The Six Hundred Wilshire property is composed of three buildings: a 16-story office tower at 600 Wilshire Blvd., an attached two-story retail annex at 601-609 W. 7th St. and an adjacent three-story building at 611 W. 7th St. The deal was executed through the West Los Angeles office of Boston-based Beacon and the Long Beach office of Foster City-based Legacy Partners, with Beacon representing itself and Legacy represented by the Jones Lang LaSalle team of David Doupé, Lawrence Krasner and Cheri Pierce.
Doupé tells GlobeSt.com that the deal worked out to the benefit of both buyer and seller in that Legacy had added value to the property by increasing occupancy by approximately 20%, but the current occupancy level of 78% leaves ample room for Beacon to add to that value. Jones Lang LaSalle was the leasing agent for Legacy and has retained the listing under the new ownership, with John McAniff and Tim Miller as the leasing agents.
Legacy repositioned the property as "a prime CBD Financial District office building for mid-size users," notes Doupé. He says the new owners hope to boost occupancy beyond 90% within a year.
Legacy, which bought the 600 Wilshire property for $43.6 million in 2004, was motivated to sell now because capital values have risen significantly Downtown amid growing demand for investments there, Doupé explains. The property, at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Grand Avenue, is in the Downtown Los Angeles financial district and close to much of the Downtown residential redevelopment as well as the Staples Center expansion, "LA Live."
Built in 1980 and extensively renovated in 2002 and 2003, the 16-story tower was originally developed on a Security Pacific Bank branch site, now Bank of America. It has gone through several ownerships and repositionings, including one when the owners sought to convert the property to a telecommunications center to capitalize on the strong demand for telecom buildings at the time.
The ownership that sought to convert the property to telecom use was a partnership of Menlo Equities and AEW Capital Management, which designed the three-story building at 611 W. 7th St. to supply the 16-story office building with extra electrical power and other requirements for telecom users. The owners had executed only one telecom lease when the demand for telecom facilities fell off precipitously and left the building about half empty.
AEW later took control of the building with the objective of returning it to office use, eventually selling it to Legacy after filling a significant portion of the space. In addition to Bank of America, tenants at the 16-story office tower include Whitmont Development, Looking Glass Networks, the Environmental Protection Agency and Fireman's Fund Insurance.
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