Brookfield is shopping oceanfront “Silicon Beach” complex for $193M

Real estate behemoth Brookfield Office Properties is looking to sell the 386,132-square-foot Marina Towers in Marina del Rey for almost twice what it paid, The Real Deal has learned.

Kevin Shannon and Ken White are leading a team of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brokers advising Brookfield in the sale of the oceanfront property. The brokers declined to comment on the asking price, but area sources pinned it at more than $193 million, or $500 a square foot.

Brookfield bought the two towers at 4640 and 4676 Admiralty Way for $103 million, or $267 a square foot, in 2006 as part of the 43-property portfolio it acquired from Chicago’s Trizec Properties.

The Marina Towers are roughly 85 percent occupied, which is below the Westside’s fourth quarter average of 88 percent occupancy, according to data from Colliers International. Rents at the complex average $3.75 a square foot, according to CoStar. That figure is about 25 percent lower than the rent at higher-end creative office properties in the area, but higher than rents at older properties in the Marina del Rey that are not on the waterfront, Shannon said.

“You’ve got trophy real estate in terms of ocean views, and we think someone will come in and spend more money to push rents further,” Shannon said. “How much (rents will rise) will depend on whether you want to do a Volkswagen renovation or a Rolls Royce renovation.”

A creative office conversion is most likely, Shannon said. Tech companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook settling down in creative space in Playa Vista have made “Silicon Beach” style renovations he go-to.  But there aren’t a lot of multi-tenant properties in Playa Vista, Shannon said, giving the Marina Towers an advantage.

Current tenants include the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute, Prostate Oncology Specialists and Barrister Executive Suites, according to CoStar.