
Binswanger, Realty Advisory Group, Inc. and Kidder Mathews (“BRK”) have been engaged by United Technologies Corporation (“UTC” or “ownership”) to generate investor interest in the highest profile development opportunity in the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is one of the most desirable and supply-constrained real estate markets in the United States, due to the scarcity of developable sites as well as political, zoning and entitlement constraints for new projects. Uptown at Warner Center (the “Property”) is a one-of-a-kind development opportunity consisting of nearly 47 acres located in the mature market of Warner Center in the San Fernando Valley, surrounded by the third largest shopping center in the United States, numerous high profile office projects, and residential developments. The development will produce a state of the art “Live/Work/Play” environment that will be a walkable community featuring a combination of residential and commercial uses including retail, office, hotel, research & development, assisted living and community center space surrounding a 5 acre open park. It will be the San Fernando Valley’s most desirable, sustainable destination with expedient access to every convenience including numerous shopping, dining, and public transportation options. The San Fernando Valley consists of approximately 260 square miles making it the largest geographic component of the City of Los Angeles. With approximately 1.8 million residents, it is a densely populated area, that as a standalone city, would be the seventh largest city in the United States.
The Property is located directly across the street from Westfield’s approximate 1.6 million square foot Topanga Mall, a block from its 550,00 square foot “The Village at Topanga” and two blocks from Westfield’s 615,000 square foot Promenade Mall, all of which front Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The three combined total approximately 2.7 million square feet of retail space, collectively the 3rd largest regional shopping center in the U.S. and the largest shopping center in California. The Westfield Topanga Mall is home to over 260 retailers and anchored by high profile department stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. Included in the shopping center is a brand new Costco, a Target, dozens of world-class retailers like Gucci, Burberry, Tesla, Apple, Tiffany & Co., Prada, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and numerous casual and fine dining options. Completed in the Fall of 2015, “The Village at Topanga” showcases trendy local fashion and lifestyle brands, sensational restaurants offering al fresco patio dining, a full-service gym, spa and yoga studio, along with a weekly farmer’s market, all under a canopy of native trees and vegetation. The overall Westfield project receives in excess of 13 million visitors per year.
The Warner Center market also boasts a diverse and robust office market attracting prominent corporations in media and entertainment, insurance, healthcare, technology, defense and finance. Significant companies that have a large presence in the Warner Center market include: Universal Music Group, Northrop Grumman, Procter & Gamble, Farmers Insurance, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente, AIG, Health Net, ADP, Panavision, and Morgan Stanley. These companies, among others, are major job generators for the entire City of Los Angeles.
With a very supportive local government and resident base, there is a strong effort to promote Warner Center as a rapidly growing Transit Oriented Development (TOD). As a result, it has approved the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan (“WC 2035 Plan”), a blueprint with the goal to enhance the district with high-density, pedestrian-friendly, TODs nurturing a “Live/Work/Play” environment for all those living, working and visiting the area. The permissible floor area ratio (FAR) is 4.5 and there are no height restrictions. Given the well above average household income levels, direct access to public transportation, and a densely populated area, there are a number of compelling reasons to participate in such a vision.
The offered Property is specific to the “Uptown” area of the WC 2035 Plan. Please click on the link to the right and note the “Uptown” portion of the WC 2035 Plan is found in Section 6.1.2.8 (page 56).
http://planning.lacity.org/complan/specplan/pdf/warnerc.pdf
The WC 2035 Plan is generally bound by the Los Angeles River to the north, the Ventura Freeway to the south, De Soto Avenue to the east, and to the west Topanga Canyon Boulevard, an area of approximately 1,100 acres or 1.7 square miles.
UTC, along with BGI Development and HOK Architects, has developed a proposed master plan for the Property, which comprises approximately 6.035 million square feet of mixed use floor area development.
* If ranked as a city - Source: The Valley Economic Alliance
Situated approximately 28 miles northwest of downtown's Central Business District, Warner Center is an integral part of the city of Los Angeles and a vast economic region known as the San Fernando Valley (SFV). Home to over 1.8 million residents and more than 700,000 businesses, SFV generates some of the most compelling demographics in the nation.
Key Valley neighborhoods such as Hidden Hills, Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Woodland Hills each have average household incomes higher than other Los Angeles high-profile communities such as Brentwood, Santa Monica and West Los Angeles. The neighborhoods surrounding the site offer exceptional executive and workforce housing that create strong drivers of corporate demand for Warner Center.
The San Fernando Valley is known as the "Entertainment Capital of the World", as it is home to most of the major movie studios including Universal, Pixar Animation, DreamWorks Animation SKG, Warner Brothers, Marvel, CBS, NBC, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Walt Disney. The region has been a leader in creative job growth, as no other place has a stronger infrastructure of media-related personnel or studio production attractions; tourism is constantly growing with more than 42 million visitors spending over $18.4 billion in the region annually.
A brief and partial Warner Center Association summary of the Warner Center 2035 Plan (WC 2035 Plan) is as follows:
The Warner Center 2035 Plan (WC 2035 Plan) is a development blueprint for Warner Center that emphasizes mixed-use and transit-oriented development, walkability, and sustainability. The WC 2035 Plan considers development fundamental to supporting regional transportation investments such as the Orange Line and, as a result, creating a vibrant Transit Oriented District (TOD) based upon sustainability, community connectedness, accessible public transit, and promotion of innovative businesses, job diversity, and a safe and friendly pedestrian environment. In simple terms, the WC 2035 Plan provides a comprehensive and clear process that will permit development to occur in order to facilitate the creation of a Regional Center where people can live, work, and play. At its core, the WC 2035 Plan will create the necessary framework for balanced and appropriate development.
Source: warnercenterassociation.org
The property will be sold based on an open bid process. No asking price has been established, however, ownership reserves the absolute right to accept or reject any and all bids. The successful offer will be selected based on a variety of criteria. The criteria include, but are not limited to; the offer price, contingencies and due diligence criteria, time line to closing, deposit funds, including “at risk” deposit at contract execution, proven ability and prior successes in closing on a transaction of this size. Brokerage cooperation is invited, in fact, ownership has agreed to pay a cooperating brokerage fee of .5%.
Upon acceptance of registration, including completion of the confidentiality agreement, the Uptown at Warner Center team will provide access to due diligence materials for investors review.
Scheduled tours will be made of the property and will be communicated to registered investors at which time the team will be available to assist prospective investors and answer any questions.
The due diligence section is no longer accessible. For questions, please contact Eric Bluestein or Jim Abbott.