|
|
12/05/14
|
Vista Investment Group LLC has acquired Jensen’s Recreation Center, an historic three-story, mixed use building in LA’s Echo Park area, north of downtown. The property was purchased from Sunset Holding Co LLC in an off-market transaction valued at approximately $15 mil.
The 50k sf brick and terracotta building, located at 1706 Sunset Blvd, includes 46 studio and one-bedroom apartments, which were 100 percent leased at the time of sale. There is 21k sf of ground-level retail and commercial space, which is 96 percent leased to such tenants as Blue Bottle Coffee and Sage Vegan Bistro.
Jensen’s Recreation Center was one of the first buildings in Los Angeles to feature a mix of residential and entertainment uses and was declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 1998. When built in 1924, it included a bowling alley and billiards parlor. Reminiscent of the building’s history is the original 17’ x 28’ articulating incandescent sign on the building rooftop, which depicts a bowler throwing a strike. It is believed to be the only sign of this type and size remaining in the United States.
 |
 |
|
Vista will invest up to $1.25 mil in capital improvements including upgrading the building entry, lobby and other common areas. In addition, the Los Angeles-based privately held real estate investment firm will completely restore the historic rooftop sign, according to Vista President Jonathan Barach.
“Jensen’s Recreation Center is a neighborhood treasure in one of the trendiest pockets in Los Angeles,” said Barach. “The building has been recently renovated including upgraded plumbing and electrical, new roof and refinished hardwood floors in the residential units. But there is still so much more potential here.”
As part of the acquisition, Vista assumed the existing financing on the building, according to Andrew Kirsh, co-managing partner of Sklar Kirsh LLP and attorney for Vista Investment Group. “One of the threshold issues in getting this transaction closed, was to have both Vista and the existing mortgage lender agree to a loan assumption.”
“Vista has had its eye on the property since acquiring its first asset in Echo Park in 2010, but the owner had always considered Jensen’s a cornerstone of their local portfolio,” added Darin Beebower of Madison Partners, who represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction, the fourth between these parties over the last five years.
|
|
 Return to the Archive page
|
|
|
Printer-friendly Version
Email an Associate
