Burbank is getting a new gym. But it wasn’t easy.
On May 18, the City Council approved a 24 Hour Fitness gym for an industrial building at 1903 Empire Ave. The project had been opposed by a competing gym and local businesses that cited traffic concerns. The 3-2 vote to approve the project, which underwent changes in the last year to address parking issues, means that the 15-year lease can be finalized.
Broker Brett Warner of Lee & Associates, who represented landlord 1903 Empire Avenue LLC, said the deal was signed in December but was pending the council’s action. The 47,000-square-foot lease is valued at more than $15 million, according to Burbank real estate sources with knowledge of the transaction. The property is owned by real estate investor Dr. Aramais Paroyan.
The building, which has been vacant for about three years, was formerly occupied by Paroyan’s clinical laboratory. The doctor sold the lab about three years ago and the new owner moved the operation soon after the sale, Warner said.
Paroyan had planned to convert the property into an office development before the economy faltered. Warner said that 24 Hour Fitness first approached him about the location two years ago.
“They had long been looking in Burbank,” said Robert Walsh of Cypress Retail Group, who represented the tenant. The gym will be one of the chain’s higher-end Super Sport locations, featuring a swimming pool and basketball court. It is expected to open in the fall.
As part of the renovations, the building has already been retrofitted so that it can support a roof-top parking lot. In order to gain city approval, ownership agreed to increase the width of parking spaces, addressing concerns over parking and congestion.
Robert Erickson of Lee & Associates also represented the landlord.
Paroyan and 24 Hour Fitness could not be reached for comment.
Medical Lease
USC is making inroads on the Westside after signing a nine-year lease this month for medical office space at 9033 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills.
Doctors of USC, a medical group affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine, will occupy the 14,195-square-foot offices in Archway Medical Plaza. The five-story building is owned by Archway Holdings Wilmed LLC, an entity of private Beverly Hills investors.
The offices will house about 10 doctors from the school’s Doheny Eye Institute and its USC Westside Prostate Cancer Center, which will relocate from smaller nearby offices at 8900 Wilshire, said Keck school Dean Carmen Puliafito.
“This is really a patient access issue for us,” he said. “What we are doing in Beverly Hills is taking signature programs and co-locating them in one site in state-of-the-art facilities.”
Steve Salas of Madison Partners, who represented the landlord, said the property is now 100 percent leased. The landlord believes the deal has upped the building’s profile.
“We are very pleased to have them. It makes our building,” said Sean Moghavem, managing partner of Archway Holdings-Wilmed. “The fact that they’ve chosen our building points to the fact that it’s one of the premier medical buildings in town.”
As part of the deal, Archway Holdings Wilmed will spend about $50 per square foot on renovating the space, while USC will spend about $6 million on upgrades. The offices are expected to be ready in October.
Gary Weiss of L.A. Realty Partners, who represented the tenant, said it was tough to find Westside space that suited USC’s needs.
“To accommodate their needs in a building on Wilshire in Beverly Hills was hard to find,” he said.
The landlord also was represented by Joe King and Bob Safai of Madison Partners. The tenant also was represented by Christy McRoskey of L.A. Realty and John Wadsworth of Colliers International.
Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
