Lincoln Property, Rockwood buy Gateway El Segundo for $120M with creative office conversion in mind

Lincoln Property just acquired the five-building Gateway El Segundo portfolio from DivcoWest for $120 million — about $338 per square foot — and it’s ready to pony up millions more to convert it into a creative office campus, the company announced Monday.

Acquired in partnership with New York’s Rockwood Capital, Lincoln’s new assets include a pair of 2009-built retail structures and a trio of 1980-built Class B office buildings. The properties encompass 355,000 square feet and sit on nine acres of land.

The retail buildings are fully occupied by six restaurants, including Five Guys and Rubio’s Coastal Grill, according to Costar, and the offices are 52 percent leased. The seller was Divco West.

Located on Sepulveda Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Mariposa Avenue, the five properties are slated to undergo renovations in the lobby, central courtyard, restrooms and fitness center. Spec suites will also be built out for smaller creative tenants, according to the announcement. Renovations are to be completed by fall 2017.

“We see this as a chance to contribute to the phenomenal growth of the tech industry in Silicon Beach, and capitalize on its expansion into El Segundo,” Lincoln’s executive vice president David Binswanger said in the release.

Developers in West L.A. continue to hop on the creative conversion bandwagon. Nearby, Hackman Capital Partners recently bought a 23-acre, four-building site on Douglas Street to into a creative office campus, The Real Deal reported. Less than two weeks later, the company bought another property — a 74,000-square-foot warehouse in West L.A. — with the intent of creative office conversion.

In DTLA, developer Koar wants to turn a $13.5 million one-acre property in the Arts District into creative offices.