Despite ongoing reports of a retail apocalypse, retail buildings are still selling.
Three properties — two on the Westside and one in Long Beach — recently sold for a combined total of nearly $27 million.
The Broxton at Weyburn in Westwood Village sold for $13.5 million. The building, at 10936-10948 Weyburn Ave. and 1006-1010 Broxton Ave., is nearly 10,000 square feet.
Kidder Mathews’ Tanel Harunzade, Darrell Levonian and Brittney McCarthy represented the seller, a local family investor. The buyer was unnamed.
The Broxton at Weyburn, near UCLA, is located across from the Fox and Bruin theaters. It was 88% leased at the time of the sale, according to CoStar Group Inc.
“This was a rare opportunity as very few properties are listed for sale in Westwood Village,” Harunzade said in a statement. “The property has been in the same family for more than 60 years. One of the tenants, Stan’s Donuts, has been at this location for over 50 years.”
Further east, a retail property in Beverly Hills sold for $8 million.
GEK Construction purchased the property at 301-311 N. Robertson Blvd. from a family trust based in Long Beach. The purchase price amounts to $920 per square foot.
Hanley Investment Group Inc.’s Carlos Lopez and Lee Csenar represented the buyer and the seller in the transaction.
The nearly 9,000-square-foot property was built in 1951. Tenants at the property include Hair by Violet, Art One Gallery and Altman’s Surfaces.
Lopez said in a statement that the property received multiple all-cash offers within weeks.
Csenar added that there was a huge upside for buyers.
“The buyer has the opportunity to lease up, at market rent, the remaining 28% vacancy,” Csenar said in a statement.
He added that the property “is ideally situated in a 2,425-square-foot, cap-end space on a high-visibility corner in a coveted Beverly Hills address that is located less than one mile from the ‘Golden Triangle.’ The property is also near the future Metro station at Wilshire and La Cienega boulevards.”
The Golden Triangle is an area of Beverly Hills that includes Rodeo Drive.
In Long Beach, a retail property in Belmont Shores sold for $5 million. The 9,000-square-foot property was built in 1952 and is located at 5354 East 2nd St.
Hanley Investment Group’s Kevin Fryman, Carlos Lopez and Ed Hanley represented the seller, a private investor.
CBRE Group Inc.’s Nathan Holthouser represented the buyer, a private investor from Long Beach.
The building is 100% leased. Tenants include the Arthritis National Research Foundation, Jonnum Media and the Flynn Group. Citibank had moved out of its nearly 6,000-square-foot, ground-level spot, opening up the space for a new buyer to release.
“We identified a local buyer who understood how valuable the location was and was comfortable with the challenges associated with this beautiful building’s historic designation and the restrictions of the property,” Fryman said in a statement.
Lopez added that “investors were attracted to the value-add opportunity of re-leasing the ground floor while receiving a stable cash flow.”
According to a report by CBRE, the retail market in the greater Los Angeles area saw negative 273,669-square-foot net absorption in the third quarter. CBRE attributed the negative net absorption partially to big-box vacancies.
Overall vacancy increased 10 basis points quarter over quarter to 5.7%. Asking lease rates declined $0.11 per square foot per month during the quarter, but West Los Angeles had the highest asking rates of any submarket at $10.36 a square foot.
