Happy Veteran’s Day
Happy Veteran’s Day! CBM1 proudly honors all who served.
Happy Veteran’s Day! CBM1 proudly honors all who served.
CBM1’s Jason Ehrenpreis recently represented Tierra Mia Coffee in the lease of a freestanding, single-tenant drive-thru property at the intersection of Lake Avenue and Boylston Street in Pasadena. The quaint and charming A-frame building was previously occupied by the local, independent fast-food operator.
Tierra Mia Coffee is A primarily Southern California-based artisan coffee roaster and café. The coffee merchant’s steadily growing enterprise includes 22 two stores spread across Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties, along with one location in Oakland. Most of Tierra Mia’s stores are repurposed locations formerly occupied by restaurant or food-use tenants in freestanding, single-tenant, and street retail properties. In their ongoing expansion, Tierra Mia continues to seek former food-use sites, especially prizing those with drive-thru capabilities.
Lake Avenue is a highly active retail corridor, with KFC, McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Del Taco, El Polo Loco, Popeye’s Chicken, CVS, and Walgreens all situated within a block or two of the subject property. The surrounding community is a network of densely populated residential neighborhoods boasting strong average annual household incomes.
For more information, contact Jason Ehrenpreis: Jason@cbm1.com | 310.231.5213
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Geoff Grossman, CBM1’s co-managing principal, is back in school!
Well, sort of…
Geoff’s former UCLA Extension professor asked him to present on retail property development to the instructor’s Real Estate Development class.
Having consulted on more than a few retail development projects over his 25 years in the retail real estate game, Geoff was flattered by the invitation and jumped at the chance. –
Geoff outlined his experience in the development process, ushering landlords, developers, and tenants through the transformation of vacant land into bustling shopping centers.
The nearly 90-minute talk held students and instructor wrapped, with almost half of the session dedicated to Q&A.
One student was so impressed that he left Geoff a voicemail praising the presentation and contemplating a career in commercial real estate:
“I just wanted to call and thank you for coming in and because a week later, I’m still thinking about your presentation. I wasn’t really thinking about commercial brokerage or commercial centers or convenience centers today before, but that was sort of fascinating and a more interesting space than I’d realized before.”
Thanks again to Professor Mark Ruff for the invite and to the amazing students for their insightful questions. None of this would have been possible without you!
On a related note, we invite any hungry young college graduates out there looking to launch a lucrative career to contact Geoff Grossman. He’s looking to train the next generation of commercial real estate professionals.
CBM1’s Jason Ehrenpreis grabs headlines again with his recent sale of Western Plaza, a 44,000 SF neighborhood shopping center located on Western Avenue in Rancho Palos Verdes.
The latest feature, published in the Mortgage Bankers Association Newsletter, touts the $12.25 million short-term loan the buyer secured to purchase and finance the property’s upcoming renovations.
This update follows another feature on Jason’s RPV deal, published in the Southbay news outlet, the Daily Breeze.
For more details on this transaction or to inquire about retail leasing and commercial property sales, contact Jason Ehrenpreis: Jason@cbm1.com | 310.231.5213
CBM1’s Aaron Guido + Daniel Barriga recently completed a lease with Froggy’s Jumpers Indoor on a +/-5,040 SF retail space in a remodeled shopping center at Atlantic Avenue and Tweedy Boulevard in prime Southgate.
A newly launched, independent local business, Froggy Jumpers is an indoor recreation facility and rental service offering bounce houses, waterslides, and other inflatable amusement structures. Froggy’s hosts guests at their “indoor park” in the Southgate shopping center and rents inflatable structures for private parties and special events.
The busy center’s notable co-tenants include Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, Winchell’s Donuts, Bright Dental, and Cricket Wireless.
Situated just south of Firestone Boulevard, near the 710 freeway, the center is one block from Southgate Elementary School, where 460 students are currently enrolled. The site is also one block from Southgate Park, a massive and popular recreation center with soccer fields, baseball diamonds, volleyball courts, public swimming pool, batting cages, skatepark, and a municipal auditorium.
For more information, contact Aaron Guido: Aaron@cbm1.com | 714.769.6117 Or Daniel Barriga: Daniel@cbm1.com | 949.608.4886
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A lease that CBM1’s Jason Ehrenpreis recently completed at Western Avenue and Capitol/Trudie Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes was just featured in a Daily Breeze article.
The site, formerly occupied by a Marie Callender’s restaurant but left vacant for several years, has been leased to a national bank.
Mr. Ehrenpreis has been incredibly active at this intersection, handling a number of leases and closing a sale. Jason leased a Wendy’s drive-thru diagonally opposite the subject property last fall. And he closed the sale of Western Plaza, a shopping center in redeveloped across from the subject property in March of this year, in addition to completing several leases with national tenants at the center.
Below are excerpts from the article, reported by the Daily Breeze’s Donna Littlejohn:
“It’s a bank that’s already in the area and is doing very well but was looking for a better location,” Ehrenpreis said. He said the name has not been released but added, “It’s not Chase.”
Ehrenpreis also handled the makeover of Western Plaza on the next block to the south from Marie Callender’s. The center spans a full block between Capitol and Park Western Drive. Work already has begun on that project that will include a Habit Burger, a Mattress Firm, California Fish Grill and Urbane Café
Meanwhile, the former Broiler Express, also a project of Ehrenpreis, just to the north of Marie Callender’s, is being transformed into a Wendy’s with a drive-thru that he said should open by July 4th.
For more details on these transactions or to inquire about retail leasing and commercial property sales, contact Jason Ehrenpreis: Jason@cbm1.com | 310.231.5213
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Despite all the chatter insisting an “economic downturn” is all but inevitable, we’re doing deals at CBM1– And we’re KILLING IT! Our industry-leading retail broker team is signing tons of leases and closing sales, too. In other words, one firm’s downturn is our… OPPORTUNITY!
If you’re a landlord with vacancy or a tenant seeking space, our team is here to help you.
Geoff Grossman
DRE#02198688
Co-Managing Principal
CBM1, Inc
310.299.4224
Geoff@cbm1.com
Dave O’Connell
DRE#1398651
Co-Managing Principal
CBM1, Inc
818.380.9967
Dave@cbm1.com
Check out some of our most notable recent transactions here!
After another year of storming to the top of the CRE Retail Real Estate Leasing + Sales industry, the broker team assembled at Topgolf in El Segundo for some much-needed and well-deserved R’nR!
2024 figures to be a HUGE year for CBM1! And we’re looking forward to signing up tons of new listings, closing loads of deals, and delivering our clients — The lifeblood of our business — with the same impeccable service you’ve come to depend on.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of long drivers in this group! Check out this masterful technique…
An interesting question was posed to us at this year’s ICSC Western Division Conference…
Why do we attend the show?
Of course, there are several legitimate reasons. Some obvious and straightforward. And others less overt and more nuanced.
For CBM1, as an exhibiting brokerage, and for our agents, the number one reason we attended is simple: To See And Be Seen.
Why does this matter? Charting the evolution of ICSC events offers the perfect explanation.
With the internet’s rising dominance and online shopping replacing major segments of “traditional commerce,” retail has seen a dramatic shift over the past two-plus decades.
And this transition has impacted ICSC events as well. The ICSC Western Division Conference once saw over 6,000 attendees. Conversely, this year’s event organizers were thrilled to have attracted just over 3,000 attendees.
But in this case, less is more. How so? Those who made the effort to attend this year’s ICSC Western Division Conference had a purpose. They had intentions. And they had goals.
And chief among those goals is to… See And Be Seen.
The modern work world is increasingly disconnected. With phone communication, emails, conference calls, and video meetings – In-person interactions are increasingly scarce.
Yet, the value of meeting someone face-to-face and making truly personal connections is undeniable. And that’s precisely what ICSC events provide—a fact repeated by several team members in our weekly companywide meeting recapping the show.
Aaron Guido, a Senior Vice President from our Orange County Office, noted: “It was great to have so many people we’ve negotiated deals with approached Daniel [Barriga, Aaron’s partner and an associate from our OC office] and me to introduce themselves. And I can’t tell you how many of these people said they stopped by [our booth] to meet us. It’s a huge relationship-building boost that I know will make a difference in the future.”
Rick Rivera, a Co-Principal based in our West LA office, managed to track down a tenant he’d literally been chasing: “I was finally able to get in front of a tenant I’ve plied with no fewer than 15 emails, texts, and phone calls. And the rep admitted, ‘You’ve been chasing me,’ followed by profuse apologies. But I made the connection, and we had the discussion I was pursuing. None of which would have happened without the show.”
Daniel Barriga, an associate from our Orange County office, met with a tenant rep he’d never managed to get a reply from. And when Daniel pitched a seemingly “unleasable” site, the rep’s “eyes light up.” Another lead that “wouldn’t have happened without the show.”
Jason Ehrenpreis, a Senior Vice President from our West LA office, met with a tenant at the show and “signed a deal this week!”
All these good things might have happened on their own. But at the very least, the in-person interactions at the conference fast-tracked the outcomes.
The face time garnered in meetings during the deal-making show is certainly hugely valuable, but it’s often the conversations over drinks at cocktail parties and dinners and incidental meetups in hotel lobbies where the most meaningful, relationship-solidifying connections are made.
Dave O’Connell, a Co-Management Principal in our Calabasas office, says it best: “When I reach out to someone for assistance, having shared a drink (or two) or grabbed dinner with them makes a world of difference. I’m no longer just one more irritating email or another voice on the phone with my hand out. I’m a name they can put a face to and recall sharing a meaningful conversation with.”
Over time, the preferred location on the show floor has changed. Once upon a time, we strived to be aligned with the main entrance, capturing all the incoming traffic. But in recent years, we’ve aimed to be as close to Retailer Central as possible.
And this year was no exception. So, imagine our dismay when we arrived at the show to discover the organizers had rearranged the layout, leaving us all alone in the back corner.
Fortunately, the Western Division event manager agreed to relocate us, placing our booth squarely facing Retailer Central. A location that ensured nearly every attendee passed by our booth.
Once again, proving the old real estate adage: Location is EVERYTHING!
If you didn’t make it to this year’s ICSC Western Division Conference, you definitely missed out! But we look forward to seeing you at next year’s event ;—)
We’re exhibiting at this year’s event, hosted at the San Diego Convention Center in the heart of the Gas Lamp District, after a two-year (pandemic-forced) hiatus.
If you’re attending the show, we invite you to swing by booth #531 and say “Hi!”
And if you’d like to schedule an appointment, get in touch here.
In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you very soon!