Morgan Stanley JV Pays $82M for Beverly Hills MOB

Beverly Hills Medical Plaza

The joint venture of Morgan Stanley and Meridian Property Co. has paid $81.5 million for Beverly Hills Medical Plaza, a 67,510-square-foot medical office building in Beverly Hills, Calif. The previous owner was Iris Capital Group, according to CommercialEdge data. A Newmark team assisted the seller in the disposition.

The timing of the transaction almost coincided with another medical office deal where Meridian was the seller. The company closed escrow on the sale of a newly renovated, 53,574-square-foot medical facility in Santa Ana, Calif., that AltaMed acquired for $29.9 million.

A Class A medical plaza

Developed by the previous owner in 1989, the Class A, three-story building is at 150 N. Robertson Blvd., just south of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Featuring three levels of subterranean parking, the Gensler-designed asset has an on-site surgery center, café and pharmacy. The property was 88 percent leased at the time of sale, with more than 50 percent of the tenant roster affiliated with Cedars-Sinai.

Beverly Hills Medical Plaza is roughly 10 miles west of downtown Los Angeles and less than 2 miles from the center of Beverly Hills. The property is also less than 1 mile from Archway Medical Plaza, a medical office building that LaSalle acquired for more than $74 million in March.

Newmark’s Co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon and Senior Managing Director Laura Stumm worked together with Executive Managing Directors Rob Hannan and Ken White in negotiating the deal on behalf of the seller. Senior Managing Director Steven Salas also took part in the sale and will oversee all leasing at the property going forward.

Beverly Hills’ Largest

Medical office buildings continue to be solid, resilient investments in the current economic environment. CommercialEdge data shows 15 such assets, totaling more than 690,000 square feet, have traded across metro Los Angeles year-to-date, at an average price of $638.2 per square foot. Of the total, nine transactions pertained to properties located in urban markets.

Beverly Hills Medical Plaza was the largest medical office asset that has changed hands in the submarket since the beginning of the year. The deal closed at $1,207.4 per square foot, second after the Archway Medical Plaza sale, that had a price tag of $1,488 per square foot. Beverly Hills medical offices’ direct vacancy has remained in the single digits since 2002, according to Newmark Research.