Hudson Pacific Sells 2 LA Office Properties for $73 Million

604 Arizona Ave. previously traded for $21.5 million in 2011. Image courtesy of CommercialEdge

In separate transactions, Hudson Pacific Properties has sold two office properties in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica submarket for a combined $72.5 million. The West-coast focused office REIT used the net proceeds, which include a $22 million gain, to repay amounts outstanding on its unsecured revolving credit facility.

The assets include:

• 3401 Exposition Drive, a 66,376-square-foot office property that originally came online in 1961 as an industrial building and was converted to office use in 2013, according to CommercialEdge information. The asset previously traded in 2013 for $24.7 million, the same source shows. Currently, the property serves as the headquarters of Company 3, a post-production firm that provides color grading and film finishing services.
• 604 Arizona Ave., a 44,260-square-foot building that was developed in 1950 and underwent cosmetic renovations in 1995, 2005 and 2017. Hudson Pacific picked up the asset nearly two years prior to 3401 Exposition Drive, in a $21.5 million deal. In 2018, job search marketplace ZipRecruiter signed a full-building lease at the property, and is using it as its global headquarters through 2025, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

The properties are 2 miles of each other, surrounded by many local dining, retail and entertainment venues. Downtown Los Angeles is roughly 14 miles away.

Office REITs are reeling

Hudson Pacific’s divestments came at a time when office REITs face highly discounted trade valuations, unlike industrial and multifamily-focused investors. The majority of headwinds have been brought on by deflated transaction volumes, high vacancies and a difficult lending environment.

According to June 2023 research from S&P Global, office assets changed hands at a negative 57.7 percent net asset value. For its part, Hudson Pacific traded at the biggest discount rate for office REITs above $200 million in market capitalization in May, 76.7 percent below its NAV estimate, the same data reveals.