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George Lucas buys cold storage facility in LA’s Chinatown
Filmmaker’s family office pays $46M to Redcar Properties for industrial site
The man behind “Star Wars” now owns a cold storage and industrial facility in L.A.’s Chinatown.
Filmmaker George Lucas’ family office, Skywalker Holdings, has bought a roughly 155,000-square-foot site at 1600 Naud Street for $45.5 million, according to property records filed with L.A. County. The limited liability company on the deed was signed by Michael Rider, the treasurer of the Lucas family’s foundation.
The deal came out to around $293 a square foot. CoStar first reported the deal.
Santa Monica-based Redcar Properties, which sold the property, had planned to raze the cold storage warehouse and other ancillary structures and build a 147,000-square-foot office development, with restaurant and retail space, L.A. city planning documents show.
However, Redcar notified the city last month that it would pull its plans.
The sale to Lucas triggered a $2.77 million transfer tax, under the city’s new 5.5 percent tax on all sales above $10 million, the deed shows.
It’s unclear whether Skywalker Holdings will file new development plans, or keep the property as a cold storage and industrial facility. However, Lucas is planning to open the $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art next year in L.A.’s Exposition Park.
Skywalker Holdings’ most prominent real estate is the 4,700-acre Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, about 40 minutes north of San Francisco, home to a working farm with Wagyu cattle, a winery and a movie studio. The family office also owns vineyards in France.