The Los Angeles Business Journal Digital Edition
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2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Content Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page labusinessjournal.com LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNALL TM DIGITAL EDITION THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESS www.labusinessjournal.com/digital WELCOME TO THE LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL DIGITAL EDITION To read your copy of the Digital Edition INSTRUCTION Please select a reading preference FOR PC/MAC How to read LABJ Digital Edition on iPad in iBooks: 1 TAP CENTER 2 TAP ‘OPEN WITH’ 3 TAP ‘iBOOKS’ Wait for gray bar with Wait for scroll down menu menu buttons to appear on and tap the iBooks icon. top of the PDF. Wait for PDF to load in iBOOKS. 2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Content Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page labusinessjournal.com LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL Volume 33, Number 35 THE COMMUNITY OF BUSINESSTM August 29 - September 4, 2011 • $3.00 Up New Chain Might Bag Hike From a Strike has opened 177 stores since then. But the stores have Front GROCERY: Picket lines at rivals failed to catch on as expected and have yet to turn a could lift struggling Fresh & Easy. profit, losing about $300 million for Tesco in the fis- cal year that ended in February. By JAMES RUFUS KOREN Staff Reporter “A strike of the magnitude that is being talked about could be Christmas come early for Fresh & The prospect of another strike by unionized grocery Easy if it lasted any time,” said Clive Black, who workers is bad news for Vons, Albertsons and Ralphs. follows Tesco as head of research for Shore Capital But it’s good, if not great, news for competing Group Ltd. in Liverpool, England. nonunion grocery chains that should see more shop- Fresh & Easy Chief Executive Tim Mason has pers – and the biggest winner could be Fresh & said the chain needs to become profitable – and Easy Neighborhood Markets Inc., the struggling El soon. He told London’s Financial Times last month Segundo-based unit of British retailer Tesco PLC. that Fresh & Easy can’t keep losing money and Why Lynda Fresh & Easy entered the L.A. and Southwestern Resnick is trying U.S. markets with great fanfare four years ago, and Please see GROCERY page 51 Bin There: Customer at Fresh & Easy in Van Nuys. to turn her water business into wine, too. PAGE 3 SPECIAL L.A. Making Clean News & REPORT RETAIL Analysis WHO’S Break With Tech? WHO IN DEVELOPMENT: Villaraigosa REAL GROUND opens green corridor to all comers. ESTATE BREAKERS By HOWARD FINE Staff Reporter Years of efforts by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to build a clean tech corridor in the downtown area that would make Los Angeles a national leader in green technology now hinge on what could be a last-ditch Overhill Farms development effort. is now making Trammell Crow Co. is negotiating with the Com- Boston Market munity Redevelopment Agency to take over redevel- meals, but can it opment of a sprawling industrial site south of down- sell them? town that’s seen as the key component of the corridor. PAGE 5 Meanwhile, Villaraigosa said last week that other types of companies can come to the corridor, not just those specializing in clean tech. “We welcome any and all other innovative, cre- People ative companies moving into the corridor to create Please see DEVELOPMENT page 52 Trash Companies Dig In on Recycling How Steven Streit lost 140 WASTE: pounds while Haulers, host cities founding a new clash over competing plant plans. industry. PAGE 13 By ALFRED LEE Staff Reporter Trash hauling in Los Angeles has always been MAIL TO: something of a dirty business, with companies vying for hard-won contracts using cutthroat pricing and RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ political connections. Architect DAVID ROGERS, above, has a right to smile. After all, he was the But a battle over competing recycling plant projects design principal on the $265 million reconstruction of Santa Monica Place, one in the San Gabriel Valley highlights how shrinking land- fill space is intensifying competition even more – and of the biggest retail projects to open in Los Angeles County recently. Indeed, changing how companies do business. while the housing market may still be dead and office buildings looking for ten- City of Industry’s Athens Services Inc. and Hous- ants, many who work in the retail end of the commercial real estate market are ton’s Waste Management Inc. are on a collision course as they move to develop rival materials recov- still keeping busy. The Business Journal’s annual Who’s Who in Real Estate Spe- ery facilities – called MRFs or “murfs” – which pick cial Report profiles a dozen of these local retail professionals, from out and sort recyclable materials. Athens’ $60 million developers to brokers, who are grinning despite the sputtering economy. project is in Irwindale, while Waste Management is BEGINNING ON PAGE 19 Please see WASTE page 51 Nomination Deadline: Award Categories: Public Company • Private Company Friday, Sept. 16, 2011 Nonprofit Company • Rising Star • Government/Municipal/Public Sector Visit www.labusinessjournal.com/bizevents or contact [email protected] 2-Page Spread Single Page View Thumbnails | LABJ User Guide | Front Page | Table of Content Previous Page Zoom In Zoom Out Next Page 2 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL AUGUST 29, 2011 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL ® AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 VOLUME 33, NUMBER 35 has been acquired by and management RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ We initiated this transaction, Page 3: Brian Norgard, founder of Chill, at his West Hollywood company. assisted in the negotiations and served CLOTHING – Billionaire investor Ron as financial advisor to Autosplice, Inc. SPECIAL REPORT: Burkle may see American Apparel’s debt WHO’S WHO IN REAL ESTATE load as a good fit for his Yucaipa Cos. .8 PROFILES – Business Journal showcases RETAIL – Big 5 could be sporting a new L.A. professionals who are sold on retail board member if a Connecticut investor gets property development. .19-28 its way. .9 RADIO – Westwood One looks to dial up ON THE COVER business by producing more nationally syndicated programming. .10 DEVELOPMENT – Mayor’s troubled clean Columns & features – Media Watch 10, tech corridor may hinge on redevelopment of News of the Week 12 11766 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 870 • Los Angeles, CA 90025 downtown L.A. industrial site. (310) 478-9000 • Member FINRA/SIPC (Sidebar – “Clean tech incubator” launches www.intrepidib.com with single tenant. Page 52). PEOPLE GROCERY – A labor strike at large INTERVIEW – Former radio DJ Steven Streit supermarkets could spur shoppers to check scored his biggest hit as the creator of prepaid out struggling nonunion chain Fresh & Easy. WASTE – Trash talk between two rival debit cards. .13 companies’ recycling centers has spilled over into court. THE LIST UP FRONT RANKING – The 50 largest construction projects in Los Angeles County, ranked by SPIRITS – Fiji Water hopes for bottoms-up construction cost. .16 benefits from a pair of recently acquired vineyards. .3 INTERNET – Social video-watching site INVESTMENTS & FINANCE The test of time. Chill heats up after unfriendly comment by Columns & features – Econowatch 43, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. .3 LABJ Stock Index 44 AUTOMOTIVE – Electric-car maker Coda looks to park a dealership at Third Street Promenade. .3 REAL ESTATE Columns & features – Page 3, Regional Report 4 Columns & features – Real Estate Column 46 NEWS & ANALYSIS COMMENTARY MANUFACTURING – Frozen-food maker Overhill Farms has added marketing and COMMENT – Charles Crumpley takes stock distribution to its menu in a deal with Boston of all the share buyback programs, and he Market. .5 isn’t sold. .54 ENERGY – Concern over BNK’s European CRIME – Gang violence has steep costs for gas fields may be driving away investors. .5 L.A.’s business community, writes Amelia LEGAL – New pesticide lawsuit from the Xann. .55 Philippines adds to food giant Dole’s 6 DEVELOPMENT – Robert J. Rodino sees Straight talk. Sound counsel. Practical solutions. chemical court cases. BANKING – Broadway Federal will shutter little positive impact from the creation of At Snell & Wilmer, some things never change. branches and work to raise capital as it copes Wal-Mart-style superstores. .55 with a shaky portfolio of real estate loans. .7 Columns & features – LABJ Forum 54 www.swlaw.com Los Angeles Business Journal (ISSN 0194-2603) is published weekly. © 2011, Los Angeles Business Journal. Offices are located at 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 170, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and additional offices (USPS #492-930). Subscription prices: 51 issues and special issue, $99.95. For new and renewal subscriptions, call 1-800-404-5225. All other inquiries (323) 549-5225. Single copies, $3.00. Mailed copies, $5.00. Back issues, $8.00. Address and subscription inquiries to: Circulation Department, Los Angeles Business Jour- nal, 5700 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 170, Los Angeles, CA 90036. This newspaper is designed to inform decision-making executives, investors and man- agers on the trends, the growth and the ideas important to commerce and industry in Los Angeles County. Information in Los Angeles Business Journal is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of this information cannot be guaranteed. Neither that information nor any opinion which may be expressed here constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities. Opinions expressed in letters to the denver | las vegas | los angeles | los cabos | orange county | phoenix | salt lake city | tucson editor and commentaries are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Los Angeles Business Journal. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. LABJ has been adjudicated Nov. 1985 to be a newspaper of general circulation.