Fine Arts Building Trades for $17M

LOS ANGELES-Alliance Commercial Partners of Lakewood, CO has acquired the historic Fine Arts Building, a 12-story office building at 811 W. Seventh St. that was built in 1926, from locally based Blue Real Estate for $17.25 million. The 113,000-sf building sits on a parcel of about a quarter of an acre at 811 West 7th St. with frontage on both Seventh and Lebanon streets Downtown.

Home to two restaurants and adjacent to a Metro Rail station, the building has been a favored location for Hollywood movies for some time and is known for its decorative architecture as well as its interior. Principal Bob Safai of Madison Partners, who brokered the sale, notes that it has been designated a historic-cultural monument by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

When it was built, the Fine Arts Building was intended to provide working areas for artisans, but it later was converted to office use. It was restored and renovated in 1983 by developer Ratkovich and Bowers, along with architect Brenda Levin.

The purchase of the Fine Arts Building marks the latest in a series of acquisitions and dispositions in Downtown and in other Los Angeles area business neighborhoods by Alliance Commercial. In July, Alliance bought the 12-story 617 W. Seventh St. office building Downtown in association with 617 Seventh Street Associates.

In one of its most recent deals, the Lakewood, CO-based company sold the 501 Continental office building in El Segundo for $13.5 million after buying it for $13.5 million about a year ago. The 501 Continental building was empty when it sold a year ago but is now fully occupied.