Rockefeller Group Acquires 236 KSF Office Portfolio in Beverly Hills

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

UTA Plaza, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Rockefeller Group Investment Management Corp. has acquired UTA Plaza and The Ice House, a premier 236,000-square-foot portfolio on Civic Center Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., from Tishman Speyer.

The portfolio includes of 9336, 9346 and 9348 Civic Center Drive and sits on approximately 3.4 acres. It was 100 percent occupied at the time of the sale.

“We have been targeting Los Angeles’ Westside for new investments and we particularly like the Beverly Hills submarket,” John Rivard, Rockefeller Group’s senior vice president and managing director, told Commercial Property Executive. “Our current investment effort is to acquire core office assets in the major gateway markets of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. These are high-quality, fully leased, well-located properties, so they presented an excellent opportunity for us.”

UTA Plaza comprises two four-story buildings totaling approximately 191,000 square feet. The tenet roster includes such companies as United Talent Agency and Playboy Enterprises. The four-story, 45,000-square-foot Ice House is the headquarters of Live Nation Worldwide.

According to Rivard, the Ice House was renovated this year and UTA Plaza was enhanced by significant capital improvements in 2012, so there are no immediate plans to make any renovations to any buildings in the portfolio.

A submarket of West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills has a Class A direct vacancy rate well below the national average. Tenants are drawn to the area from such business sectors as talent and entertainment, media, technology, finance and law.

“Beverly Hills benefits from tenant demand from a variety of historically strong sectors, including entertainment, media, technology, finance and legal,” Rivard said. “The neighborhood also is supply constrained. Between the demand and limited supply equation, and established institutional interest, the portfolio enabled us to offer very good prospects for long-term stability, liquidity and value.”

Eastdil Secured was the sole advisor involved in the transaction.

The Rockefeller Group has developed approximately 40 million square feet of commercial property, including more than 5 million square feet since 2008.