By IVY WEISS Contributor Agoura/Oak Park/Conejo Valley The Chamber of Commerce will host L.A. County Tax Assessor Rick Auerbach at a noon luncheon Feb. 6 at Calabasas Country Club . Auerbach will discuss how to reduce property tax bills. To attend call Alex Soteras at the Chamber office 818-889-3150 Canoga Park/West Hills Canoga Park/West Hills, Chatsworth/Porter Ranch and the Reseda Chambers of Commerce hosted a tri-chamber “Speed Networking” Mixer on Jan. 16. Almost 100 participants were in attendance. The event was sponsored by Love & Wealth Marketing LCC at The Garden Chapel. Set up as a speed dating event, the participants were moved about the room, from seat to seat, having “private” conversations in a one-on-one situation. More events of this type will be planned The CNWHC Networking Breakfast will be Feb. 21 at 7:30 a.m. at Hometown Buffet, 6705 Fallbrook Ave, West Hills. $12 for members/$17 for non-members. RSVP to the Chamber at 818-884-4222 to be on the Hot Sheet. Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber member Runnin’ to Bunnin will celebrate the grand opening of their Canoga Park store with a ribbon cutting and mixer Feb. 21, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., 7050 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park. RSVP to the Chamber at (818) 884-4222. Chatsworth/Porter Ranch The CPRC is conducting many chances to network. Each Tuesday, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. there are Leads Group lunches. On Feb. 20, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., there will be a networking breakfast and the monthly general membership lunch will be Feb. 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Call the Chamber, (818) 341-2428 for details and reservations. Encino On Jan. 12 the Encino Chamber installed its new board, congratulated 2007 President Michael S. Turner and installed 2008 President Mark Levinson. Dale Surowitz was awarded Businessperson of the Year honors but in typical fashion shared the honor with “all of the hardworking employees of both campuses of Encino-Tarzana Hospital.” Surowitz has been the CEO of the facility for 10 years. Master of Ceremonies, honorary Encino Mayor Ronnie Schell kept the pace of the evening flowing. The audience enjoyed a special musical performance by former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley and her husband Gary Collins. Magician Stan Gerson amazed the crowd — his slight of hand proved too fast for the 225 in attendance. Outgoing president Michael Turner awarded Member of the Year to Melody LeBlanc (Orthodontic Office of Stephen Yu, DDS), Board Member of the Year to Melissa Loeffler (Pinnacle Bancorp) and Board of Director Officer of the Year to Hank Yuloff (Promotionally Minded Advertising Specialties). Glendale Developer Rick Caruso will be the guest speaker at the Business Outlook 2008 breakfast Feb. 27 at the Hilton Glendale. This coming spring, Caruso Affiliated will debut The Americana at Brand in Glendale. For information and reservations call (818) 240-7870. Granada Hills Five people have been nominated for the 2007 Gill Benjamin Citizen of the Year, presented annually. They are: Maria Fisk, Cheryl Ford, Hagop (Jake) Parunian, Maria Schwartz and Jim Summers. All will be honored at the Installation and Awards Ceremony Feb. 8, at 6 p.m. at the Odyssey Restaurant, where the winner will be announced. The event will also honor outgoing president Steve Baker; new president, Irv Selman, old and new Board Members and others. Contact Bonnie Marie Bursk at (818) 368 8646 if you’d like to attend. Universal City North Hollywood Events this month are an 11:45 a.m. lunch mixer Feb. 5 at Victorios Restaurant and the monthly breakfast meeting at 7:30 a.m. at Sportsmen’s Lodge Feb. 26. Winnetka The Installation will be Feb. 18 at the Warner Center Marriott, starting at 6 p.m. Pauline Tallent will be handing over the presidency to Gene Giegoldt, owner of Canoga Park Bowl. The theme is “Leap Year” and there will be leaping frogs everywhere. For more information call Marilyn Robinson at (818) 348-6908. Woodland Hills-Tarzana The 2008 Night of Champions celebration Jan. 26 included Nintendo Wii and TV video games as well as actual competitive basketball, air hockey, batting cage, golf swing and boxing. Special guests were three participants in the Tri-Valley Special Olympics: Kristine Johnson, gold medal winner, gymnastics, in the World Games; Sherina Assomull, silver medalist, bocce ball; and, Mindy Zazanis, bronze medal winner, golf. Olympic Champions and accomplished athletes in attendance included Rafer Johnson, winner of the 1960 Olympic Decathlon; Frank Gorman, Diving, 1964; High jumpers Reynaldo Brown, winner of the High Jump in the NCAA Division II championships in 1971 and 1973 and winner of the Division I championships in each of those seasons; and Craig Howard Lincoln, 1972 Diving. Deborah Sable, CEO of Corefit, was installed as the 2008 Chair; while outgoing Chair Gordon Luster, general manager of the Warner Center Marriott, was honored as well. Paul Lawler, Paul Lawler Risk Management, was recognized as recipient of the 2007 Joseph Staller Award acknowledging outstanding community service; and Sean McCarthy, Jackson McCarthy & Associates, received the 2007 Tarzan/Century Award.

Everything is relative. Multiple new developments of multi-family housing across the Valley could give the impression of an existing glut or one just over the horizon. But looks can be deceiving. “Looking at newly-built construction in the context of how much we built, it’s really miniscule compared to the previous decade,” said Raffi Krikorian, president and CEO of Investment Real Estate Associates. “The things coming were set in motion a couple of years ago. Demand will be met. These projects should do well,” he said. As for the impact of the current credit crisis, it is too recent to have much impact on developments planned years ago. “These projects started prior to any sign of the economic downturn,” said Braemon Hanes of Hanes Investment Realty. Five years ago, this newspaper reported 2,500 new apartments coming to the Woodland Hills/Canoga Park area alone. But in the previous five years, only 775 units had been built. Plus, using an industry standard of one-and-a-half jobs per home, the area could ostensibly absorb an additional 5,500 units of housing, based on the 45,000 jobs nearby at the time. Since then, the Morgan Group built 700 units in two developments and Archstone Communities’ built 522 units at Archstone Warner Center. Weintraub Investments is completing 855 units on the former Panavision property. There is room for more, according to developers. Westfield Group is planning 160 residential units at its Village at Westfield Topanga mixed-use project located between its Topanga and Promenade mall properties. The site is destined to have a hotel, offices and retail. A 438-unit development is planned on the property of the now-closed Valley Indoor Swap Meet in Canoga Park, near Vanowen Street and Canoga Avenue. That facility’s operators said they made efforts to extend their use of the property, but were told by the developer to vacate. Despite economic uncertainties, the company isn’t waiting to develop the land. Likewise, the changes in the economy won’t deter developer J.H. Snyder from going ahead with its planned development in North Hollywood, because the company figures any cycle the country is in currently will have run its course by the time the project is ready for residents. “I imagine we’ll be delivering product in a good cycle. The challenge is investing during a bad cycle,” said Cliff Goldstein, Snyder senior partner. “We have very strong financial wherewithal for this project, but it may require more equity than it would have a year ago,” he said. Laurel Canyon project The 742 residential units on the land that was the Laurel Plaza mall includes adaptive reuse of the old May Co. building, now a Macy’s department store, which will move a block north to the southwest corner of Laurel Canyon and Victory to anchor Snyder’s Valley Plaza development. “There are about 150 apartments and the rest are condominiums, some configured as townhomes with attached garages,” Goldstein said. Others are referred to as “boathouses” surrounded by a water element,” he said. The design is intended to create separate mini-neighborhoods within the larger neighborhood. “It should commence following 2010,” Goldstein said, adding “but it might not.” At Caruso Affiliated’s $400 million Americana at Brand mixed-use project in Glendale, the developer is including 100 luxury condos and 238 apartments. Although previews and sales will begin just before the mall’s opening in mid-April, about 1,200 people have already expressed interest. “I would much prefer to be selling these a year ago,” Rick Caruso said, “but I’m not concerned. “It’s such a unique setting. They have great views and amenities,” he said, referring to the maid service that will be offered and room service enabling residents to order from the restaurants in the project. “It will be very similar to a 5-star hotel,” he said. Caruso said he expects the proximity of the residential units to the high-end retail stores and restaurants to create the cach & #233; needed to keep vacancies low. “We want people to walk by Armani and Kate Spade,” he said. Caruso said that price points haven’t been set for the residential units, but according to IREA’s Krikorian, it will be consistent with the trend that those units are to be priced for the well-heeled. “Most things being built are high-end, mostly for white-collar residents,” he said, and they’re mainly situated along the 101 Corridor. “In the North Valley, you don’t see a lot of new development,” Krikorian said. Todd Schwartz of Hanes Investment concurred. “The region doesn’t have a lot of low-income housing,” he noted. Consequently, “vacancy is tight.” Krikorian noted that regardless of the amount of high-end product, “There is still demand for reasonable rents for housing,” he said. Uneven indicators Schwartz said there are many things keeping demand steady and prices consistent. But it’s a matrix of uneven indicators that describe the marketplace ahead. “Foreclosures mean homeowners will return to the rental market. But that also creates a shadow market of available housing,” Schwartz said. “Unemployment increases will force people to double up in housing, diluting demand.” Some of the newer condominium stock may revert to rental units, pressuring the vacancy rates for properties developed as apartments, Schwartz said. That potential impacts Krikorian’s opinion. “I’m not enthused or optimistic about condominiums, but as time goes by the supply will be absorbed,” he said. Hanes said there is less property to sell and demand has softened quite a bit.” Furthermore, “those circumstances are region-wide. It’s very indicative of what’s happening in the L.A. area, San Gabriel Valley and Ventura County in general. It’s almost identical,” Hanes said. An indicator of the relative vitality and cooling of the marketplace, Hanes said, is the sales frequency. The firm’s regional Apartment Advisor report reflects a fluid market, although comparisons between properties can be deceiving, Hanes said, because every property is unique, varying by number of units, age and location. But in a sampling of the average indicators, the report compares activity from the first three quarters of 2007 to the same period of the previous year, Burbank is off by 72 percent; Canoga Park is off by 50 percent; Tarzana dropped by 86 percent. Yet Toluca Lake saw a 300 percent increase; Panorama City was up by 86 percent and Northridge saw no change. Looking at Q4 of 2007, there were 80 apartment sales in the Valley region, down 32.8 percent from 119 for the same quarter in 2006. “We see apartments that have come to market, where we once had 10 offers, now we have 3 offers. Once it may have sold in 60 days, now it takes a little longer,” Krikorian said. “I haven’t seen a drastic decrease in sales of apartment buildings, though the particular effervescence the market once had has decreased,” he said. Because condos sales are impacted by the current credit crunch concerning mortgages in ways that apartments are not, Krikorian has short-term reservations about condominium developments. “Investments will do well if bought as apartments. Land bought to be condominiums will be subject to the softening of the market,” he said. “We’re on the verge of beginning of a cycle, but nothing like the early 90s when we had a perfect storm with the loss of aerospace jobs, the S & L; crisis and the earthquake,” Kirkorian said. “Short of that kind of tectonic movement in the economy,” he said, values should remain stable.

The San Fernando Valley regional commercial real estate market over the last year was a tale of two kinds, one from before the liquidity crisis and the one since. In his presentation for the AIR Real Estate Market Review and Forecast, Cushman & Wakefield Senior Director Brad Koehler described a landscape that reflected hits by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. But there was also a tight market for available space. A negative net absorption rate of industrial and office space in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita in 2007 demonstrated the impacts of the softening demand overall. Some data reveal a more nuanced tale about specific submarkets over a shorter, more recent, period. Colliers International Property Consultant’s report of the fourth quarter shows a net absorption rate during the period measured for the Conejo Valley (94,900 square feet) and both the East (57,900 square feet) and Central (77,400 square feet) San Fernando Valley submarkets. Net absorption is a measure of the space available through leasing, and is reported as negative when space returns to the market when more tenants leave than lease, or when new product becomes available. Negative net absorption existed in Q4 in the West Valley (-58,700 square feet), the Simi Valley and Moorpark submarket (-64,100 square feet), and Santa Clarita (-98,000 square feet), according to the Colliers’ report. Yet the downward pressure on prices was mitigated by the lack of new product coming on the market, as revealed by a general increase in the average sale price for buildings less than 50,000 square feet, Colliers reported. NAI Capital crunched numbers in their Year-End 2007 Market Report, and blamed much of the market softening on office space released from the mortgage-finance industry. NAI cited a 2006 vacancy rate for the San Fernando Valley overall at 7.2 percent that climbed to 10.4 percent as of Dec. 31. It found a negative net absorption of 482,900 square feet, a shrinkage rate of 1.9 percent within the boundaries they surveyed. The firm predicts net absorption to be relatively modest in 2008, again citing the continued release from closing mortgage offices. Future projects There are some major projects due to deliver product in the coming years. Thomas Properties Group’s Metro Studio @ Lankershim project will eventually have as much as 1.2 million square feet of office and television studio space, geared to the needs of its planned tenant, NBC Universal. The $3 billion, decade-long development is still formulating its EIR. Mall developer Westfield LLC is adding 360,000 square feet of office space to the West Valley with its Village at Topanga project. It hopes to break ground by 2010. Prices for commercial buildings increased by 8.4 percent over the year, the Cushman & Wakefield report shows. Sale prices contained in the report note a $147.29 per square foot price for industrial property below 50,000 square feet and $102.70 per square foot price for industrial space above 50,000 square feet That fits with what Voit Development Companies’ Tim Regan described in relation to the North Valley Commerce Center Project that Voit is developing. “The problem is the scarcity of land,” the developer’s vice president of development and acquisitions said. “The land that is available is smaller parcels and they’re expensive.” NAI noted that construction of new space has slowed, with 255,200 square feet under way at year’s end. That will only add 0.9 percent to the base of office space available. Last year, the sale price of office space was reported to average $262.40 square feet for facilities under 50,000 square feet and $214.75 per square feet for spaces larger. Koehler’s review of last year’s market cited vacancy rates of 2 percent for industrial property and 8.73 percent for office space. Industrial land sold for an average of $27.08 per square foot. Office space averaged a sale price of $42.98 per square foot Regan said recent interest rate cuts would create opportunities for some buyers of commercial properties. “Because rates are historically low, for those with good credit who can get an SBA loan and finance a building, it makes sense to do,” he said, although, he said, “No one wants to sell; they want to hold and lease.” Vacancy rates Total industrial vacancy rates were lowest in the Central San Fernando Valley submarket, just 1.2 percent, Colliers reported, which is well below the highest rate of 8.7 percent found in Santa Clarita and the 7.4 percent rate in the Conejo Valley. NAI predicts office vacancy rates to climb to 11 percent to 12 percent, slowing the “strong rent-growth of recent quarters.” Colliers’s report declared, “Construction has been restrained thoughout the area, due to a lack of vacant land and intense competition for any land that become available from residential and retail developers. “Rental rates appear highly likely to climb in the near future, even though they are already at high levels. Sales prices appear likely to remain high,” the Colliers analysis predicted. NAI attributed a negative net absorption rate for industrial product in the Valley (-619,100 square feet) due to shrinkage of occupied space. “Asking rental rates climbed 8.9 percent to 68 cents a square foot per month triple net,” NAI stated. It was the second highest rental rate in the greater L.A. region, behind Orange County. Average sale prices climbed to $136 per square foot, “a very high level,” NAI said. No downward pressure on prices is predicted, because the firm expects vacancies will remain “exceptionally low.” Regan agreed. “The market is tight out there,” he said. Factors weave together to create a stable revenue stream for property owners who lease. “No one wants to leave the Valley,” he said. “There’s still a group who will pay a premium to stay in the Valley, closer to the ports,” Regan said, since many businesses are dependent upon the shipping and distribution access, they have to stay.

The legendary Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood, former stomping grounds for the likes of ’60s music icons Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, is expanding to Burbank this summer. The restaurant chain signed a 10-year, $3 million lease to inhabit 6,000 square feet of retail space at Champion Real Estate Group’s Burbank Collection. That marks the first time the chain will have a presence in the San Fernando Valley. “We’re excited with what is happening in Burbank,” Barney’s Beanery co-owner David Houston said of the expansion. “We thought Barney’s would be a good fit there. We love the city. We hope we can sell a lot of beer and chili.” Situated in the block bounded by Magnolia and San Fernando boulevards, Orange Grove Avenue and First Street in downtown Burbank, the $90 million Burbank Collection will include 118 condominiums and luxury lofts and 40,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Now under construction, the complex is scheduled to open in June. Barney’s will start serving by August, according to Houston. “We’ll certainly be there for the kickoff of the next football season,” he said. In addition to its West Hollywood headquarters, Barney’s has sites in Pasadena and Santa Monica. Houston was drawn to the Burbank Collection, in part because of the large outdoor patio space offered to the restaurant. He imagines it will make for a great evening hangout spot and also thinks the high pedestrian traffic in the area will be good for business. “I would imagine a lot of people from the Valley have a familiarity with the brand,” he said. Houston envisions people thinking, “Oh, Barney’s. I went there in Hollywood two-and-half years ago. I’ll check it out.” Christine Deschaine of commercial real estate group Lee & Associates negotiated the lease. “I represent Robert Champion, who is the developer of the Burbank Collection. My job is to go out and obtain the right tenant mix for the project,” she explained. “Barney’s Beanery is the type of restaurant we were looking for in the Burbank Collection. It’s going to be our first full-service restaurant.” Retail Mix Other retail tenants slated to join the collection include Pinkberry, Johnny Rockets and Caf & #233; Venizie. Most of the space on the ground floor has been leased, according to Deschaine. The City of Burbank played a helpful role in expanding Barney’s to the Burbank Collection, Deschaine said. “We worked with the city on signage and outdoor patio dining,” she said. “When you’re involved in restaurant uses, the city plays a bigger role in getting involved.” Deschaine described the city as hands-on. “They’re very good about having meetings and assisting tenants in getting everything they need,” she said. “Not all cities are like that.” Specifically, Deschaine singled out Burbank Downtown Manager Gail Stewart and Deputy City Planner Joy Forbes for their help. Stewart said that city views Barney’s as a fresh and hip addition. “We’re excited about them coming,” she said. Accordingly, “We all just try to work together to get the best result.” Moreover, Forbes said that her department was helpful in the expansion because it consistently aims to process applications as quickly as possible. “We don’t purposely hold up things , and I think the other thing we do, we make applicants aware of issues at the early stages,” she said. “If anyone does have a problem with the business, they’ll get notified right away. It doesn’t come at the 11th hour. They hear about it at the beginning.”

The Business Journal’s Valley Stock Watch is provided in a Adobe Reader .pdf print-friendly file. CLICK HERE to download STOCK WATCH

With an average of 50,000 page views a day, Web log LAist competes with the Washington, D.C. as the second most visited site in the ist Universe. Running the site from his Sherman Oaks home is editor Zach Behrens. The 27-year-old Midwest native was promoted to the position in December after his predecessor was hired away by the Los Angeles Times. Behrens has contributed to the site since 2005. As editor, Behrens covers the “important” and breaking news, a task that turns into a seven-day a week job. A cadre of volunteer writers write up the things you want to know (who is appearing at a local bookstore or concert venue) and the things you need to know (best kept secrets for happy hour). “They are what make LAist the best,” Behrens said of his staff. When not performing his editor duties, Behrens serves on the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and is a member of the San Fernando Valley Jaycees. Question: Where does LAist fit into the overall media scene of Los Angeles? Answer: The goal at the end of the day is to capture and picture Los Angeles well through the news, arts and events, food, and miscellaneous. Those are the four buckets of coverage. You can fit anything into one of those because miscellaneous is the catch-all bucket. Did we present the great picture Los Angeles to our readers that day in that every half hour post? That’s the ideal goal. We are getting there. It’s selecting new staff who are interested in certain areas. That’s why I was so excited to have a dance writer. Even though a dance writer is not going to be the most popular thing by any means but that’s an important deficit in our coverage. It’s getting into the neighborhoods and getting hyper-hyper-hyper-local. What’s that story going on in East L.A. that’s important and is of interest and can be important to someone in Santa Monica? We are not going to get that unless someone is out in the field who really knows that. We love getting that original content. News tells one story, crime tells another but what’s that random coffee shop around the corner? Q: Do you see yourself filling in the gaps of the Los Angeles Times? A: I know people at the L.A. Times want to be doing more. For whatever reason budget, direction, philosophy it is not happening. We can definitely fill it in. We can do things like papers did in the 20’s or the 1890s and there is a City Hall politics news story next to a story about a sex swinging club. It gets more crazy, more Wild West. There was a time when I had my classical pick of the week next to a marijuana review. You can have that when you’re hyper-local. This is our role. If L.A. Times does it, that’s great. It’s what they should be doing. If we’re doing it and they are not and people are coming to us for that, that’s great for our readers and great for us. The more readers we can get the more our traffic can go up and the more we can build up our resources. Q: Before becoming editor, did you think there was enough Valley-related news making it onto the site? A: I think I may talk about it too much. There definitely are deficits in coverage. We are not a Valley-dominated site but we do cover it. We are not the Daily News in that sense. L.A. is so big there are many places I need to cover. I want someone in South L.A. I know nothing about the San Pedro/Long Beach harbor area. We don’t have coverage down there. I don’t know what the cool coffee shop is. Same goes with San Gabriel Valley. We just picked up an East L.A. writer; and Pasadena too. Those are areas we just don’t touch at all. We cover the Valley a lot more than some regions of the city. We do have a number of new hires who are Valley people. They always eventually write about the Valley because this is where they live. Q: What are your thoughts on the reputation of bloggers? There are some criticisms that bloggers aren’t real journalists. A: Two years ago I called the L.A. Philharmonic and said I’m from LAist and we want to cover your Minimalist Fest. They were like, “We don’t talk to bloggers.” That was the end of the conversation right there. This summer and this fall, I know all of them in the press office, they send me releases, and they approach me for stories. Q: What was the change? A: I think it was a few things. Blogs are getting a little more credibility. They [the Philharmonic] have a young office; they are pretty hip. They don’t have the traditional [public relations] person portrayed on TV. Also it’s the growth of LAist. It is different now walking around the city at events and saying you are from LAist than it was two years ago. People were like, “LA what?” Now I can go somewhere and can cherry pick a few people out who have heard of us, especially at the institutions and the P.R. firms; the ones dealing with an L.A. audience. We got credentials for Sundance this year. I can call the Los Angeles Fire Department press line 24 hours a day and get a response. [Spokesman] Brian Humphrey says to me, ‘we will treat you with exactly the same way and respect as the L.A. Times.’ The Los Angeles Police Department, I spent an hour down there with their press relations one day and met the crew. Q: You went to Cal Arts so you don’t have a journalism background. Do many of your contributors have a reporting background or are they just people who like to write and are good at it? A: There are a few with journalism backgrounds. Our news editor Andy [Sternberg] has a degree in online media. He is one of the few who came out of USC with that degree. We do have one writer who is a Reuters writer. We have a few writers; some of them are freelancers so they are off doing their other things. Some are really out on the fringes and pop in, do this awesome article and then disappear again. We have a super secret L.A. Times writer in there. The other people have a passion for something. They are able to write and are able to understand how to post because it takes some technical ability. You need to be able to re-size your photos and know slight HTML. It is a good mix. I would say there are more amateur writers than ones who write professionally. This is a good stepping stone for them if they want to be taken seriously. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected] .

For years the Maguire name has been associated with real estate in downtown Los Angeles. Now that same connection can be made at Van Nuys Airport. Gaining a foothold at the San Fernando Valley airfield in 2006 with the purchase of Petersen Aviation, Maguire expanded its presence through the recent acquisition of two fixed-base operations with combined development rights to build a half million square feet of hangar and office space. Gone from the airport are Skytrails Aviation and Million Air, both now operating as Maguire Aviation. For Maguire, flying itself is of little importance. Instead, the company positions itself as an aviation real estate developer. Maguire dropped the long-standing charter service operated by Petersen after the purchase of that company to focus on leasing hangar and office space, selling fuel and performing minor maintenance. With SkyTrails, Maguire not only receives common ramp space at the south end of the airport but development rights for 200,000 square feet of facility space. Million Air, a franchised operator bought out in October from long-time owner Harold Lee, has the development rights to construct 300,000 square feet for aviation uses. “We are always interested in developing more hangar space,” said Tim Wray, chief operating officer of Maguire Aviation. Construction on a 25,000 square foot building on the former Skytrails property will proceed according to the plans of its founder and former owner Mark Sullivan. Why all this activity is taking place now can be summed up in the approval of a master plan for the airport. With that 2006 document in place and disputes settled between long-term lease holders and Los Angeles World Airports, the shackles on development came off. Along with the new Maguire hangar, charter and fixed-base operators have big plans for the airport. The Air Group and TWC Aviation will construct new hangar and office space. Elite Aviation eyes a new facility as well on the eight acres of the old Jet Center property. And Pentastar Aviation began operating its fixed-base operations in temporary quarters while finalizing the development of 14 acres on Roscoe Boulevard. Maguire’s plans fall square into the middle of all that activity. Acquiring Million Air and Skytrails now makes Maguire the largest lease holder at the airport. The move also reduces from six to four the number of fixed-base operators located there. “This consolidation is good,” Wray said. “It should make all the FBOs at Van Nuys financially more strong and be able to offer more facilities to the flying public.” Farewell to Family Businesses Former Skytrails owner Sullivan was not looking to sell the business he founded in 1985. It was Maguire who approached him some months back about selling and only in December was a deal reached that was satisfactory to both sides. Sullivan remains at the helm of his former company through the transition period. SkyTrails started from scratch, built on what was then an open field at the airport. The firm began by leasing hangar space and tie-downs for propeller aircraft but as the business jet industry began to take off, Sullivan switched gears and began to cater to those planes. The biggest contributor to the popularity of flying in a private aircraft has been the commercial air carriers, Sullivan said. “Our biggest sales people are the airlines,” Sullivan said. “It’s awful to go from point A to point B on the airlines today.” The sale of SkyTrails and Million Air signals a move away from the local, independent ownership of aviation service businesses. He and Clay Lacy, owner of his eponymous charter company, may be the last of the family-owned aviation businesses at Van Nuys, Sullivan said. With business aviation generating revenues into the billions annually, it now takes the deep pockets of a Maguire to keep up with the competition. Private equity realized the value of FBOs and began to stake their own claim in the aviation industry. In April 2006, Macquarie Infrastructure Co. paid $338 million to acquire Trajen Holdings, Inc., owner and operator of 21 FBOs in 11 states. Through various acquisitions, equity firm The Carlyle Group cobbled together Landmark Aviation with a network of 35 fixed base operations. The former Raytheon fixed-base operation at Van Nuys was sold in late 2006 as part of a $3.3 billion deal by a private equity firm formed by Goldman, Sachs and Onex Partners’ affiliate GS Capital Partners to acquire Raytheon’s aircraft division. That facility now operates under the Hawker Beechcraft name. Maguire’s initial purchase at Van Nuys was for a 12,000 square foot terminal and hangar space totaling 76,000 square feet on just more than 9 acres. The company plans $2 million in improvements to the hangars and offices in 2008.

Walking to the table for a tournament poker game and being on the job site for her custom painting contracting business are similar to Beverly Kruskol. In both she finds her abilities are underestimated because of her gender. Speaking with an accent courtesy of her native South African, Kruskol describes herself as mild mannered but only to a certain extent. “I can be rough and tough when I need to be,” she said. As president of M.Y. Pacific Building Inc., Kruskol has little time to play much poker these days. She oversees a work crew that spreads out from Orange County to Ventura County doing painting, drywall, carpentry and repair work in upscale private homes and restaurants, apartment buildings and condominiums. Their work can be seen on the concession stands at the Hollywood Bowl, the Farm of Beverly Hills, Downtown Disney, the Pinot Bistro, and Zucca Restaurant. Less publicly accessible are the multi-million dollar homes in Calabasas and the Santa Monica mountains, and the apartments at Mariners Village in Marina del Rey. Good, reliable painters and carpenters are hard to come by, say several clients of Kruskol’s. Especially hard to find are those who can do woodwork that matches the original, said Michael Lecesse, the maintenance manager at Mariners Village. “It’s an art form,” Lecesse said. With such a large crew at her disposal, Kruskol has workers with talents in specific areas such as molding and trim work, said Carrie Fundingsland, an interior designer with her own firm, Houseplay Inc. Fundingsland also acts as a color consultant for Kruskol’s clients who do not have a designer of their own. As an interior designer, she has worked with a lot of contractors and Pacific Building is one of the few she keeps going back to. Fundingsland said, “She does more than just a regular painting contractor can do.” Testimonials such as these keep the work coming in to the office of M.Y. Pacific Building, located in a non-descript industrial park off Oxnard Street in Tarzana. Kruskol estimates that 80 percent of her jobs come from referrals. Homeowners tell other homeowners about the company’s work. One job at a 200-unit apartment building in Montebello led to the company receiving work at two apartment complexes in Oxnard. With a Bang Getting Pacific Building on the path to its current success started off with a bang literally. In 2002, Kruskol supervised a job in Northridge when the same client contacted her about some emergency work in Torrance. A natural gas explosion had damaged 80 homes, some in a gated community. It was those high-end homes she was hired to repair and paint. That led to Kruskol establishing relationships with companies that respond to fires and floods and make repairs for the insurance companies. J.J. MacDonald, project manager with Protech, one such disaster response company, said that Kruskol’s company is one of only two painting contractors he uses. The customer service she provides is excellent, as she keeps an open line of communication at all times with the client. If there is a problem, Kruskol or a manager calls the client. “It is a no-stress thing for me when they are on the job,” MacDonald said. Last fall’s wildfires presented new clients. Kruskol submitted a bid to repair a fire-damaged home in Malibu and was also asked to do some work on homes in San Diego, an offer she turned down. The distance was too great from her base and she likes to keep an eye on what is going on at the job site, she said. “That’s a problem waiting to happen,” Kruskol added. On the Job Training Kruskol exchanged a career in property management for one in custom painting. Pacific Building was started by her ex-husband and she later took the reins as it operated under her painting and contracting license. She always had an interest in construction although cannot explain why. Her business education was minimal she completed an accounting course at a junior college in the Chicago area after moving there from South Africa. Everything else Kruskol knows about running a business she learned on the job. Her tournament poker playing days took place while she was still in the property management field. She played against and beat Phil Hellmuth, a winner of the World Series of Poker; and Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Kruskol’s two goals are to be the first woman to win the World Series of Poker and to have the largest painting contracting business west of the Mississippi. The World Series is on the back burner while she concentrates on business. Assisting her in that are the members of Pacific’s work crews; painters, carpenters, and drywallers whom Kruskol treats with respect and who in turn show that same respect to her. Both Lecesse and MacDonald appreciate that the crew members are good at a variety of tasks. So is Kruskol. One client, owner of an $18 million home in the hills above Sherman Oaks, wanted the doors and door frames to have an antique appearance and so the painters left the brush strokes visible. The trust that Kruskol has in her employees gets passed over to those they work for. “When you walk into these multi-million dollar homes people want to feel comfortable that they can leave and [the crew will] not walk away with everything,” Kruskol said. SNAPSHOT – M.Y. Pacific Building Year Founded: 1993 Born: January 13, 1954 Revenues 2006: $1.5 million Revenues 2007: $2.5 million Employees 2006: 35 Employees 2007: 45

Is there strength in numbers? I guess we’ll find out when the newly formed Los Angeles County Business Federation kicks into high gear. This organization, which Staff Reporter Nadra Kareem writes about in this edition of the Business Journal, was unveiled last week as a savior for L.A. businesses in countering very well-funded and organized efforts of labor. The group, chaired by Valley business leader David Fleming and which has former Daily News Publisher Tracy Rafter as CEO, has 44 organizations as members representing 70,000 businesses employing more than 1.2 million. Those are large numbers. But the group must show right from the beginning that these numbers matter. What I mean by this is that the group needs to be constantly providing pressure on elected officials to be more pro-business hounding them everyday like labor does and mobilizing votes for or against them like labor does. It must be a unified force for business and not just another business organization, even though it’s a big one. It must be nimble and quick to protect business interests without any bureaucracy. Like labor, it actually needs to be feared by lawmakers. Because the lawmakers need to know that within a moment’s notice, like labor, it can mobilize thousands of people. That may take awhile to kick in. But this won’t be easy. Businesspeople have other things to think about, like meeting labor payroll. Their mind isn’t first and foremost on city hall, Sacramento or Washington. The federation needs to hook them in to show that there is strength in numbers. And this takes a lot of publicity. The Business Journal will publish any newsworthy item concerning the federation just as it covers the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, an effective organization in advocating for business over the years. I hope that this new federation supplements VICA’s efforts in a strong and unified way. Business needs all the help it can get.es. It must be a unified force for business and not just another business organization, even though it’s a big one. It must be nimble and quick to protect business interests without any bureaucracy. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association has been an effective organization in advocating for business over the years. I hope that this new federation supplements VICA’s efforts in a strong and unified way. Business needs all the help it can get.

Because Southland workers often live vast distances from their employers, commuting in Los Angeles is typically reflected in the adage “If the mountain can’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.” The certified public accountant and business consultancy firm of Moss Adams LLP has moved the mountain to Woodland Hills, metaphorically speaking. They recently opened an office in the Valley, a satellite of their 170-person facility on the Westside. Robert Greenspan is the managing partner for both locations. “We want to ease the burden for our people,” he said. “We have been able to save an hour-and-a-half to two hours a day of commuting for some of our people.” Additionally, Greenspan said, the Valley location makes the firm more attractive to potential employees. “We’ve only been open a month and we’ve seen some initial successes,” he said. A resident of Encino, Greenspan is about midway between the two sites, thus “I don’t have a problem,” he said, getting to both offices. “It’s important.” He said he spends at least a day a week in the new office. “People want to deal directly with the people they report to,” Greenspan said. “Everybody’s committed to the people.” Samantha Deeder, the firm’s marketing manager, said the new office makes “everything a little more sane” for her and her family. “It makes a world of difference,” she said, allowing her to avoid a five-days-a-week commute the entire way to the Westside from her home in Santa Clarita. “I get more time with my family. Every couple days I get to have breakfast with my kids,” Deeder said, adding that it takes some of the strain off of her husband being the one having to always get the kids ready for school. The Warner Center Towers site is a mix of private offices and open cubicle work stations, with a large conference room. Greenspan added, “It’s quiet with nice views.” The office suite has space for 32 people 18 are working there now, and the plan is to be filled in four years “by hiring people who would not have otherwise joined our firm,” he said. If successful, Greenspan said, Moss Adams will consider other satellite offices in the region. To decide upon the West Valley location, Moss Adams was diligent in its research, Greenspan said. “We looked where our people lived, and we mapped that. We looked where our clients were, and we mapped that. We got ZIP codes of CPAs in the region and we mapped that. We looked where our main competitors are, and we mapped that,” Greenspan said. “With homework and due diligence,” he said, taking measure of the matrix of that data, “we found that Woodland Hills was the obvious location.” It has been an obvious location for other expanding business services firms as well; Singer Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein LLP and Grant Thornton LLP previously expanded into the same neighborhood. The goal, said Stephen Masterson of Grant Thornton, is to “get your people closer to where your clients are going to be and keep them off the freeways.” SLGG’s expansion has been a “great step,” said partner Sally Aubury. “We have recruited and attracted people at all levels and expanded our client base,” she said, noting it validates the business model by having the office about double in size during the 14 months since expanding from their Westside location. The Moss Adams satellite office “has all the resources and expertise” offered by the main office, Greenspan said, serving clients in taxation, assurance, royalty compliance, consulting, and business and financial management. Additionally they offer services for not-for-profit organizations and employee benefit plans. Besides the ease it offers their clients by not having to go over the mountain and fight the traffic on the Westside and fighting traffic to get to the Westside Greenspan affirmed Moss Adams’ expressed goals of attracting and retaining experienced talent through the expansion. “It’s about the balance of life,” he said.