Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but industry sources believe Crown paid north of $9 million for the vacant, single-story office property at 1935 Buena Vista St., which was built in 1955. It was renovated extensively in 1998 for the Warner Bros. Studio Store operation, which once counted about 130 stores but has since been discontinued by AOL Time Warner.

Robert Flaxman, Crown's president, called the property "well-appointed from improvements by Warner Brothers." Crown will market the building to office users, with Matt Hargrove and Carl Muhlstein of Cushman & Wakefield as listing agents. Hargrove represented Warner Bros. in the sale to Crown, with Crown representing itself.

The property is in close to the Burbank Empire Center retail development and nearby Burbank Media City Center retail development, with easy access to the I-5 Freeway. It is near similar facilities occupied by entertainment companies such as Disney, Dreamworks and Nickelodeon.

Crown sees long-term potential in Burbank, according to Jaime Sohacheski, Crown's chairman. He notes the firm has a concentration of holdings in the city because it believes in Burbank's demographics, diverse economy, broad range of housing options, growing retail base and its proximity to the I-5.

Starting in 1997 with an acquisition of land for an infill redevelopment project, Crown has acquired a portfolio of holdings in the Burbank marketplace comprising nearly two million sf of facilities on approximately 70 acres. Earlier this year, Crown acquired the 1.2-million-sf Burbank Media City Center. Its other holdings in the city include the development and continued ownership of Gateway Burbank, a 75,000-sf grocery-anchored retail center and the repositioning and subsequent sale in September 2002 of an office building that is home to Black Entertainment Television's West Coast headquarters. Crown also has future plans to develop a 23-acre mixed-use project near downtown Burbank.