Closure of Multiplex Prompts Sale of Glendale Exchange

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Spurred by the impending opening of Caruso Affiliated Holdings’ large Americana at Brand development, Mann Theatres has decided to close its multiplex at the Glendale Exchange prompting the project’s sale.


Glendale Exchange MW LP, a partnership of private investors from Boca Raton, Fla., has sold the 92,154-square-foot Exchange property to investment group 1027 Wilshire Associates LLC for $22.5 million. The buyer is a family-owned commercial real estate company with local holdings.


The 10 Mann screens at the Glendale Exchange make it the largest multiplex in the city, but Pacific Theaters will open an 18-screen multiplex in the spring when the $400 million Caruso development is completed.


“With Americana at Brand, Mann would lose its dominant position in the area,” said Dan Riley of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., who represented the seller in the deal, which closed August 23.


Mann will vacate the Exchange when its lease is up in June 2011, leaving the development more than 50 percent vacant. Riley said that if Mann Theatres was not leaving, the price would be considered “below market rate.”


The Exchange, a redevelopment project at 128 S. Maryland Ave. that opened more than a decade ago, is about two blocks from Americana at Brand. Riley said that the buyers are considering their options for the property and that a “residential play” is possible. The property is in a mixed-use development area that was rezoned in 2006 to allow for higher-density development.


But proximity to the Caruso Affiliated development could turn out to be a good thing for the owner of the Exchange; real estate near the popular Grove shopping center in the Miracle Mile area has gotten a boost since that center took off.


Sam Alison and Geoff Martin, both of CB Richard Ellis, also represented the seller. The buyer represented itself in-house.



Design Center Deals

The final phase of the Pacific Design Center, the Red Building, is expected to be completed in 2010. But in advance of that opening, the design center is already becoming more of a hot spot for the interior design and furnishings industries.


Over the last six months, several design tenants have signed leases at the Blue Building, at 8687 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. Property owner Charles Cohen, who heads up Cohen Bros. Realty Corp. of New York City, said that 10 companies have relocated to the Blue Building in the last six months.


“These are tenants that have never been there and have elected to view the Pacific Design Center as the most important business tool for them to sell their product to the professional designer,” said Cohen.


Companies that have made the move include Ebanista Inc., Panache Designs and Eccola Inc.


Cohen said that rents at the building start at about $3 per square foot per month and top out near $6. There is about 60,000 square feet of space left in the 750,000-square-foot Blue Building, also known as the “Big Blue Whale.”


In 1999 Cohen began upgrading the design center and now it features new dining options and the MOCA Gallery.


Kathleen White, co-owner of furniture company Eccola, said that the design center is an intriguing option because it is ground zero for the industry. “It is a whole different world than the retail world.”


Eccola has signed a three-year lease for about 600 square feet at the Blue Building. The company retains its showroom on La Brea Avenue.



Code Blue

The former St. Luke Medical Center in Pasadena has been sold to a Beverly Hills-based real estate developer.


Developer DS Ventures LLC paid about $45 million for the 13.4 acre property. The seller was the California Institute of Technology, which had purchased the property in 2003 for about $25 million. The deal closed on Oct. 19.


The hospital closed its doors in 2002 and Caltech had purchased it with the goal of using the property as a research facility. However, the property is about five miles from the Caltech campus and the distance proved to be problematic for researchers, though two research units are based there, said Dean Currie, vice president for business and finance at the university.


“Though we did imagine that it would be taken up over time we found that the distance to campus made it very different from being on campus,” Currie said.


The property was ultimately put on the market because the cost of renovating the property particularly the old hospital, which is designated as a historic landmark by the City of Pasadena was “really too high for us,” Currie said.


The university has worked out an agreement with DS Ventures so that the research groups, totaling about 50 people, can continue to work at the property for the time being.


There were said to be about 10 bidders on the property, including local and national real estate players. The property includes a collection of buildings and the seven-story, 74,000-square-foot main hospital building. David Schwartzman, owner of DS, says the company is considering offices and senior housing at the site.


Marc Renard and Carl Muhlstein of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. represented Caltech in the transaction. DS Ventures represented itself in-house on the deal. DS Ventures did not immediately return calls seeking comment.



Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.

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