Bixby Scores Big on El Segundo Office

LOS ANGELES—Bixby Land Co. has sold 2101, 1 113,606-square-foot creative office property in El Segundo to Bolour Associates for $49 million, or $431 per square foot. Bixby purchased the property in 2013 and completed a redesign and redevelopment project to convert it into a creative office space, investing a total of $25 million into the project for both the acquisition and redevelopment.

"This was a value add investment for Bixby that involved the acquisition of a vacant single-tenant building that was functionally obsolete," Bill Halford, president and CEO of Bixby Land Co., tells GlobeSt.com. "Bixby invested a significant amount in the redesign and redevelopment of the project, then successfully leased the building to 100% occupancy in December 2015. Having achieved stabilized value in the building, it was an appropriate time to sell."

The property design emulates a boutique hotel, beginning with a Shubin + Donaldson-designed lobby with an outdoor amenities deck and a fire table, while the property's office units feature polished concrete floors, exposed ceilings and natural materials. By 2014, Bixby had fully leased the property to Sanrio, Exponential Interactive, Cove Street Capital, AMA Consulting Engineers, Specialty's Café & Bakery and Peet's Coffee, with Bill Bloodgood of CBRE and Madison Partners' Tony Ranger and Joe King leading the leasing efforts. 

This redesign helped to fuel interest from buyers, and the firm received multiple offers for the property. "We had active interest in the building, due to the appeal of the design, the quality of the development and the stable mix of tenants," Halford adds.

Bixby isn't slowing down its investment and redevelopment creative office strategy. It currently has three projects in Southern California underway and will reinvest the proceeds from the sale into more projects like this. "We are continually redeploying capital into new properties, both value-add and core-investment opportunities," says Halford. "We recently closed on two industrial buildings in Seattle, and continue to seek out investments in primary West Coast markets."