Topa Management makes James R. Brooks its president

Century City-based holding company Topa Equities Ltd. has named James R. Brooks to head its real estate management division.

Brooks, 55, is president of Topa Management Co., which manages about 4 million square feet of commercial real estate and 3,000 apartments in California, Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

After earning a degree in engineering at UCLA, Brooks spent 12 years with the Koll Co., a Newport Beach real estate services company. He also worked several years with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund and Tishman Speyer Properties.

For the last three years, Brooks managed his own Manhattan Beach investment company, Fifth Street Realty Partners Inc. He specializes in managing, leasing and repositioning office and retail properties, said John E. Anderson Jr., vice chairman of Topa Equities.

Topa Equities has 38 wholly owned subsidiaries involved in beverage distribution, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, automotive dealerships and real estate.

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