CBRE Lines Up $93M Refi for Los Angeles Office Portfolio

12901 W. Jefferson Blvd. Image courtesy of CBRE

Acting on behalf of LaSalle Investment Management, CBRE’s Capital Markets platform has orchestrated the refinancing of the Playa Vista Creative Portfolio in Playa Vista, Calif. The firm secured a $93.4 million loan for the approximately 180,000-square-foot group of West Los Angeles-area office properties through an East Coast-based life insurance company.

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Located in tech-centric Silicon Beach, Playa Vista Creative consists of 12901 W. Jefferson Blvd., an approximately 50,000-square-foot building that first opened its doors in 1969, and The Annex, a 130,000-square-foot structure one block away at 5340 Alla Road, which made its debut in 1973. Both properties have been redeveloped into Class A creative office destinations and today, they boast an average occupancy level of approximately 70 percent, with marketing communications agency Deutsch Inc. occupying 12901 Jefferson in its entirety under a 10-year lease and a long list of TAMI industry businesses on the roster at the roughly 60 percent leased 5340 Alla. LaSalle has owned 12901 Jefferson and 5340 Alla since 2017, when the real estate investment management firm acquired the assets from a joint venture of Canyon Catalyst Fund and Pacshore Partners for a respective $45 million and $95 million, according to Los Angeles County records.

5340 Alla Road. Image courtesy of CBRE

CBRE’s Brad Zampa, Greg Grant, Steve Roth and Megan Woodring—all part of Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance Group—comprised the team that arranged the Playa Vista Creative refinancing, which came in the form of a five-year, non-recourse, floating-rate loan. According to CBRE, a bevy of lender types, from banks to CMBS lenders to debt funds, expressed interest in the opportunity, drawn to Playa Vista’s strong submarket fundamentals, the premier sponsorship and the portfolio’s strategic West Los Angeles location.

Lenders’ leanings           

In a prepared statement, Zampa notes that the CBRE team remains surprised by the depth of capital available to institutional borrowers, especially on the West Coast. “The West Coast markets, and particularly West L.A., have solid market fundamentals and high barriers to entry,” Zampa, an executive vice president with CBRE, told Commercial Property Executive.

Notable office financing transactions in West L.A. over the last few months include Acore Capital’s origination of a $119.3 construction loan for the 230,000-square-foot adaptive reuse of the former Macy’s store at 10730 W. Pico Blvd. Additionally, a consortium involving Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo Bank and Morgan Stanley Bank provided a $1.2 billion loan for the refinancing of the 2.4 million-square-foot Century Plaza Towers.