Recently in Real Estate Category

Beauty 21 Cosmetics is set to move from Rancho Cucamonga to Ontario after buying a 231,000-square-foot industrial property.

Beauty 21's brands include L.A. Girl USA cosmetics.

The building, at 2021 S. Archibald Ave., is part of Archibald Business Center. The property sold for $15 million, according to CT Realty Investors and Behringer Harvard, the property's previous owners.

Peter McWilliams and Mike McCrary of Jones Lang LaSalle represented CT Realty and Behringer Harvard. Personnel at the Ontario office of Lee & Associates represented Beauty 21 Cosmetics.

Skechers USA previously occupied Archibald Avenue building before moving to a 1.8 million-square-foot building in Moreno Valley.

U.S. home prices increased by a slight 3 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis during the three months ending Nov. 30, Clear Capital reported.

The trend was different in the West, however, where housing prices fell 0.8 percent during the past three months. Markets with high-levels of foreclosed homes, such as the Inland Empire, were not subject to the same kind of price stability that Clear Capital observed elsewhere.

In the Inland Empire, home prices fell 2 percent during the past quarter. Roughly 42 percent of homes on the market in the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario area were foreclosures.

In Greater Los Angeles, home prices fell 1.7 percent during the past closure. The area's foreclosure had a foreclosure saturation of 28 percent.

Clear Capital's offices are in Truckee.

BRE Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust, announced its sale of Windrush Village, a 366-unit apartment complex in Colton.

The investment trust also reported the sale of Galleria at Towngage, a 268-unit complex in Moreno Valley. The San Francisco-based BRE Properties reported the sales are part of a strategic move to divest from the eastern Inland Empire and focus on coastal markets.

BRE did not disclose the properties' new owners in its announcement. The Colton and Moreno Valley complexes sold for a gross sales price of $65.2 million.

Brookfield Homes will debut its GreenDoor at Edenglen project on Saturday, the company announced.

The Edenglen developments are in southern Ontario, east of Mill Creek Avenue and between Riverside Drive and Chino Avenue.

Brookfield is promoting GreenDoor at Edenglen's energy efficient design aspects, such as solar panels. Asking prices start in the low $300,000s.

A grand opening event for the homes is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. Brookfield's sales offices are at 3228 S. Edenglen Ave., Ontario.

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin colleague Liset Marquez is planning to run a more detailed story to run in the next few days.

The Bradco Cos., a Victorville-based real estate brokerage, has hired two new executives with experience in the High Desert's commercial real estate market.

The new hires are Nick DiCosola and Ron Barbieri, both of whom were founding members of Lee & Associates' Inland Empire North office. DiCosola and Barbieri will hold the titles of principal and executive vice president at Brado Cos.

Barbieri will also co-edit the Bradco High Desert Report with Brado Cos. president Joseph Brady.

    










Ron Barbieri                                                                                  Nick DiCosola

[United Furniture Industries, which produces furniture for the Simmons brand, is poised to take over a manufacturing and distribution facility near Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.

The Mississippi-based furniture company announced plans to quickly hire 100 people and to ramp up its payroll to some 400 employees over the course of 36 to 48 months. The company announced plans to hold a job fair in October.

"UFI will begin the process of local staff development in mid October. We plan to complete a soft opening of manufacturing and distribution operations in November. We expect our employment to exceed 100 people early in the first quarter of 2012," United Furniture Industries spokesman Bob Cottam said in a statement.

The furniture company is set to lease a 505,192-square-foot facility from Stirling Capital Investments, which is the master developer for the Southern California Logistics Complex near the airport.

Joseph Brady of Bradco Cos. represented United Furniture Industries in the lease transaction. Jay Dick and Mark Latimer of CB Richard Ellis represented Stirling.

The California Association of Realtors announced sending a letter to the nation's four largest lenders and mortgage servicers asking for help in streamlining the short sale process.
A short sale occurs when a homeowner sells a house for less than the outstanding amount owed on the mortgage. The bank to which a homeowner sends payments is often not the actual owner of the loan.

The owner must approve a short sale and delays in negotiations between several parties is one reason short sales can take a long time to complete.

The Realtors group sent the letter to JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. Realtors asked for the banks to provide homeowners attempting short sales with such help as realistic time frames, upfront delivery of what conditions are necessary to approve a short sale and making sure homeowners know who has authority to approve a short sale.

"We believe banks, investors, homeowners, and real estate professionals all have a common interest in conducting these transactions expeditiously and efficiently," C.A.R. President Beth L. Peerce wrote in the letter.

"The housing market recovery is in everyone's best interests, and your urgent focus on these issues will help achieve that end."

Real estate firm Colliers International announced the sale of a 78,021 industrial building to Shield Packaging,  an aerosol can manufacturer with operations in Chino and Dudley, Mass.

The building is at 5740 Schaefer Ave. in Chino and sold in a deal worth $3.9 million, Colliers reported.

Brad Yates and Richard Scwartz of Colliers International represented Shield Packaging in the deal. Larry Null and Douglas Earnhart of Lee & Associates represented the seller, MRC Properties LLC.

Phoenix Realty Group on Tuesday announced the $21.5 million purchases of three apartment complexes in San Bernardino and Highland.

Two of the complexes, the 160-unit Ascot Park and 80-unit Summit Place, are in San Bernardino. The 192-unit Park Heights complex is in Highland.

All three properties had been repossessed by a lender in 2009, Phoneix reported. The new owners retained Coastline Real Estate Advisors, a Manhattan Beach property management and real estate firm.

Phoenix Realty Group has offices in Los Angeles and New York.

The Economic Development Agency of San Bernardino accepted an award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for its neighborhood stabilization project at Eastpoint Village in San Bernardino.

The project, which began in 2009, took a federal grant to stabilize communities after foreclosures to redevelop Eastpointe Village, a formerly blighted neighborhood of multi-family units at 19th Avenue and Sunrise Lane.

HUD's Spirit Awards are given to projects that capture the spirit of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The city agency used $2.7 million in NSP funds and $3 million in local housing funds to complete the project.

"In a relatively short period of time, tremendous progress has been made to reshape this community," said Emil Marzullo, Economic Development Agency interim executive director.  "It is an honor to be recognized for the exemplary labor and accomplishments shown by our team. Reducing blight and stabilizing our neighborhoods is important to providing residents quality of life."