LA Office Investment Strong in Q1
Sales were concentrated in entertainment and media production neighborhoods.
Los Angeles had a good first quarter for office investment. As of March, a total of $998 million were generated by office transactions, according to CommercialEdge. The amount almost doubled from 2021’s first quarter ($523 million). Investors targeted stabilized assets, mostly Class B, with offices for the entertainment industry trading at a premium.
On a per-square-foot basis, properties traded for more in the first quarter of last year. The average dropped from $420 per square foot to $387 year-over-year, but it is worth considering that roughly 2.5 million square feet of office space changed hands during the first quarter—much more than what was recorded over the same period last year (1.7 million square feet). Nationally, the price per square foot for the first quarter of sales was $280.
Compared to other gateway markets, Los Angeles was among the better-performing metros. Manhattan ($1 billion) recorded more volume, as did the Bay Area ($1 billion). However, many markets recorded a decline in office investment from the previous year, including San Francisco ($515 million) and Miami ($209 million).
The largest transaction of the quarter was the $93 million sale of Hollywood Media Campus. The Georgetown Co. acquired the 75,600-square-foot office complex (at roughly $882 per square foot), together with an adjacent development parcel, from Gemdale USA Corp. The three buildings are subleased to Netflix, which has recently invested in a full renovation and is seeking further development options.
In the 190th Street Corridor submarket, a 231,769-square-foot office campus changed hands for $42 million—the largest property that traded this quarter. Rexford Industrial purchased the asset from Laramar Chatsworth Associates and intends to redevelop it into industrial space. Two Class A, 32-foot-high warehouses are planned for construction once the current lease expires.
CommercialEdge covers 8M+ property records in the United States. View the latest CommercialEdge national monthly office report here.
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