Positive Investments Sells SoCal Office for $25M
By Nick Trombola October 10, 2023 3:13 pm
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A property sale in Monrovia, Calif., has broken two local records: It is both the largest office building ever sold in the city, as well as the highest price ever paid for an office asset there, per CoStar (CSGP).
Positive Investments sold the office/flex building at 222 East Huntington Drive for $25 million, according to brokers Avison Young. Avison Young didn’t disclose the buyer, but records show an entity named IHL Capital Fund acquired the site. The buyer will occupy a portion of the 122,000-square-foot, multitenant building.
“Our client was elated with the successful transaction outcome as they understood that office assets are a challenge to market in most U.S. submarkets right now,” Avison Young principal Andrew Berk said in a statement. “In particular, the Los Angeles office market has struggled to recover to pre-pandemic levels as occupiers continue to re-evaluate office utilization, consolidate, or rightsize their footprints.
“Most owners/landlords here have had difficulties leasing up office space which has caused many to try and sell their asset in a tough capital markets and rising interest rate environment,” Berk added.
Leasing across the Los Angeles market is down 35 percent from before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the average price per square foot is just 57 percent of its $237 peak in 2019, according to Avison Young.
One Pacific Plaza, a nearly 400,000-square-foot office complex just south of Los Angeles in Huntington Beach, sold for $42 million last month, which is 66 percent less than what sellers Pendulum Property Partners acquired it for five years ago.
Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.
