Los Angeles report

Hines selling $340M DTLA property

Coretrust Capital Partners may soon have a trophy Downtown Los Angeles property on its hands. The firm is in advanced talks to buy the 48-story Citigroup Center at 444 South Flower Street from Hines for roughly $340 million, or $382 a square foot, The Real Deal has learned. Hines stands to make a significant profit on the property, which it acquired in 2008 for $275 million, or $309 a square foot, from Beacon Capital Partners, according to CoStar. It listed the property with Eastdil earlier this year, seeking a reported $350 million. The founders of Coretrust have a history of restoring skyscrapers Downtown. The company was formed in 2014 by Thomas Ricci, Randall Scott and John Sischo, three former Thomas Properties Group executives. Under Jim Thomas’ leadership, Thomas Properties Group gave the property kitty-cornered to the Citigroup Center a $125 million facelift, restoring the downtrodden property at 555 South Flower to prominence in the skyline. Now, it seems, former executives of the company are looking to do the same across the way.

Citigroup Center

Trail of debt behind priciest listing

The Hearst Estate in Beverly Hills is on the market for $195 million, making it California’s priciest listing. But TRD’s analysis of property records reveals that the property is weighed down by nearly $60 million in loans. The interest on the loans, sources said, adds up to millions of dollars a year and is likely to put pressure on the owner, real estate investor and attorney Leonard Ross, to swiftly sell or refinance the property, once owned by William Randolph Hearst and featured in the movie “The Godfather.” Title documents related to the property, known as the Beverly House, reveal an elaborate web of LLCs and a series of intricate refinancings. Ross is now seeking to refinance the property again, and is using a nontraditional method this time. He’s trying to raise $40 million by crowdfunding, soliciting a minimum investment of $125,000 from each investor into an LLC. That entity would, in turn, make a trust deed secured loan on the property, according to StartEngine, a crowdfunding website that posted the offering.

DiCaprio lists Malibu home for $11M

Leonardo DiCaprio

It’s a titanic price for a tiny house. The 1,765-square- foot home rings in at a whopping $6,200 a square foot — or nearly seven times what the actor, environmentalist and philanderer of supermodels paid for it in 1998. Located on the prestigious Carbon Beach, the cottage has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Leonardo DiCaprio has leased the property several times. The most recent asking rent, as of last spring, was a cool $50,000 a month. He has sold two other Malibu homes in the past 10 years, one for $7.4 million in 2009 and another for $17.35 million in 2013. DiCaprio currently owns homes in the Bird Streets neighborhood as well as Silver Lake, and at least three apartments in Lower Manhattan. Last year, he announced plans for opening an eco-resort on his private 104-acre island in Belize. He is working with NYC developer Delos on the project. “The main focus is to do something that will change the world,” DiCaprio told the New York Times.