Golden Triangle Rounds Up Another Pricey Deal

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An 11,000-square-foot commercial property on Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle has been sold for nearly $11.8 million, one of the highest per-square-foot prices in the city in the past year.

4670 Beverly LLC bought the restaurant and retail property at 9435-9437 S. Santa Monica Blvd. from Byer Properties LP, a real estate investment company operated by the Byer family of San Francisco. The family has an ownership stake in the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

Byer paid $3.5 million for the property 25 years ago and has been disposing of its real estate assets around the country in a move to consolidate holdings.

The property sold above its asking price of $11.3 million after multiple offers bid the price up. At about $1,033 a square foot, it’s among the five highest building sale prices in Beverly Hills in the last year. The highest was the December sale of a retail property at 319-323 Rodeo Drive for $11,972 a square foot.

The former Byer property was originally built for use by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, according to Mark Esses, president of California Realty Group in Santa Monica who represented both sides in the deal. He declined to identify the principals of the acquiring entity.

The property is occupied by Elgin Charles Salon and was once home to the Beverly Hills Diner and Johnny Rockets, though the restaurant space is now vacant and being marketed for a new tenant.

The owner bought the property because of its prime location in Beverly Hills and plans to continue to operate it as is for investment purposes, Esses said.

He added that the transaction is a good sign for the market, which had been slow throughout the recession.

“I think this is another indication that Southern California real estate in particularly good locations is on its way back,” he said.

Picture This

London-based entertainment company Frame Store is moving to Culver City from Santa Monica.

The visual imaging firm, with clients that include Hollywood production studios, has signed a lease for 12,500 square feet at 3500 Helms Ave. with Santa Monica landlord Industry Ltd., according to brokerage Industry Partners. The deal is valued at approximately $7 million.

Industry Ltd. is a newly formed commercial real estate firm that specializes in the development of creative office and urban retail space for its portfolio as well as for landowners, investors and tenants. It was formed by principals of the Industry Partners brokerage firm, also in Santa Monica.

Frame Store is expected to move from its 3,000-square-foot 1520 Cloverfield Blvd. office this month.

The lease brings the 16,000-square-foot Helms building to 100 percent occupancy. Industry Ltd. acquired the 1930s industrial warehouse building in 2011 and completed a $2.5 million adaptive reuse renovation to turn the property into creative office space.

Creative firms have been slowly moving into Culver City from Santa Monica as space becomes scarce and rents in the beachside city escalate. Among recent relocations are consumer electronics maker Beats by Dr. Dre, which recently announced it would move from Santa Monica’s Water Garden office complex to Culver City this year.

Jim Jacobsen and Scott Rigsby of Industry Partners, who represented the landlord in the transaction, could not be reached.

B Move

Santa Monica real estate investment trust Macerich Co. thinks it can raise up to $1 billion by selling 17 of its Class B mall properties and an office complex.

The Business Journal reported in December that the company, which developed Santa Monica Place, is marketing 17 of its 59 malls and one office building as a means to raise equity for the completion of development projects.

In a fourth quarter earnings conference call this month, Macerich Chief Executive Art Coppola revealed how much he thinks the sales could net the company.

“We’ve done our best in giving you our guidance at $500 million to a $1 billion,” Coppola said. “As you can imagine, that’s an extremely sensitive topic to be talking about.”

The malls include the Chesterfield Town Center in Richmond, Va., and Northridge Mall in Salinas. The office property is the Redmond Town Center.

Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.

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