CO’s Most-Read 2024 Stories From Southern California

The commercial real estate market in Southern California this year was again defined by a sinking office sector, a seemingly unsolvable housing crisis, and development regulations. But those aren’t necessarily the stories that caught the most eyes in 2024.

Commercial Observer’s most popular story from the region, however, directly targets the market’s changing direction. Donald Bren’s Irvine Company, one of the state’s biggest development firms, filed plans to convert some office space into 700 apartments in Newport Beach. It was by far the most read story from the year for the region, despite being published less than two weeks ago.

The next most-read story comes with some of the big, flashy Hollywood names you’d expect from Los Angeles. Film producers and entrepreneurs Elie Samaha and Steven Markoff put the iconic Japanese restaurant, Yamashiro Hollywood, on the market for $100 million in July. The 7.3-acre property in the Hollywood Hills was made famous by appearances in movies such as “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” and for hosting countless celebrity parties and events. (Property records show no deal had closed as of Dec. 30.)

For reasons that aren’t immediately apparent, an airport hotel bankruptcy in the Inland Empire was the next most-read story from Southern California. Morgan Group filed for Chapter 11 protections in June on the 10-story, 309-key Ontario Airport Hotel & Conference Center after defaulting on about $13.6 million in debt.

The top story from San Diego appropriately deals with life sciences. Biotech and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in March signed a 15-year deal valued at around $290 million for 230,000 square feet at a 10-acre campus built by Breakthrough Properties (which is a joint venture between Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital) in partnership with Mitsui Fudosan America, Investment Management Corporation of Ontario and AP2.

CO’s next most-read story for Southern California was the back-and-forth over one of the former Brookfield (BN) office towers in Downtown L.A., but probably not the one that first comes to mind. After defaulting on the 777 Tower in 2023, a fund run by Brookfield Asset Management agreed in March to sell the 52-story building for $145 million — equal to about half of the asset’s outstanding debt — to South Korea-based Consus. CO learned a few weeks later that that deal fell through. Finally in July, Chinese investors using the entity name Fair Ranch Xia acquired it for the further discounted price of $120 million.

The next big stories included Henry and Susan Samueli, the owners of the Anaheim Ducks, buying an industrial property near baseball’s Angel Stadium; Justin Mateen, the co-founder of dating platform Tinder, leading a $211 million deal for a mixed-use complex on the 100 block of Beverly Hills’ famed Rodeo Drive; and two golf courses in Orange County selling for $122 million.

Finally — the Gas Company Tower. It may not have been the most-read post, but it was likely the most talked about commercial real estate property in Southern California outside of the hollow Graffiti towers. While the city laid plans to lease nearly a quarter of the 1.4 million-square-foot building in a deal that would have brought in $375 million in base rent, county officials swooped in and made an offer to acquire the 54-story building for its staff instead, eventually paying $200 million. The building was part of Brookfield’s once-prized portfolio of Downtown L.A. office towers that suffered staggering declines in value during the pandemic.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.