Downtown L.A.’s Draw Continues for Investors

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The real estate churn that marked the end of 2014 appears to be continuing unabated at the start of the new year.

Downtown L.A. real estate developer Rising Realty Partners closed on its purchase of Figueroa Courtyard, a five-building, low-rise office park at 201 S. Figueroa St., on Jan. 16, the first of two anticipated deals downtown this year.

The 270,000-square-foot Figueroa Courtyard tenants include U.S. Bancorp, listed by real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. as the then-owner of the property. The purchase price for the 72 percent-occupied campus was not disclosed.

“This is a one-of-a-kind property in downtown Los Angeles with a very strong tenant roster,” Nelson Rising, Rising Realty’s chairman, said in a statement. “We see great potential in this property.”

Even though price-per-foot values have been on the rise downtown, the value of the Figueroa Courtyard deal is hard to determine, said one downtown real estate source. A low-rise campus surrounded by high-rise towers, the office campus was being marketed by Kennedy Wilson Properties without a price tag; the deal was for the remaining term on a 99-year ground lease that was signed in 1978 and, after amendments, has 62 years remaining; Rising Realty is known for buying properties at value prices.

Representatives of Rising Realty would not comment beyond the statement, and a listing agent at Kennedy Wilson did not return a call seeking comment.

A spokesman for U.S. Bank said in an email that the bank picked up the property with its acquisition of Cal National Bank in 2009. He would not comment on the purchase price, but did say the bank would continue to occupy about 10 percent of the property.

The next downtown domino to fall might well be Union Bank Plaza, a block south of Figueroa Courtyard at 445 S. Figueroa.

A downtown real estate source said a deal had been struck to sell the 630,000-square-foot office tower to Santa Monica’s Ocean West Capital Partners on behalf of a South Korean investment entity.

The office building is owned by a real estate investment trust managed by KBS Realty Advisors of Newport Beach. The deal, the source said, could be in excess of $400 a square foot, or more than $252 million. KBS purchased the building, which is 92 percent occupied, for $208 million in late 2010.

The owner, KBS REIT II, said in its quarterly report for the period ended Sept. 30 that Union Bank Plaza was generating $21.5 million in annual gross rent.

Phil Choi, an Ocean West principal, declined to comment on the pending transaction, as did Charles J. Schreiber Jr., KBS chief executive.

Senior Managing Editor Jonathan Diamond contributed to this report.

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