Worthe Real Estate Group (Worthe) and Invesco Real Estate (Invesco) recently announced the sale of The Post, the joint venture’s newly renovated creative office property at 325 North Maple Drive in Beverly Hills. The buyer was IRA Capital (IRA), a Southern California-based private equity firm with a primary focus on the medical/healthcare real estate sector. IRA statements specified that the sale was closed for $153 million.
The four-story building includes just more that 100,000 square feet of class A Los Angeles office space, 92% of which is leased to Live Nation Entertainment Inc. (Live Nation) under an 11-year contract that was signed in 2019. The approximately 95,000 square feet of office space included in this lease is home to Live Nation’s concerts division headquarters, a segment of operations that accounts for 80% of the event promoter’s consolidated revenue.
Live Nation shares the property tenant roster with the U.S. Postal Service, which sold the property in 2014 and now occupies the remaining 8% of the rentable space.
According to CommercialEdge data, Invesco purchased The Post in 2016 for $77.2 million in a deal that worked out to roughly $735 per square foot. Then, together with Worthe in 2019, the company embarked on a $44 million renovation program for the property. The repositioning work included active design elements, such as a large-scale open stairway, a light-filled open plan boasting 22-foot ceilings, and outdoor patios. The renovation also earned a LEED certification for The Post by employing several green building and operations systems, including:
- Electronic vehicle (EV) charging stations, as well as short- and long-term bicycle racks to encourage tenants to use alternative transportation
- Landscape irrigation that’s on a drip water system and caters to drought-resistant plants
- Low-volume toilets and lavatory faucets throughout the building that contribute to water conservation and efficiency
- High-efficiency HVAC systems designed for efficiency that’s superior to the stringent California Energy Code
- Large windows and skylights to maximize the use of natural light and reduce the building’s dependency on electricity for lighting throughout the day
- A building recycling program that allows tenants to easily divert waste from the landfill
- A building envelope that consists of more than 30% recycled materials
“The property’s irreplaceable location and thriving tenant align with IRA’s investment thesis of pursuing best-in-class properties,” said IRA Capital Co-founder Samir Patel in a prepared statement. “Despite the impact of COVID-19 on the live entertainment sector, the industry is now experiencing record-setting volumes.”
Following the recent $620-million sale of a 29-property medical office and life sciences portfolio, IRA maintains its focus on the healthcare sector, while also expanding interest to other asset classes, such as multifamily, industrial, net lease and hospitality.
