Hodgdon Group Completes 12th Retail Project for Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Northridge

Dec. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- COLTON, CALIF. – The Hodgdon Group, a full-service real estate brokerage, development and construction firm, announced today that it has completed construction on the conversion of the former Levitz building at Northridge Fashion Center in Northridge, Calif., for the opening of an Ashley Furniture HomeStore. Hodgdon-Miank Construction served as the full-service design-build contractor and completed the major renovation of the 34,000-square-foot freestanding Ashley Furniture HomeStore. This is the 12th Ashley Furniture HomeStore to open, which has been completed by the Hodgdon Group.

Hodgdon Realty Group negotiated the acquisition of the 34,000-square-foot building located at 9301 Tampa Avenue in Northridge on behalf of Ashley Furniture with Crown Realty & Development, Inc. of Irvine, California and Sears Holdings. The Hodgdon Group is Ashley Furniture's tenant representative in California and has been working with Ashley for over a decade on various real estate and construction projects.

As the full-service design-build contractor, Hodgdon-Miank Construction was responsible for hiring the architect and engineering firms and working with the City of Los Angeles to obtain the necessary entitlements and permits, as well as perform major renovations. According to Aaron Hodgdon, President of Hodgdon Group, the scope of the project included interior and exterior remodel of the building, which was rebuilt in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake.  

"The City of Los Angeles was very helpful in fast-tracking approvals to accommodate our very compressed 12-week construction schedule," said Hodgdon. "We worked on Thanksgiving, nights and weekends to get this project completed on time, our team and the sub-contractors put in extra effort to get it done. The city's Senior Electrical Inspector Rick Horn did an inspection at 2:00 a.m. and our building inspector Albert Comisari was on-site at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of Ashley's opening."

Due to rain in the last week, Hodgdon-Miank Construction had to bring in heaters to dry the parking lot the night before the grand opening so they could stripe the parking lot. "We completed working 15 minutes before the grand opening and ribbon cutting on Friday morning," stated Executive Vice President David Miank of Hodgdon-Miank Construction, who managed the project. Thom Duncan acted as the Senior Superintendent and Edward Miank filled in during night shifts. Roger Deitos of GAA Architects served as the project architect and GLP Engineering, Inc. was the design engineer for mechanical, electrical and plumbing.

Ashley joins over 170 fine stores and restaurants at the Northridge Fashion Center including Macy's, JCPenney, Sears, and a 10-screen stadium-seating theater.

About the Hodgdon Group
The Hodgdon Group is a full-service brokerage, development, construction and project management company. The firm's portfolio of experience includes a wide range of retail, office, industrial and residential projects totaling more than 1,000 acres with complex entitlements, development and incentive agreements and extensive coordination with State and Federal agencies. For more information please visit www.hodgdongroup.com or call Aaron Hodgdon at 909.783.3020.