Firm to Manage Smith Properties

The New York investment firm buying the bulk of Oxnard developer Martin V. “Bud” Smith’s empire announced Thursday it has hired the Oxnard office of a real estate firm to manage many of the Smith properties.

Scott Nesbit, an executive for Tiger Real Estate Partners, said Tiger has not yet picked a firm to manage the nine hotels in Smith’s portfolio, including the Financial Plaza Hilton.

But he said the SARES-REGIS Group’s Ventura County office will manage the retail, industrial, residential and other properties in the estimated $150-million deal.

Nesbit and a SARES-REGIS president said Thursday they had met with a dozen key managers from Martin V. Smith and Associates, but that they have not yet decided the fate of Smith’s nearly 1,000 workers.

“We are working with them to structure an organization,” said Russell Goodman of SARES-REGIS. “The objective is to retain as many as possible. The managers will be part of making that decision.”

Nesbit and Goodman said they should know by the end of February how many jobs will be preserved.

As part of the transition, Tiger has set up a new company called Channel Islands Harbor Associates to oversee all the Ventura County properties. Many of the new executives and managers retained will have offices in the landmark Oxnard Plaza Financial Tower, which Smith also plans to sell as part of the deal expected to go through in February.

Tiger Real Estate Partners controls a $784-million real estate investment fund. Smith plans to retain 18 real estate properties, including the Wagon Wheel bowling alley and motel complex, which he intends to redevelop.