“Stressed” California Wildfire Fund Could Take Hit

Any anniversary is a good time for reflection.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was in Pasadena on July 7, along with Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and other state and local leaders. They were there to talk about the six-month anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires: what’s been done and what the next 120 days look like.

While touting fast site cleanups in burned areas and executive orders cutting red tape around rebuilding, the challenges facing impacted communities can’t be glossed over. There’s still a question of insurance payouts, construction logistics coordination, costs of rebuilding, length of time required to get back to normal — whatever that may mean — and, maybe most important to some, accountability.

On that last point, an after-action report is due out next month from the state to evaluate response and recovery successes and failures. That is separate from investigations into the causes of each fire as lawsuits, including one from Los Angeles County against Southern California Edison, work their way through the courts with respect to the Eaton Fire.

“The impact of both investigations will be outsized,” Newsom told reporters. “And if the utility is liable, they ultimately will be held to account.”

Still, the governor pointed out, the ramifications of that could be felt across utility companies. That stands to also stress the California Wildfire Fund, which pays claims in the case of a fire caused by a utility, Newsom said.

“These are big, big questions — big burdens — potentially, also, opportunities for reform [of] insurance and certainly things that we’re monitoring in real time,” the governor said.

Where was Bass?

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was supposed to be part of the gaggle of electeds on stage talking about the wildfire anniversaries. Instead, she was over in the Westlake neighborhood, as federal agents moved through MacArthur Park. It’s unclear what the objective of the federal government was there, and reports have said there were no arrests.

This week’s latest visuals, including Thursday’s raid at a Camarillo farm, of the chill the federal presence has had locally raises questions on the impact to an already squeezed construction industry and the fire rebuilding efforts.

Bass signed an executive directive Friday aimed at ensuring no city department is using resources to assist in immigration enforcement. The directive also creates a working group with Bass’ Office of Immigrant Affairs, activist organizations, community leaders and the Los Angeles Police Department to brainstorm how LAPD officers should respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement locally.

On DTLA

Homelessness, protestors in the streets and an exodus of commercial tenants have been the steady drumbeat of bad headlines defining Downtown Los Angeles for a while now.

So, as the suits leave for places such as Century City and Beverly Hills, the question is what’s next for a submarket that’s had lots of false starts in its revitalization.

The answer isn’t too clear when one factors in only the commercial headlines. In the case of residential? Maybe it’s a different story.

Multifamily occupancy in the first quarter was nearly 91 percent, ticking up slightly from the year-ago comparison by less than a percentage point and up from 85 percent in 2019, the DTLA Alliance reported.

The takeaway: People are still living in Downtown, which makes the case for other uses provided by businesses willing to cut through the perception of a down-and-out submarket.

Douglas Emmett founder swings big with Brentwood listing

Douglas Emmett Realty’s founder could cash out in a big way if he gets anywhere near the $58.5 million asking price of his recently listed Brentwood home.

The property at 12833 Chalon Road last traded for $20 million in late 2020 by a limited liability company tied to Kenneth Panzer, who started the predecessor firm to Douglas Emmett in 1991.

Anyone looking for seclusion is in luck with this home, which sits on a more than 5-acre lot in the gated community of Brentwood Country Estates. It’s one of only 13 homes in the guard-gated neighborhood.

Of course, should the home sell for anything over $10.6 million, Panzer will be on the hook for a 5.5 percent assessment via the City of Los Angeles’ Measure ULA tax.

PIMCO condo contract

Nick and Natasha Gross are one step closer to a change of scenery.

The couple is in contract to sell its penthouse unit at 9040 West Sunset Boulevard, which is asking $13.5 million.

Nick is the son of billionaires Bill Gross, Pacific Investment Management Company cofounder, and his ex-wife and philanthropist Sue Gross.

The condo unit is located in West Hollywood Edition, which has attracted a number of high-profile residents in more recent years, such as DJ Steve Aoki, Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen and songwriter Ryan Tedder.

Home sellers profit margin woes

No one selling residential real estate needed data to tell them it’s slow out there. But just in case anyone wanted a fresh set of numbers, Attom reported average profits for Los Angeles sellers were off in the first quarter.

The data analytics firm found the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area saw its average profit margin slip to less than 55 percent in the quarter. That’s down nearly 7 percent from a year ago.

Even still California sellers weren’t the biggest losers in this latest data set.