Office, Medical Building Sales Tally $36M

The 1950s office building is at 400 S. Beverly Dr. in Beverly Hills, a property that sold for $16 million in a deal brokered by principal Bob Safai of Los Angeles-based Madison Partners. Safai represented the seller, Blue Real Estate of Beverly Hills, which sold the building to locally based Big Rock Partners.

The 400 S. Beverly property is a 42,422-sf, four-story office building including a penthouse. The price works out to $377.16 per sf, which Safai describes as "an outstanding deal for a classic, elegant Beverly Hills property with vintage but modern design."

The property sold at a 4% cap on in-place income and was 94% occupied at the time of the sale. Buyer Big Rock Partners represented itself.

The Santa Monica medical office building, which sold for $14.75 million, is a 25,829-sf property at 1450 10th St. that was built in 1984. The building traded in an off-market transaction that was brokered by Safai, who represented both the seller, Princeton Medical Holdings LLC and the buyer, Lexham Holdings, an affiliate of Stamford, CT-based Lexham Private Investors LLC.

The medical building, which sold at a 5.5% cap rate, needs interior renovation but the existing rents are well below today's market values, Safai notes. Joseph Shabani, the seller's principal, says that Princeton was not looking to sell the building since it was a recent acquisition for the company, but the company received an offer that it "couldn't turn down," he says.

The other off-market deal was Los Angeles-based Champion Development's acquisition of the Sawtelle Professional Building at 2100 Sawtelle Blvd. in West Los Angeles from Sawtelle Professional Building LP for approximately $5 million. Champion plans to reposition the 18,858-sf garden-style office building through a variety of capital improvements including a renovation of the building facade and common areas.

The building location is a block north of Olympic Boulevard in a part of West Los Angeles that is sometimes referred to as Little Tokyo and is becoming a retail hot spot. The property is leased to small professional and entertainment companies at below-market rents with all leases expiring within the next 12 months.

Champion Development, which has built its portfolio largely through the development of upscale mixed-use and urban infill projects, is now pursuing well-located class B and C office properties throughout Southern California, according to Evan Meyer, the company's director of acquisitions.

Meyer says that Champion liked the opportunity presented by the Sawtelle Professional Building because of its combination of short-term, under-market rents and the additional potential upside through improvements to the building. Both Champion and the seller were represented by T.C. Macker and Craig Newlands of Coldwell Banker Commercial Westmac.