hawaii real estate

Broadway taps West Coast pro

Broadway Real Estate Partners, which has concentrated on office properties in the Boston-to-Washington corridor, is setting the stage to become a major office player on the West Coast.

The New York company has hired Scott Sorensen as acquisitions director for the Western U.S. He was previously acquisitions director of Douglas Emmett, the Los Angeles-based fund operator.

Sorensen will oversee acquisitions in major urban and suburban markets in the triangle formed by San Diego, Denver and Seattle. Although no specific acquisition targets have been set for this year, Broadway is said to be planning a big push. The company apparently will look at a mix of newer core and value-added office properties, including those that have leasing problems or need renovation.

Broadway, which acquires properties with backing from institutional and private capital, manages $850 million of properties. It is already under contract to buy one West Coast property--the 105,000-sf building at 9701 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Under the deal, which predated Sorensen's hire, Broadway will pay private investor Alex Winitsky about $36 million, or $343/sf, for the building. The occupancy rate is 85%, but Endeavor Talent Agency is vacating its 25,000 sf at yearend. Winitsky acquired the building in 2001 for $32.9 million, or $313/sf.

Broadway usually targets larger properties. In recent weeks, lot instance, the firm looked at--but passed on--the 281,000-sf office property at 335-345 North Maple Drive in Beverly Hills. The underperforming complex is valued at $97 million. Owner David Wilstein has put the listing on hold while he considers a refinancing.

Sorensen was a vice president at Douglas Emmett for six years. He handled acquisitions and financing for the firm's three most recent core-plus funds, as well as its recently launched Realty Fund 2002, which has $165 million of equity and is targeting a 14% return. Earlier, Sorensen was with Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors, the real estate arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life.

The buzz is that Sorensen was attracted to Broadway because of the large geographic area he would cover. Douglas Emmett has focused on suburban Los Angeles County, although it has looked unsuccessfully elsewhere in Southern California, as well as in Hawaii.

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