JAMES REAPE
Managing Shareholder
The Reape-Rickett Law Firm
Reape-Rickett managing shareholder James Reape has represented families throughout Southern California for over 40 years, having co-founded the firm to bring high-quality family law representation to the Santa Clarita Valley.
SARAH REZNICK
Founder and Financial Advisor
Sherfina Advisors
Sarah Reznick exemplifies what it means to be a trusted financial advisor through her unwavering dedication to her clients’ financial well-being and her deep understanding of the challenges they face.
MITCH ROSENBERG
CEO / Owner
MDR Insurance & Financial Services
Mitch Rosenberg is a certified financial planner, chartered life underwriter, chartered financial consultant and former certified public accountant. As a financial services professional for 40 years, he is dedicated to a personalized approach to financial planning.
RICHARD ROSENBERG
Partner
Ballard Rosenberg Golper & Savitt
Attorney Richard Rosenberg has spent his entire career assisting management defend and risk manage workplace related legal matters and proposed personnel transactions. He has built a reputation as a labor law strategist who is both fair and trustworthy.
RAYMOND RUSSELL
Partner
Galgas Russell LLP
Ray Russell is responsible for accounting and auditing services, management advisory services and income tax planning and compliance at Galgas Russell. With over years of experience in public accounting, he consults with clients regularly in starting businesses.
HANNAH SWEISS
Partner
Fisher Phillips LLP
As a partner and co-chair of the Healthcare Industry Group at Fisher Phillips, Hannah Sweiss is a well-known, trusted litigator and key advisor to employers in a variety of industries.
A joint venture of Sylmar-based civil construction firm Tutor Perini Corp. and its subsidiary Frontier-Kemper Constructors has won a $1.18 billion contract to construct a pair of rail tunnels under Manhattan to replace structures built in the early 1900s that were damaged in Superstorm Sandy.
The contract is part of the approximately $16 billion Hudson River Tunnel Project administered by the Gateway Development Commission joint powers authority. That project aims to modernize and expand capacity along a 10-mile stretch of the 457-mile Northeast rail corridor that connects Washington D.C. and Boston. The Northeast Corridor is the most heavily used rail line in the nation, with more than 2,000 intercity and commuter trains moving an average of 800,000 passengers a day.
The stretch that the Tutor Perini joint venture is responsible for is called the Manhattan Tunnel Project. The project centers on building about 700 feet of twin 30-foot-diameter rail tunnels between the Hudson River and the Hudson Yards section of Manhattan. The original tunnels were completed in 1910.
Tutor Perini and Frontier-Kemper crews will also take steps to protect existing sewer lines and utilities to ensure they are not disrupted by tunnel boring.
Another task involves reinforcing the Manhattan bulkhead to protect against flooding – a crucial element considering the extensive flood damage caused by the 2012 Sandy superstorm. And the project calls for the building of an access shaft that will initially be used to remove the tunnel boring machines and upon project completion be used as a permanent ventilation shaft.
Construction of this Manhattan Tunnel Project segment is expected to begin in the coming months, with substantial completion anticipated in 2029. The contract value is expected to be added to the company’s project backlog for the first quarter.
For Tutor Perini, this is the second major billion-dollar-plus tunnel contract in recent months in the New York area. In October, its Frontier-Kemper Constructors subsidiary won a $1.1 billion contract from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to build a 2-mile-long water conveyance tunnel in nearby Westchester County. That tunnel will convey water from a reservoir to an ultraviolet light disinfection facility.
This is also Tutor Perini’s first billion-dollar-plus contract award under the leadership of new Chief Executive Gary Smalley. He took over on Jan. 1 from longtime chief executive Ron Tutor, the son of the founder of the A.G. Tutor company that started out as a real estate firm and then became a major civil construction contractor. Tutor, who is in his 80s, served as chair and chief executive since 2008. He has agreed to serve as executive board chair through the end of next year.
The Walt Disney Co. may have had an increase in revenue and adjusted net income in its fiscal first quarter, but it didn’t translate into a higher stock price.
The Burbank entertainment and media giant saw its share price go down by 2.4% from a close of $113.30 on Feb. 4 to a close of $110.54 on Feb. 5, the day it reported its financial results before the market opened.
The 23.3 million shares that traded on Feb. 5 made for the fifth highest trading volume in the past 52-week period.
The stock had fallen to $109.59 by Feb. 13.
Disney reported adjusted net income of $3.3 billion ($1.76 a share) for the quarter ending Dec. 28, compared with adjusted net income of $2.5 billion ($1.22) in the same period of the previous year. Revenue increased by 5% from the first quarter of the prior year to $24.7 billion.
Bob Iger, chief executive of Disney, called the first quarter results “a strong start” to the fiscal year.
“Our results this quarter demonstrate Disney’s creative and financial strength as we advanced the strategic initiatives set in motion over the past two years,” Iger said in a statement.
For example, during the first quarter, Disney saw outstanding box office performance from its studios, which had the top three movies of last year, Iger said.
Its films “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Moana 2” all brought in more than $1 billion each.
“We further improved the profitability of our entertainment (direct to consumer) streaming businesses; we took an important step to advance ESPN’s digital strategy by adding an ESPN tile on Disney+; and our Experiences segment demonstrated its enduring appeal as we continue investing strategically across the globe,” Iger said.
In the direct-to-consumer business, revenue increased by 9% over last year’s first quarter to $6.1 billon while operating income increased to $293 million.
Disney attributed the increase in operating income, to, among other things, higher technology and distribution costs and an increase in programming and production costs.
Other news about Disney did not result in big spikes or dips in its share price.
For instance, the announcement before the market opened on Jan. 6 that Disney would merge its Hulu + Live TV service with Fubu had the stock price going down by only a fraction of a percent. It closed at $111.05 on Jan. 6.
The same rang true after Axios reporting on Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, plans going forward.
The news website reported on Feb. 11 about a memo it had seen from Disney’s head of human resources, Sonia Coleman, that outlined changes to its DEI policies.
For example, beginning this fiscal year, “Disney will replace the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ performance factor that it used to evaluate executive compensation with a new ‘Talent Strategy,’” Axios reported. “The new ‘Talent Strategy’ factor includes concepts from its old ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ factor but is more focused on how values drive business success.”
The company also is doing away with its Reimagine Tomorrow initiative, and the corresponding website, which was used to highlight stories and talent from underrepresented communities, Axios said.
“The (Disney) site, which came under fire from conservatives, was replaced externally in December by an updated hub on Disney’s corporate website, and also on Disney’s internal website,” Axios reported.
The news did not move the stock price much, just a fraction of a percent on Feb. 12.
A three-story, 223,000-square-foot Class A office building in Calabasas sold recently for $69.4 million in an all-cash transaction.
The buyer was a joint venture between Connecticut-based global asset management platform Cross Ocean Partners and Century City-based real estate investment management firm Palisade Group. The property was fully leased at the time of sale, home to seven tenants across multiple industries, including consumer goods, insurance, hospitality, coworking and financial services, according to a release. It sits on a 20-acre site featuring expansive courtyards, landscaped gardens and executive parking.
“4500 Park Granada is a one-of-a-kind project benefiting from a beautiful campus
setting, long-term tenants and a leading amenity package,” Spencer Rose, managing principal at Palisade Group, said in a statement. “We were attracted by the Calabasas neighborhood location, easy freeway access and high-quality improvements that consistently attract leading firms. The benefits of in-office collaboration are undeniable, and we will work to enhance the offerings at 4500 Park Granada to help foster a dynamic office experience and create an environment where employees want to be.”
The deal came out to $312 per square foot which, according to the buyers, is considered below replacement cost for the property.
“4500 Park Granada is a rare opportunity to acquire a Class A office campus in a market with significant barriers to entry at a deeply discounted basis,” Terence Kim, managing director for Cross Ocean Partners, said in a statement. “We are excited to find such a unique opportunity like this in Calabasas and we look forward to continuing the project’s position as a dynamic workplace environment for leading employers in the area.”
Newmark’s co-head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon, vice chairs Ken White, Rob Hannan, Michael Moll and Laura Stumm, as well as director Alex Beaton, represented the seller, Pasadena-based real estate investment and development company Gemdale USA.
“This Class A multi-tenant office property offered our all-cash buyer a strong tenant mix with nearly seven years of average remaining lease term, a major discount to replacement cost and prior peak cap rates, all in a superb area with significant barriers to entry,” Shannon said in a statement.
The building was originally developed as a corporate headquarters facility for global aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which has an office in El Segundo, and later served as the headquarters for Countrywide Financial Corp., which was purchased by Bank of America in 2008, during which it operated as a single-tenant campus for nearly 20 years. Recently, it underwent extensive renovations in order to improve efficiency and sustainability.
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THE INSIDE THE VALLEY Team has once again turned to some of the leading employment attorneys and experts in the region to get their assessments regarding the current state of labor legislation, what changes have come to the labor law landscape in light of recent challenges, the new rules of hiring and firing, and the various trends that they have been observing, and in some cases, driving. Here is a series of questions Inside The Valley posed to these experts and the unique responses they provided.