Vista Investment Acquires CA Creative Office Campus

By IvyLee Rosario 

Media Park Santa Monica 

An affiliate of Vista Investment Group has acquired the leasehold interest in Media Park Santa Monica, a creative office campus in Santa Monica, Calif.’s Media District. The property was purchased from Redwood Partners Inc. 

Located at 1813 Centinela Ave., the property is an adaptive reuse of a former research and development facility constructed in 1978. The 5.2-acre site comprises three renovated one- and two-story assets ranging from 10,246 to 59,254 square feet. Building features include 20-foot ceiling heights, concrete floors, Wi-Fi courtyards, outdoor meeting spaces, collaborative work areas, roll-up doors, outdoor patios and electric vehicle charging stations. Media Park Santa Monica was 100 percent leased at the time of sale, with tenants including Sapient, Hirsch Bedner Associates and EPS Cineworks. 

HFF’s Managing Director Marc Schillinger and Associate Ryan Ash secured a long-term acquisition loan through a national bank, on behalf of the buyer. Madison Partners’ Founding Partner & President Bob Safai represented both parties in the deal. Sklar Kirsh’s Partner & Head of the real estate practice Andrew Kirsh, Partner Mark Nicoletti, Senior Associate Adrian Boddie and Real Estate Specialist Tina Legg-Bellossi acted as legal counsel to Vista. 

Growing CA presence

“Financing an acquisition of an asset subject to a ground lease with less than 30 years of term left is extremely difficult to do and severely limited the buyer pool,” said Jonathan Barach, president & co-founder of Vista Investment Group, in a prepared statement. “Because of our creative capital and the fixed-income expertise of our principals, we were able to value the cash flows over the remainder of the ground lease terms, just like a bond. We determined this to be a very attractive long-term opportunity for Vista and our investors. As a result we were able to pick it up at a compelling cap rate, secure accretive leverage, and take advantage of some serious tax benefits.”

The acquisition of Media Park Santa Monica adds to Vista’s 1 million-square-foot office portfolio in California. In January, the company purchased the $113 million Vasona Technology Park, a 314,256-square-foot complex in Campbell, Calif. That transaction marked the firm’s fourth investment within Silicon Valley.

Image courtesy of Vista Investment Group