LOS ANGELES—American Musical and Dramatic Academy, College of the Performing Arts has purchased a 19,750-square-foot creative office building in Hollywood from Hello and Co., GlobeSt.com reports exclusively.The transaction drew strong interest from potential buyers, generating eight offers from investors, developers and owners/occupiers, like AMDA.

“We had eight offers but AMDA and two others were the most compelling,” Martin McDermott, principal at Avison Young, tells GlobeSt.com. “The property sold at our expected sales target but due to the amount of offers generated, we protected the seller from purchase credits in escrow and were also able to deliver favorable terms to the seller.” McDermott represented the seller in the transaction while Avison Young principal Christopher Bonbright, principal John Tronson and senior associate David Landau represented the buyer in the transaction.

AMDA plans to occupy the entire property. According to Bonbright, AMDA was attracted to the property because it has ample space for both its classrooms and administrative areas, and because it is walking distance to the company's Hollywood campus and student housing facility, both of which are also located in Hollywood.

AMDA purchased the property with a speedy 30-day closing, and secured financing through Avison Young to acquire the property, which was purchased for $10 million. VP Nick Roussos secured a non-recourse bridge loan with a lenient prepayment penalty and flexibility to refinance the purchased loan. The lending source was able to meet the buyer's specific requirements and fund the loan within five days.

The eight offers the property received illustrate the demand for creative office in this market. “Demand for creative office space in Hollywood is at an all-time high,” Bonbright tells GlobeSt.com. “In addition to the freestanding and campus style product—which have been perennial favorites for the entertainment and new media industries—we are now seeing strong spillover into creative office conversions from older multi-tenant high- and mid-rise office product, and for the first time in decades, ground-up construction.” Of course, one of the more significant creative office development in the Hollywood market is Kilroy's Columbia Square project, a $380 million creative office development.