COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Firm Opening Office: The real estate market may be in recession, but with the number of Resolution Trust Corp. transactions going on, at least there’s volume.

Sperry Van Ness, an investment real estate company in Newport Beach, is opening an office in Los Angeles at 1640 S. Sepulveda Blvd. The company said its longstanding relationship with lenders and S&Ls; is behind the opening of the new site, its fifth office. About half of its work involves RTC- or bank-foreclosed real estate.

But founding partner Mark Van Ness thinks the company would have expanded there anyway, troubled properties or not. Even in a slow market, investors are looking for opportunities in an array of properties, especially apartment buildings and shopping centers, he said.

Paul Ryan, formerly a managing director in Newport Beach, will take on the title of regional managing partner in Los Angeles. The firm wants to have about 30 brokers at the office in the next year and a half.

“It’s slightly larger than our other offices,” Van Ness said of the Sepulveda site. “But it’s a much larger market.”