IRA Capital Pays $153M for LA Office Asset

325 N. Maple Drive

A fully leased creative office building has changed hands in one of Los Angeles’ priciest submarkets. IRA Capital has acquired the Beverly Hills, Calif., asset for $153 million from a partnership between Worthe Real Estate Group and Invesco.

Worthe completely redeveloped the property, now called The Post. In 2019, the developer invested $44 million to update the building, creating a wellness-oriented space and including several sustainability features. Gensler, KSA Design Studio and Looking provided architecture and design services for the redevelopment.

According to CommercialEdge, the building last traded in 2016, when it was acquired by Invesco for $77.2 million. In 2018, the property became subject to a $92.3 million loan, provided by ACORE Capital. CBRE acts as leasing manager for the building.

The Post is situated at 325 N. Maple Drive and comprises 102,500 square feet of office space across its four-level structure. The new design features 22-foot ceilings, an open stairway, outdoor patios and floorplates ranging from 18,000 to 30,000 square feet. Other features include EV charging stations and bike racks. The building is LEED Gold certified.

The office space is 92 percent occupied by Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the live entertainment promotion and ticketing company. According to CommercialEdge, the tenant agreed on an 11-year lease in 2019. The other tenant, occupying the remaining 8 percent of the space, is the U.S. Postal Service. The building also includes a 10,500-square-foot retail component. The Post is situated in a highly amenitized area of Beverly Hills, with several shopping and dining destinations nearby.

An expensive submarket

IRA Capital bought The Post for roughly $1,493 per square foot, more than quadruple the average price per square foot recorded in Los Angeles office property sales year-to-date through August, which was at $364. However, the Beverly Hills submarket had some of the highest prices per square foot recorded in Los Angeles office trades this year, according to CommercialEdge data. In September, office vacancy in Beverly Hills reached 12.7 percent.

In March, LaSalle Investment Management acquired a medical office building in Beverly Hills for $1,496 per square foot, currently the highest price per square foot recorded in the entire Los Angeles market this year. The third-highest price per square foot was also in Beverly Hills, when a joint venture of Morgan Stanley and Meridian Property Co. paid $81.5 million (or $1,254 per square foot) for Beverly Hills Medical Plaza.

IRA Capital recently pocketed $620 million from the sale of a health-care and life science portfolio spanning across multiple states. A partnership of Nuveen Real Estate and NexCore acquired the properties, totaling 1.2 million square feet.