LOS ANGELES—West Washington Properties has sold a 12-story, 186,000-square-foot creative office building to an unnamed private investor for $19 million. Located at 155 W. Washington Blvd. in Downtown Los Angeles, the property is 97% leased to a mix of more than 50 creative tenants.

“This is the seller's only asset in Downtown Los Angeles, and one of the few they have in L.A. County. He had other projects and new buildings that he was acquiring that he wanted to move the money to,” John Anthony, senior managing director at Charles Dunn Co., tells GlobeSt.com. Anthony represented the sellers in the transaction along with his Charles Dunn colleague Christopher Steck. Emil Golub of Fortune Investments represented the buyer.

The sale attracted strong interest from private investors, who were looking to use the property either as an office property or as a residential conversion project. “In the short term, the buyer is using it as a straight office, but in the long term, it is keeping the option open for residential conversion down the road,” says Anthony. The sales team received approximately 12 offers from private investors. This buyer was the second buyer to enter into escrow on the property. “The first buyer didn't perform, and the seller chose not to give them any extra time,” Anthony explains.

Although demand is growing for creative office space in the downtown market, this property is not the typical creative office property because it caters “to small users, not necessarily the big box, or major entertainment companies that are moving downtown,” says Anthony; adding, “in a sense, the property is similar to a PacMutual Building, but most of the creative office users in downtown are going after bigger office users. Being just south of the 10 freeway, it is out of the central business district and more of an economic option for those creative companies.”