A fully leased mid-sized office building in Los Angeles County’s South Bay has sold for a substantial amount thanks to plans being approved to convert it into apartment complexes.
Optimus Properties announced it has sold a 65,300-square-foot building in Torrance, California, to Rose Equities for $30.5 million, along with the rights to redevelop it into 272 apartments. The Los Angeles-based seller acquired the asset in 2019 for $15.8 million.
See also: San Francisco election puts future of commercial real estate on the ballot
The office sits on 5.5 acres at 2325 Crenshaw Boulevard. It is fully leased to Los Angeles County and has served since 1999 as a regional office for the Department of Children and Family Services.
Optimus said it recognized a softening office market following the pandemic and quietly marketed the site to a multifamily developer.
“We always strive to have multiple exit strategies in place to ensure a safe investment and high returns for our investors,” Optimus president K. Joseph Shabani said in a statement. “This large parcel of land has enabled us to market it to apartment builders and provide investors with net returns of nearly 26 percent per year. Without multiple exit strategies here, we would be at the mercy of our tenants, which is never a good situation.”
Sean Fulp, Ryan Plummer and Mark Schuessler of Colliers (CIGI) brokered the sale on behalf of the seller, along with Anthony Muehlstein and Chris Benton of Newmark (NMRK).
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com
