Combined Properties Inc. has mixed-use plans for Santa Monica Boulevard.

The real estate development firm purchased a 20,000-square-foot lot at 8350-8364 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood and plans to build a project there.

The company bought the property in July from an unnamed private partnership for undisclosed terms. Combined plans a four-story building that would include 7,100 square feet of ground floor retail space and 20 condominiums.

“We would love to put in some type of small caf & #233; here to activate the space for the tenants at the project,” said Marianne Lowenthal, executive vice president of development for Combined.

The property at the corner of Kings Road lacks entitlements, and currently features a two-story building with ground floor retail and offices. Tenants are on month-to-month leases with the building about 75 percent occupied, Lowenthal said.

The current structure would be razed next year to make way for the development with construction slated to begin a year from now. The development will be financed conventionally with a bank loan, Lowenthal said.

Units at the new development, which has been designed by local architecture firm Koning Eizenberg Architecture, will be in the 1,110- to 1,600-square-foot range.

“The units are very unique,” Lowenthal said. “We’ve designed them in a way to maximize private outdoor space.”

Combined Properties has two other West Hollywood, mixed-use projects in the entitlements phase.

The company is based in Washington, D.C., but its development arm is located in Beverly Hills.

Hollywood Sale

Epicenter Landcorp LLC, a real estate investment company, has purchased a warehouse building at 1000-1024 Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. The $3.8 million deal closed on July 25.

The roughly half-acre property includes a 3,000-square-foot building that houses the retail operation of Quixote Studios, a local production house that also sells equipment.

The deal with seller Lambert Trust, a private family trust, breaks down to about $137 per square foot for the land. Quixote has been a tenant since 2001 and will remain at the property.

Jordan Kitaen, managing partner of Epicenter, is also the president of Quixote Studios, which he co-founded in 1995. Kitaen and other principals at Epicenter own a property adjacent to his studio’s retail operation.

That property at 1021 Lillian Way could eventually be converted into a soundstage. “As the demands of the film industry changes we will look at the Lillian Way site,” he said.

Kitaen represented Epicenter Landcorp and Stephen Schneider of Schneider & Warren Inc. represented Lambert Trust.

Art Deco Deal

An attractive Art Deco-style apartment building has been sold in Santa Monica.

An unnamed private investor has paid $3 million for the eight-unit property at 822 Euclid St., near the trendy Montana Avenue shopping district. The seller was Los Angeles-based Manakara LLC, a private partnership of real estate investors.

The deal for the fully occupied building breaks down to $375,000 per unit.

The building was constructed in 1938, but units have been refurbished in the last five years with stainless steel appliances, marble flooring and other amenities, said Kitty Wallace, a Sperry Van Ness broker who handled both sides of the deal.

“It was tastefully redone to keep it in the Art Deco genre,” Wallace said. “I love it, it is fabulous. I would live in that building.”

Units also include private balconies and the building has a courtyard. Wallace said that the new owner is hoping to get the property listed on historic registries and is researching the history of the building.

Mark Verge, owner of WestsideRentals.com, a Web site of Southern California rental listings, said that Art Deco buildings have become very popular.

“It is unbelievable what people will pay to live in one of these buildings,” said Verge. “If you are buying a building with character you are safe.”

Rents in the building, restricted by Santa Monica’s rent control ordinance, range from $1,595 to $2,050 per month. The deal closed June 28.

Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at

[email protected]

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