Montgomery Sells in Hollywood, Buys in Mid-Wilshire

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Montgomery Partners Inc. has been tweaking its Southern California portfolio this month, selling a Hollywood apartment building and purchasing a historic mid-Wilshire property.


Montgomery principal John Palmer said that his Mill Valley-based firm was not initially interested in selling the 102-unit Wilcox Apartments at 1750 N. Wilcox Ave. But the offer the firm received for the property allowed it to make a deal for the Wilshire property on a 1031 tax deferred exchange basis.


One week after the Hollywood deal closed for $20.5 million on Jan. 5, Montgomery purchased Park Wilshire, an older apartment building at 2424 Wilshire Blvd., for $17 million.


“It worked out quite nicely that way,” said Palmer, whose company has acquired more than 2,000 units in the last two years. “I was not going to sell 1750 Wilcox it’s in a great section of Hollywood and the neighborhood has improved dramatically in two years.”


Montgomery purchased Wilcox Apartments for about $13 million two years ago. It was sold to Pacific Property Co. in a joint venture with Capmark Financial Group Inc., which chose to purchase the property because it owns the 243-unit Victor Hollywood directly across the street.


“It is exactly what we look to buy: contemporary assets of a quality nature,” said Rory Gardner, managing director of Palo-Alto based Pacific Property, who added the apartments will be renamed “Mark Hollywood” and receive a $600,000 renovation.


The Park Wilshire seller, Irvine-based private investment firm Bascom Group LLC, has spent about $3 million renovating the 170-unit building in the last three years. Palmer said the building could be designated a city historic structure and may be added to the National Register of Historic Places.


The Park Wilshire deal was a market-rate transaction, Palmer said.


On the Wilcox deal, both sides of the transaction were represented by Ron Harris of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Co. while Harris and Greg Harris of Marcus & Millichap represented both sides of the Park Wilshire deal.



Beverly Hills Record

A recent property sale in Beverly Hills is believed to have set the record for price per square foot in the tony city.


In a joint venture, real estate investment groups Angelo Gordon & Co. LP and Cambra Realty paid about $609 per foot for the Wilshire Spalding Building, a medical office building.


The four-story building located at 120 S. Spalding Dr. was sold for $41.85 million by Arden Realty Inc. It is 100 percent occupied and has been at least 95 percent occupied for the last 10 years, said Bob Safai of Madison Partners, who represented both sides of the deal, which closed Dec. 28.


“It’s a great institutional medical building in an unbelievable location,” Safai said.


Safai said that 17 offers were made for the property. He said rents will likely be raised at the property, calling them “arguably 20 percent below market.”



Alhambra Deal

Private non-profit Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center For The Developmentally Disabled Inc. has signed a lease extension at the Alhambra, a one-million-square-foot office campus located in the San Gabriel Valley city.


As part of the 10-year, $13.5 million lease, the center will expand its operations at the Alhambra by 12,700 square feet for a total of 83,100 square feet of space. The center is under contract with the California Department of Developmental Services to provide community based services to people with developmental disabilities.


“They have been here for over 10 years and it shows they have a lot of faith in the campus,” said Victoria Deise, senior development manager of the Ratkovich Co., which owns the Alhambra with AIG Global Real Estate.


The lease deal breaks down to about $1.35 per square foot per month, and Deise said that it was a market-rate deal for space at the office campus.


The Alhambra owners were represented by Linda Lee, Brendan Monaghan and Corina Panlilio of Grubb & Ellis Co. The center was represented by Alan Aufhammer, Brad Schlaak and David Kutzer of Staubach Co.



Downtown Tech

Technology company Oversee.Net has signed a $20 million lease for two floors at 515 S. Flower St. downtown. The company, which deals in online advertising by securing and monetizing Internet traffic, will move to its new 45,000-square-foot space at City National Plaza this summer.


Oversee chief executive Lawrence Ng said his firm’s move is a “matter of growth” as it expands from 115 employees.


Downtown boosters have long said that the area needs to attract more technology companies to diversify its business community.


The 11-year lease deal breaks down to about $3.37 per square foot per month.


Building owner Thomas Properties Group Inc. was represented in-house by Kent Handleman while Studley Inc.’s Mark Sullivan represented Oversee.



Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at

[email protected]

, or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.

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