Top Sperry Van Ness Broker Departs

Sperry Van Ness' No.1 performer in four of the last five years has left the brokerage company to form an investment advisory group.

Reza Etedali, widely recognized as one of the top retail property sales players in Southern California, racked up an estimated $700 million worth of deals in 2003, far outpacing his total of $175 million a year earlier and accounting for a large chunk of the firm's overall transaction value. Between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2003, Sperry Van Ness' 380 brokers completed a total of $3.2 billion in deals, according to company figures.

But Sperry Van Ness president David Frosh, who characterizes the two parties ending their relationship on good terms, is not overly concerned about the loss. In terms of volume, "it was a lot," he said. "But transactional-wise, it was minimal. Comparatively speaking, it was a small number of deals the company did overall." Frosh said that the firm has 40 other retail brokers and has plans to aggressively grow that business line.

Etedali, who joined his former employer in 1995, handled some of the area's largest retail transactions in 2003. His team, which includes seven members who also left Sperry Van Ness, sold Media City Center in Burbank, Calif., for $111 million; Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza for $68 million; Del Norte Plaza in San Diego for $33 million and Warner Marketplace in Canoga Park.

"In the last couple of years, Reza has developed relationships with many institutional buyers and sellers," said Bill Winn, COO of Passco Real Estate Enterprises Inc., which completed roughly $75 million worth of deals in the last two years with Etedali. "Earlier in his career, he dealt primarily with Orange County-based buyers and sellers. He's built a team that provides really good service. (That has) caused him to capture larger market share."

Etedali, who did not return repeated calls as of press time, has a client list that also includes CIGNA, Pan Pacific Retail Properties, GE Capital and Arden Realty, among others.