Sunset Boulevard’s Columbia Square may soon become an even tonier Hollywood address now that property owner Sungow LLC has sold the historic CBS broadcasting complex to Las Vegas-based developer Molasky Pacific LLC.
Lynwood Fields, partner at Madison Partners, arranged the $66 million sale of the 125,000-square-foot commercial space, which sits on 4.69 acres at 6121 Sunset Blvd.
Molasky Pacific, which has offices in Santa Monica, has done a variety of residential and retail development over the past two decades, but more recently has focused on adaptive reuse projects redeveloping former retail, hotel and industrial sites.
“Hollywood’s renaissance continues with an abundance of new residential and commercial development coming on-line,” Fields said. “This property offers a rare opportunity to breathe new life into a relic of the golden age of Hollywood.”
Randall Reel, the Molasky senior vice president who led negotiations for the deal, said the firm will work with the city to determine the best mix of uses for the site.
Columbia Square was built in 1938 as a CBS radio studio, and was considered the most technologically advanced facility of its type at the time. In later years, classic television shows such as the “Jack Benny Show” and the “George Burns & Gracie Allen Show” were broadcast there. Radio station KNX-AM (1070) already has relocated to new studios on Wilshire Boulevard’s Miracle Mile, with KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9) scheduled to move next to CBS Studio Center in Studio City.
Standard Oil Building Sold
Another Los Angeles landmark also has changed hands, with Hertz Investment Group selling downtown’s Standard Oil Building to the owners of Los Angeles-based Bisou Bisou women’s fashion line for $20 million.
This nine-story Beaux Arts-style building at 605 Olympic Blvd. was designed by architect George W. Kelham in 1928 as the oil company’s regional headquarters, and was designated an L.A. Historic Cultural Monument in 1988. Hertz acquired the 100,000-square-foot building in 1999.
With the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising as the building’s primary tenant, Bisou Bisou co-owner Marc Bohbot said he and wife Michelle were as much attracted to potential creative synergies of relocating their corporate headquarters to the seventh floor as they were enchanted by the historic building’s open spiral stairwells and brass mail drops.
“We really loved the detail and the vibe of that building, as well as the investment opportunity,” said Bohbot, whose company licenses and designs French-influenced women’s clothing and accessories under the Bisou Bisou name for JC Penney. Bohbot said he negotiated the sale directly with Hertz Investment Chief Executive Judah Hertz, a longtime acquaintance.
In addition to fashion, the Bohbots also are engaged in several real estate investment ventures, including a proposed condo-retail-office complex on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills adjacent to the future Montage Hotel.
Hagar Adds to Out-of-State Holdings
Los Angeles-based Hager Pacific Properties, one of the state’s largest privately-owned real estate investment firms, has been busy this month with several acquisitions outside the state.
Hager has acquired a portfolio of 11 single-tenant industrial buildings from an affiliate of Walton Street Real Estate Fund IV LP for around $90 million. The portfolio properties are located in the Lehigh Valley region of Central Pennsylvania and total 2.2 million square feet. This purchase marks Hager Pacific Properties’ entrance into this key distribution hub.
“Located on the I-81/78 corridor, the properties are within one day’s drive of more than 50 percent of the U.S. population,” said Hagar managing partner Roy Neal, whose firm specializes in acquiring and turning around under-performing properties using only its own internal capital and no institutional investors. “This is a property with a lot of potential for us.”
In a separate transaction, Hager also has entered the Dallas, Chicago and Salt Lake City real estate markets by acquiring a portfolio of three single-tenant national credit office buildings in those metropolitan areas for $48 million from Levitt Properties Trust.
This and That
Ramsey Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. has facilitated the $3.6 million sale of an aging commercial-industrial site at 1928-2012 Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake to 2000 Hyperion Associates LLC, which plans to turn the property into a design and architectural incubator. Hyperion Associates is a high end, urban-oriented architectural firm that specializes in historic and urban/mixed-use infill projects and plans to move their offices there. The Hyperion property consists of 14,110 square feet of buildings on 36,895 square feet of land, which currently is occupied by an auto repair shop, a church and a film set production company. Ramsey-Shilling’s John Tronson and Steven Tronson represented the buyers.
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Los Angeles-based shopping center owner McDonough Development has sold North Ranch Gateway in Westlake Village to Dallas-based CH Realty in a transaction valued at more than $33 million. The 86,000-square-foot neighborhood complex is 100 percent leased, with TJ Maxx and Cort Furniture Rental among the long-term lease tenants. Dan Riley and Sam Alison of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.’s downtown Los Angeles office partnered with David Rush at the Ventura Office to represent the seller. CH Realty represented themselves.
