Venture to Focus on Office Properties
Counting on Southern California’s economy to rebound over the long term, four experienced Southern California real estate developers have formed a venture that plans to invest as much as $75 million a year in each of the next two years to turn around under-performing office and industrial properties.
The Aliso Viejo-based venture, called Parker Hansen, is led by John Parker of Parker Properties and Erik Hansen, formerly managing partner of the Southern California region of Legacy Partners Commercial. The two other partners are Russell Parker and Lee Redmond, both executives at Parker Properties.
The new venture will focus on deals ranging from $5 million to $50 million, according to Hansen, who said the partners have lined up institutions and individuals as capital sources for their projects.
The partners initially will focus on “value-added” projects, they said, meaning properties that can be turned around or made more profitable through renovation, remodeling and marketing programs designed either to fill empty space or boost rents or both.
Hansen acknowledged that Southern California business now is in “the down part of the cycle,” making it harder for the venture to execute its strategy if the economy does not pick up.
“But we believe the Southern California economy will improve and will bring stronger demand,” he said, adding that the new partnership initially will concentrate on office projects.
