Time to sell off real estate assets?

A fire sale of sorts for commercial real estate is imminent. At least that's the take at Newport Beach-based AppraiserValues.com's Cap Rate News Blog. In the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, "liquidation of real estate assets will be one of the first places firms will look for cash."

If you think this doesn't matter, you must not be a public servant who hopes to retire one day. Writes Warren K. Hoppke, senior real property analyst and a member of the Appraisal Institute: "The nation's largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPers), could take a hit as large as their $2 billion dollar residential mortgage portfolio."

Hoppke sees a "long flat period of very weak demand for real estate" that could last for the next decade. In the short term, "expect to see commercial real estate price declines throughout 2009 and 2010."   

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

New York brokers get nod to market L.A. Times building

Tribune Co. has picked two New York commercial real estate brokerages to market the Los Angeles Times building downtown and Tribune Tower in Chicago to investors, the company said today.

Cushman & Wakefield will look for buyers for The Times' historic headquarters at 1st and Spring streets in Los Angeles, and Eastdil Secured will attempt to sell the landmark Tribune building overlooking the Chicago River, said Stephanie Pater, director of real estate for Tribune.

Prices for the properties have not been set, Pater said, but The Times' headquarters was valued at about $150 million, and Tribune Tower might garner around $230 million, according to industry trade publication Real Estate Alert.

Tribune announced in June it would sell the buildings to help pay down debt.

-- Roger Vincent

Photos: Getty Images

Questions? Comments? E-mail roger.vincent@latimes.com.

A cerebral tenant for a rock and roll landmark

From L.A. Times staff writer Roger Vincent:

The cerebral Discovery Channel will soon take over one of L.A.’s rock and roll landmarks, the former Intersound building at 962 N. La Cienega Blvd. on the edge of West Hollywood just north of Restaurant Row. The two-story Spanish-style post-production facility completed in 1970 was last rented to sports broadcaster ESPN, but previously housed one of the original recording studios for David Geffen’s ElektraAsylum Records.

It was most notably used by the Doors, but other top musicians of that era who also recorded there included the Eagles, Joni Mitchell and Janice Joplin, said real estate broker Scott Roberts of the Piken Group. Piken represented the landlord, Harmony Gold USA, in the lease transaction with Discovery Communications. The Discovery Channel, the nation's most widely distributed cable television network, will use the 21,000-square-foot facility for post production of its shows, which include "Dirty Jobs," "MythBusters" and "Planet Earth."

Discovery is set to move in this September, according to real estate data provider CoStar.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.