by hiding in the area. The rock formations make a good tourist attraction because they have been featured in numerous films and television shows. Not far from the Valley is Solvang, a town settled by Danish educators in 1911 that bills itself as offering a taste of Denmark in California. The town has been featured in “Sideways,” alluded to in episodes of “The Simpsons” and other shows and is home to actress Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell, daughter of Alfred Hitchcock. Just six miles away is former President Reagan’s ranch, Rancho del Cielo, known as the Western White House. “That’s a marketing angle,” tourism consultant Bob Scott said of the aforementioned attractions. He and others noted that the Valley is home to an array of celebrities, as far ranging as “Golden Girls” star Betty White and Britney Spears’ ex Kevin Federline. The idea of “star maps” and tours of celebrities’ homes being offered here was tossed around. All in all, Ackerman said that the Valley needs to carve out a distinct identity to become marketable. “We need to become the alternative to L.A. without saying we’re being the alternative to L.A.,” he said. Tourism Roundtable Participants Bruce Ackerman, President. Economic Alliance Bob Scott, Consultant, SFV Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Bert Seneca, General Manager. Beverly Garland Holiday Inn Michael Spencer, General Manager, Sportsmen’s Lodge Scott McGookin, Economic Development Manager, City of Burbank Bill Van Laningham, Marketing Director, Los Angeles Newspaper Group Victor Gill. Public Affairs/Communications Director, Burbank- Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority Jason Schaff, Editor, SFV Business Journal (Moderator)

A year ago, the U.S. Census Bureau considered eliminating all its County Census Divisions, a new designation of sub-category that measured the Valley region separately from L.A. County. After much hubbub nationwide the vast majority of that from the Valley and Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) the Census Bureau reconsidered in February and thus the Valley and 21 other similar regions of the country will remain on their map. Now, when the Census Bureau starts its constitutionally-mandated tally for 2010, it will be doing it from Northridge. While either causality or coincidence might have been at play, certainly availability was. In a deal brokered for the U.S. General Services Administration, the Census Bureau Office for the Los Angeles region will be working out of a first-floor, 31,000-square-foot office at 9301 Corbin Avenue. Jamie Christy of the Census Bureau described the space as “very functional, not opulent.” Christy said the office will gear up to eventually employ a peak of about 200 people in the office and will be the site from which all Southern California and Hawaiian efforts will be managed, serving as the “master office” for 39 local sites which will be in place for one or two years. The lease for the Northridge office runs for four and a half years, and Geancarlo Pilco of the GSA said with the extensive tenant improvements amortized for the life of the lease, the cost is $38 per square foot. To prepare for the Census Bureau’s use, Pilco said, almost all of the existing space was demolished, and then rebuilt with new electrical, mechanical and plumbing, plus all new doors and windows. Scott Flanagin of The Staubach Company represented the GSA in the deal. The lessor was repped by David LaMore of CB Richard Ellis. Retail Suites Sold; Development Begun Builder AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc., based in Agoura Hills, announced that Festival Development Partners, LLC has purchased two retail suites at Avenue 26, the mixed-use master plan community in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. AMCAL also recently broke ground on Los Vientos, its first affordable housing development in San Diego. Featuring 89 family apartments, Los Vientos is scheduled to open in Fall 2009. Financed with more than $18.6 million of 9 percent low-income housing tax credits, Los Vientos will be built thanks to $43.7 million in investments by U.S. Bank, Hudson Housing Capital, California Community Reinvestment Corporation and the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency. A 100 percent affordable development, Los Vientos will have 26 units dedicated to residents whose income is within 60 percent of Area Median Income (AMI); 44 units reserved for those with income at 50 percent AMI; nine units each for renters with income at 40 percent and 30 percent of AMI, respectively; and one unit for on-site staff. Industrial Park 25 Percent in Escrow North Valley Commerce Center, a 201,326-square-foot industrial park in Sylmar, is nearing completion with 25 percent of the project in escrow in the first 90 days of marketing. The center consists of seven buildings with units ranging from 2,237 square feet to 57,666 square feet for sale or lease. The fully-landscaped site is located at the intersection of Olden Street and San Fernando Road. Voit Development Company is developing the project and base building construction is scheduled to be complete at the end of the month. Tim Regan of Voit is the project manager for the industrial park. David Harding, Greg Geraci, Matt Dierckman and Billy Walk of CB Richard Ellis are the exclusive marketing representatives. The project was designed by Poliquin Kellogg Design Group and is being constructed by Valley Commercial Contractors. “The San Fernando Valley submarket boasts a two percent vacancy rate and North Valley Commerce Center is the only new industrial business park project under construction in this market,” said Regan, vice president of acquisition/development for Voit Development Company. EDIC Expands in Agoura Hills Employers Direct Insurance Company (EDIC) has expanded, now leasing the entire office building housing their existing corporate headquarters in Agoura Hills. The expansion resulted in a 67,000-square-foot lease that minimized their occupancy cost. Sheryl Mazirow of Westlake Village-based Mazirow Commercial, Inc. represented EDIC in the lease. The firm has served as EDIC’s out-sourced real estate department since EDIC’s inception seven years ago. Lee Reps Both Sides in Bank Expansion RiverPark Gateway, Ltd. has signed a lease with its first office tenant, Western Commercial Bank, to occupy a free-standing, 3,622-square-foot building at 2801 N. Ventura Road, Oxnard. It is the second location for the two-year-old Woodland Hills-based bank. Grant Harris, a principal at Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, Inc., along with associates Scott Carper and David Kim, are the exclusive marketing agents for RiverPark Gateway and represented the developer and builder, Martin Teitelbaum, in the transaction. Mike Tingus, Lee & Associates president and managing partner, represented Western Commercial. The Lee team is currently in negotiations to lease approximately 36,000 square feet in RiverPark Gateway and is fielding interest on another 10,000 square feet of properties. In another transaction, Chris Dorland and Spencer Strull, associates at the Sherman Oaks office of Lee & Associates, represented the seller, Edward Cholakian, in the sale of a 16,800-square-foot industrial facility in Sylmar for $2,680,000 to Drapes 4 Show Inc. The buyer was represented by Billy Walk, an associate at CB Richard Ellis. Westlake Village Center Approved The City of Westlake Village’s City Council has approved plans for Opus Corporate Center at Westlake Village, a $180 million, 435,000-square-foot mixed-use development, featuring twin Class A, four-story office buildings encompassing 361,000 square feet of space, three free-standing restaurant pads, a 45,000-square-foot fitness facility and 8,000 square feet of service retail on 21.5 acres of land. The Lindero Canyon Road project is set to break ground this month with completion anticipated in first quarter 2009. A landscaped pedestrian promenade will connect the offices and incorporates existing oak trees into the design. Opus Architects & Engineers is the project designer and the general contractor will be affiliated Opus West Construction Corporation. CB Richard Ellis has been named exclusive leasing agent for the project, with senior vice presidents Nicholas Gregg and Michael Slater comprising the office leasing team and David Rush leasing retail space. Douglas Emmett Ups Presence Deepening its presence in area submarkets, Douglas Emmett, Inc., has acquired a 1.4 million-square-foot office portfolio consisting of six Class A buildings in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Sherman Oaks/Encino and Warner Center/Woodland Hills for a contract price of approximately $610 million, or $428 per square foot. The portfolio is currently 88.7 percent leased. An affiliate of the seller provided $380 million of first trust deed bridge financing for nine months. The real estate investment trust’s Valley holding additions are located at 21300 Victory Boulevard, and at 15250 and 16000 Ventura Boulevard. Senior Reporter James Hames can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or at [email protected] . *Correction published April 28, 2008: In James Hames’ real estate column of April 14, 2008, the CB Richard Ellis broker who represented the lessor in the Census Bureau lease should have been David I. Solomon.

The City of San Fernando wants to use its oldest house as a window into the past. That is more than a metaphor in the case of the Lopez Adobe there is a window in the two-foot-thick exterior wall, through its belatedly-added coating of Portland cement, making visible the adobe bricks from which the house was made in 1882. The home represents a pivotal point in the history of the city, and the San Fernando Valley, though few have heard of it; something the city has begun to change. City officials are banking on the refurbished historical site being the anchor of a cultural tourism effort that is part of the economic development of the area, said Brian Haworth, assistant to the city administrator. “The house will become a museum to educate children and the community, not just about the history of the adobe but about California history,” said Fred Ramirez, senior planner for the city. “It can be a start off point for walking tours of the area” Ramirez said, which would include the iconic St. Ferdinand Church across the street, the historic U.S. Post Office and the San Fernando Museum of Art & History down the block and nearby Heritage Park. The San Fernando Mission is actually beyond the border of the City of San Fernando, though although the city plans to make connections outside its boundaries. For example, the house was used as a repository for about 1,000 archival photographs which, through the photo archive at California State University, Northridge, provides a connection to academics and historians. The adobe was also used as a doctor’s office in the ’60s, Ramirez said, and the mayor pro tem was there in utero. Also, the upstairs was used as a multi-family residence for while, with rooms rented individually. The cost for the planned rehabilitation of the site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, will be paid with $455,000 from San Fernando’s general fund that has been leveraged into a handful of additional grants: $603,000 from the state as part of the California Cultural & Historical Endowment, $150,000 from the National Park Services “Save America’s Treasures” grant, $155,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant funds, and $125,000 from the J. Paul Getty Foundation. Ramirez said that the property will be restored, as much as is feasible, “to the period of significance,” which will include work on the grounds: the fountain will be moved and the cover over the rear courtyard will be removed. The Lopez yard could then be a destination also, used for quincea & #324;eras, weddings and social events, Ramirez said. The city is envisioning it as “not just passive, open space,” he said. That also fits the framework of being a cultural draw, said Haworth: “That’s what culture is. It’s always been a gathering place.” Also on the grounds is the Lopez-Villegas House, moved from a few blocks away, which shares its family tree with the Lopez Adobe having once been owned by a member of the Lopez family. That home will eventually serve as an ancillary building on the location, taking the impacts of foot traffic from restrooms, kitchen and administrative offices. Making the Lopez Adobe a destination site is key. Haworth said that the programming aspect of the usage plan has not yet begun; determining what events are suitable for the grounds, which rooms will be returned to which period of importance and what will be used for museum-like displays. But the city does know they have the place to make those things happen. “Place-making is vital to economic development,” Haworth said, “It’s about making icons.” The icon has been in San Fernando’s hands since 1971 and was “restored” between 1974 and 1975, but the work was done by city staff, Ramirez said, not preservationists. With the goal of preserving it for “generations to come,” that work will begin this year. When it’s finished, the site will aid those seeking a description of the period between the decline of the Mission Era to Gold Rush exuberance and through post-War suburbanization. The house was built with sun-dried clay bricks by Valentin Lopez in 1881; it was the first two-story adobe in the San Fernando Valley. Geronimo and Catalina moved in a year later. The distinctive styling of the balustrade is the result of Catalina’s affinity for the Victorian homes on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles and so the home has some Queen Anne flourishes and some things that are Victorian in nature, Ramirez said. The Lopez Adobe is the embodiment of the story of early California economic development; telling the story of the Lopez family’s contributions. Geronimo and Catalina kept a general store and served early travelers and freight crews traveling along El Camino Real prior to the arrival of the railroad in the mid-1870s. Geronimo formed, and was a trustee of, the first public school district in the Valley. He constructed the first office building in the area, and in 1869, he established and was postmaster of the valley’s first Post Office. In 1889, the first newspaper of the San Fernando Valley was published in the Lopez Adobe. Just as the Lopez Family and their home were seminal to the economic development of the City of San Fernando, the city is banking that history can repeat itself.

Now in its fourth season as a major league soccer team, Club Deportivo Chivas USA measures its success in ways that go beyond wins against opposing teams. Chivas USA wants to be the first sports team to make enough of an impression that young people take up the game and, not incidentally, become fans and come out to games at The Home Depot Center. Team president and CEO Shawn Hunter calls making that impression the moment of truth. “We want to get [young people] passionate about soccer and get excited about our brand as well,” said Hunter, who took over as head of the team late in 2007. He previously was president at AEG Sports, owner of the L.A. Galaxy, the region’s other soccer team. To create those moments, Chivas partnered with the Los Angeles Mayor’s office in the Kick it in the Park program. Chivas coaches will conduct clinics on training skills and soccer strategy at sites throughout the city once a week for the next 40 weeks. Thirteen of the clinics will take place in the San Fernando Valley. For a nominal $5 fee, children receive a soccer ball, a t-shirt and a ticket to a Chivas game. The clinics are expected to draw between 25,000 and 30,000 participants between the ages of five and 15 years old. Plans for Kick it in the Park were in the works prior to Hunter joining the team in September. Once he settled in as president, the program took off as a way to grow the presence of Chivas in the community. Young people, after all, are the future of the franchise, Hunter said. “We are the only team pulling off a program of this size and scope,” Hunter added. Chivas has reached out to the youth market in many ways in an aggressive soccer market, said Paul Clifton, general manager with soccer team Real SoCal based in Calabasas. And Chivas played a pre-season game last year in Granada Hills against Real Salt Lake, the first ever major league soccer game in the Valley, Clifton said. That game, which drew about 5,000 fans, showed that Chivas wanted to do more to attract interest in soccer, Clifton said, adding, “They are trying to do more than just selling tickets.” Chivas USA joined Major League Soccer as an expansion team in 2005 and shares The Home Depot Center in Carson with the L.A. Galaxy, one of the original teams when the league formed in 1996. That first year the league pulled in an average of 17,400 spectators. Attendance then dipped in subsequent seasons, hitting a low of 13,000 in 2000 before seeing a gradual increase. Last season averaged an attendance 16,700 spectators. At The Home Depot Center last season, Chivas averaged crowds of 14,000 fans and managed three sellouts. Chivas shares ownership with Club Deportivo Guadalajara, one of the most popular teams in Mexico. While the teams share logos and uniforms they diverge on the backgrounds of their players. Guadalajara is famous for its all-Mexican roster while Chivas plays up its diversity. With players hailing from the U.S., Brazil, Jamaica and Armenia, Chivas is more reflective of the nationalities making up the Los Angeles metropolitan region than any other major sports franchise, Hunter said. That soccer or football as it is called outside of the U.S. is a major international sport. and that many of those nationalities are represented in Southern California, means a natural market exists for fans and young players. Through the Kick it in the Park program Chivas can tap into the market. Through its youth development system, the team wants to take amateur players and grow them into potential future stars at the major league level. The Chivas under-18 team and under-16 team includes five players from the Valley. “For every kid playing hockey there are 22 playing soccer,” Hunter said. The youth programs take care of what happens on the playing field. For Hunter and the front office staff running the business operations there is no off-season. Ticket sales bring in the most revenue; sponsorships and broadcasting rights come next. The team takes what Hunter called a “less is more” approach in working with corporate sponsors limiting the number of brands and getting the most from the partnership. Disneyland, HSBC and Pepsi are among the major corporations sponsoring the team. The sponsors like associating with a team that goes into the community to reach out to the young fans, Hunter said.

ValueClick Inc. marks its 10th anniversary as one of the largest online marketing firms in the world. Westlake Village-based ValueClick employees more than 1,400 worldwide and reported $646 million in revenue in 2007. The company was founded n 1998 and went public three years later. Its growth has come mainly through acquisitions of other companies. The company is divided into media, affiliate marketing, technology and comparison shopping business units. “We are extremely proud of the accomplishments we have achieved in our first ten years, something made possible only through the enterprising spirit and leadership of our team and the drive and commitment of our performance-minded advertiser and publisher clients,” said CEO Tom Vadnais.

This is a regular feature on philanthropic activities by Valley-area businesspeople and companies. Portable classrooms at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank received a makeover thanks to more than 40 Lockheed Federal Credit Union (LFCU) employees who participated in the company-sponsored annual community service project, Partner to Paint, on March 27. They were joined by Burbank business owner Tim Tilton of T & T; Improvements Painting Co. who donated his time to act as project manager. Dunn Edwards donated 75 gallons of paint. “We’re especially pleased to help Bret Harte Elementary with some improvements. It’s rewarding to participate in this capacity,” said James Davis, director of sales division II, who volunteered at the event. LFCU, through its Volunteer-Time-Off program, offers paid time-off to employees who volunteer in community service projects. “Our Volunteer-Time-Off program is a great way for employees to help our local communities, without sacrificing time they would otherwise spend with their families,” said Dave Styler, president and CEO at LFCU. “We had terrific employee participation even before offering volunteer time off, and expect to have even greater participation now that employees will participate on the credit union’s time.” Feelin’ Good at Club de Cuba The Boys and Girls Club of the West Valley will be hosting a casino night fundraiser and silent auction with the theme “Club de Cuba”, on May 9. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m., and will take place at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel. Call (818) 610-1054 for more information or to make your reservations. West Valley Day of Service Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council members Dennis P. Zine and Greig Smith are sponsoring the Canoga Park/West Hills, Chatsworth and Winnetka Day of Service on May 3 from 8 a.m. to noon. To find out about participating in the various events taking place throughout the West Valley, contact the Office of the Mayor at (213) 922-9737 or send an e-mail to [email protected] .