The buyer, IRP Beverly Hills Associates LLC, gains an 87,596-sf office building in the "Golden Triangle" of Beverly Hills in a transaction brokered by C&W's Steve Algermissen. The property is "an outstanding building with exceptional opportunity through the renovation of the ground floor," says Algermissen. He notes that the building's ground floor and mezzanine are currently leased to Bank of America through Jan. 31, 2005, allowing the new owner to increase the rents to market level. At the end of the term, the bank intends to remain in only a portion of the space, Algeremissen explains, which will then allow the new owner to subdivide the space for multiple retail oriented tenants.

The eight-story building occupies the corner of Beverly Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard South, commonly referred to as "Little Santa Monica Boulevard." Built in 1975, the building is 99% leased and is subject to a ground lease that expires in 2034.

Brokerage firms describe the Beverly Hills office market in general, and the Golden Triangle area in particular, as one of the strongest office submarkets on the Westside of Los Angeles. The area enjoys a diverse tenant base and was affected much less by the dot-com collapse than other parts of the Westside. The Golden Triangle area is home to a number of landmark office buildings, including the 124,000-sf neo-Georgian former headquarters of Global Crossing that traded earlier this year for about $50 million.