The proposed area for discussion for the new CleanTech Corridor in Los Angeles, California. The location surrounds the industrial property district near the LA River. We’ll see if any substantial development or absorption by cleantech companies occurs as this is a nascent concept at this time. Environmental product manufacturing companies are the target.
Slaughterhouse Scarcity
A New York Times article describes some of the challenges of local-food movements across the country: a lack of slaughterhouses.
...growing problem for small farmers here and across the nation: too few slaughterhouses to meet the growing demand for locally raised meat." Los Angeles has only a handful of live animal processing plants, when decades ago there were dozens. In what could be a major setback for America’s local-food movement, championed by so-called locavores, independent farmers around the country say they are forced to make slaughter appointments before animals are born and to drive hundreds of miles to facilities, adding to their costs and causing stress to livestock. As a result, they are scaling back on plans to expand their farms because local processors cannot handle any more animals.
The LA Times recently posted this article “One of L.A. County’s last slaughterhouses could go on the chopping block.” Neighbors and city zoning codes pose serious challenges to any type of animal processing plant here in Southern California.
I represent one of the last slaughterhouses in the City of Los Angeles. The company is thriving with hearty demand for their product.
CMBS dinlinquency update: Industrial holding up the best
About 30 percent of newly delinquent commercial real estate loans in the U.S. were from commercial mortgage-backed securities loans originated in 2005, according to Fitch Ratings’ February delinquency index. Upcoming maturities for deals originated five years ago contributed to a delinquency rate that stood at 6.29 percent at the end of February.
Office properties had the largest increase in the loan delinquency index, growing by 45 basis points from January to a total rate of 3.5 percent. The hotel industry’s delinquency rate is the greatest at 16.6 percent, while multifamily is at nearly 9 percent, retail at 5.1 percent and industrial at 4.2 percent.
Brief History of The Citadel, City of Commerce
In 1929, architects Morgan Walls and Clements (Mayan Theater) built Commerce’s most recognizable landmark, the Assyrian-themed Samson Tire and Rubber Co. factory before being shut down in 1978. The city bought the Samson site for $14 million in 1983. Seven years later, Trammell Crow Co. was brought in to oversee the $118 million redevelopment of the site into an outlet center, as well as the construction of a 201-room Wyndham Garden Hotel next door.
When the partnership defaulted on its ground lease with the city in 1998, Commerce officials took back the center and began marketing it to firms that would double its retail size and make it competitive with newer outlet malls in Southern California.
Craig Realty bought the Citadel Factory Stores from the City of Commerce for $50 million in July 2002, with the condition that his firm would double the size of the retail center of outlet shopping stores. Craig Realty owns factory outlet centers in Cabazon, just outside Palm Springs, and Carlsbad. It also helped develop Camarillo Premium Outlets.
1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange Options
There is a common misconception that all tax-deferred exchanges are complicated and require all properties, relinquished and replacement, to close concurrently. Fortunately, the most common exchange variation, the delayed exchange (also referred to as a deferred or “Starker” exchange, Starker v. U.S., 602 F.2d 1341), provides Exchangers with more flexibility and options in acquiring the replacement property than the simultaneous exchange. The delayed exchange begins when the Exchanger’s first relinquished property is sold and is completed when the last replacement property is acquired within the prescribed exchange period. To provide the required notice to the relinquished property buyer(s) and the replacement property seller(s) the Purchase and Sale Contract for each property should include an “exchange cooperation”.
The standard industrial / commercial real estate purchase agreement that we use in our sale transactions in Los Angeles County has standard 1031 Exchange language. This would apply to all commercial real estate types such as retail, office, industrial, or multi-family apartment buildings.
The use of a Qualified Intermediary (also known as an “Accommodator” or “Facilitator”) is the most common method used to complete a valid delayed exchange quickly and easily. The Qualified Intermediary is an independent party to the exchange transaction, who performs the function of creating the reciprocal trade of properties for the exchange, holds the exchange funds and supplies the necessary exchange documents, such as the Exchange Agreement, Assignments and Closing Instructions. The Exchanger assigns the rights in the Sale Contract for the relinquished property and in the Purchase Contract for the replacement property to the Qualified Intermediary, who essentially becomes the “seller” of the relinquished property and the “buyer” of the replacement property. To avoid actual or constructive receipt of the exchange funds by the Exchanger the proceeds from the sale of the relinquished property are held by the Qualified Intermediary until they are needed for the acquisition of the replacement property. In both simultaneous and delayed exchanges in which a Qualified Intermediary is used to create the reciprocal exchange of properties the IRS allows “direct deeding” of the relinquished property from the Exchanger to the buyer and of the replacement property from the seller to the Exchanger, thereby avoiding the necessity of the Qualified Intermediary holding title to any property. Revenue Procedure 90-34, 1990-1 C.B. 552. Direct deeding avoids the assessment of double state, county, or local documentary transfer taxes and any liability on the part of the Qualified Intermediary for environmental hazards that may exist on the property.
The Treasury Department issued Regulations in 1991 that clarified the acceptable methods to properly identify replacement property. See Treas. Regs. §1.1031(k)-1(b)-(e). First, the Exchanger must receive all replacement property within the earlier of 180 days after the date on which the Exchanger transferred the first relinquished property, or the due date (including extensions) for the Exchanger’s tax return for the tax year in which the transfer of the first relinquished property occurs. Second, the Exchanger must identify the replacement property to be acquired by the end of the Exchange Period within 45 days of the transfer of the first relinquished property. These time periods are very strict and cannot be extended even if the 45th day or 180th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. The proper identification of replacement property is critical and if not made in a timely manner the exchange fails and the entire transaction is taxable. The rules are as follows: (a) the replacement property identification must be in writing and signed by the Exchanger, (b) it must be delivered by mail, fax or hand delivery to a party to the exchange transaction (usually the Qualified Intermediary) by midnight of the 45th day, (c) the replacement properties must be unambiguously described, such as by a street address, tax lot number, legal description or the like, and (d) the Exchanger may list up to three properties of unlimited value, but if more than three properties are listed, their total aggregate fair market value may not exceed 200% of the aggregate fair market value of the relinquished property. It is essential in a delayed exchange to adhere to these rules and deadlines established for identifying and acquiring the replacement property. Failure to comply with these rules may result in a failed exchange.