Condo-Hotel Owner Sees Complex as Half-Full

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The 10th condominium was sold this month at the Montage Beverly Hills, putting the luxury hotel and condominium complex, which opened more than two years ago, at 50 percent capacity.

The three-bedroom, three-bath residence sold for $6.6 million, about $2,200 per square foot – an amount that Laguna Beach-based complex owner and operator Montage Hotels & Resorts LLC claimed met the asking price.

“It’s a milestone for us,” said Montage General Manager Hermann Elger.

Prior to this deal, two residences sold at the 225 N. Canon Drive property for more than $10 million. Sales were handled by Sotheby’s International Realty.

In total, the 20 residences spanning three floors above the 201-room hotel have asking prices between $4.6 million and $16.8 million. They vary between 1,900 square feet to 5,700 square feet.

Stephen Shapiro, whose Westside Estate Agency residential brokerage has offices in Beverly Hills and Malibu, said it’s hard to evaluate the price given how unique the property is for the Westside. The Montage provides several amenities to residents including a restaurant, spa, bar and 24-hour concierge service.

“Somebody thinks they are getting a good deal, otherwise they wouldn’t have purchased the condo,” Shapiro said.

Among the reported residents of the hotel are Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Frank McCourt and Beverly Hills developer Larry Field.

Fast Growth

West L.A. real estate investment trust Hudson Pacific Properties Inc., which made its initial mark buying local entertainment properties such as Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, is benefiting from a northward shift.

Last week, the company increased its full-year funds from operations guidance by more than 20 percent to a range of $1.01 to $1.06 per diluted share from a previous range of 82 cents to 86 cents, according to a regulatory filing.

The improved guidance for its FFO, a REIT metric that adds amortization and depreciation costs back into net income to get a clear picture of cash performance, is the result of an aggressive acquisition strategy in the Bay Area.

In the fourth quarter, Hudson Pacific quadrupled its presence in San Francisco with the acquisition of three new office buildings. It was part of a $360 million acquisition of more than 1.8 million square feet of space statewide.

The buildings acquired include a 22-story, 1 million-square-foot building at 1455 Market St.; a two-building property at 222 Kearny St.; and the Rincon Center at 101 Spear St., a two-building mixed-use property in the Financial District, owned through a joint venture with Beacon Capital Partners LLC.

“San Francisco right now is one of the hottest markets in the country in terms of tech growth,” said Victor Coleman, Hudson Pacific founder, chairman and chief executive, who previously co-founded Arden Realty Inc. with local real estate legend Richard Ziman. “And we believe in the opportunity there.”

Hudson Pacific, which started up in 2006 and went public last June, has accumulated a portfolio of 13 properties and 4 million square feet from San Francisco and San Diego. Its local properties include a new office building on the Sunset Gower lot that houses Technicolor and a Culver City office building where the NFL Network is located.

Craig Mailman, an analyst with Cleveland-based KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., said he has not been surprised by how aggressive Hudson Pacific has been since its founding.

“They are starting off from such a small base they have to grow to get to critical mass,” Mailman said.“We expect them to get bigger as they move forward.”

Downtown Law

Continuing the trend of law firms moving to downtown Los Angeles, Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP has announced it will move from its current Howard Hughes Center location in July to the City National Bank Plaza.

The law firm has signed a 10-year sublease for 27,280 square feet on the 45th floor at 555 S. Flower St. from Jones Day. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, sources familiar with the downtown office market said the deal was between $8 million to $10 million for the 10-year term.

Haight Brown & Bonesteel currently occupies about 35,000 square feet at 6080 Center Drive in the Howard Hughes Center near Los Angeles International Airport.

According to Darren Eades, a senior vice president for Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, which represented Haight Brown & Bonesteel, the law firm plans to use a more efficient floor plan at City National Plaza to reduce space requirements.

Eades noted that architectural firm Gensler recently announced it was moving to City National Plaza, taking space in a building in between the two high-rise towers that make up the complex.

“From a recruiting and retention standpoint, with L.A. Live now complete, it’s a much more attractive market to tenants that didn’t consider it a couple years ago,” Eades said.

Eric Duncanson, executive director with the downtown office of Cushman & Wakefield, represented Jones Day in the sublease transaction.

Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 228. Staff reporter Howard Fine contributed to this column.

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