A Santo Domingo-based Church has sold its Los Angeles hub of worship to two brothers in the business of developing trendy restaurants and retail, The Real Deal has learned.
A nonprofit associated with the Iglesia De Cristo Ministerios sold a retail strip in Silver Lake’s main drag on Wednesday to RYDA Ventures for $7.8 million. The property includes its strip-mall church at 3301 West Sunset Boulevard, one of about a dozen in the United States, according to the church’s website. Its lease goes until July, after which it will close.
When the church purchased the property in 1990, Silver Lake was prominently hispanic, said Christine Bullard of Nourmand and Associates’ Hollywood office, who represented the church in the sale. The congregation is still hispanic and the sermons are in Spanish, but Silver Lake, over the last 26 years, has gentrified. Because of this, the church wanted to sell the property and move to a hispanic location, Bullard said.
The five retail parcels total approximately 27,500 square feet at 3303-3327 West Sunset Boulevard. Tenants include the hair salon Silver Lake Studio, which is leased until 2018, and California Gold Tattoo Parlor, which has a similar lease. The Sweat Spot, which holds “body-positive dance aerobics” classes , as well as Franky’s Record and Barber Shop — which also sells vintage clothes — are on month-to-month leases. Hache LA, a gourmet burger joint, has a lease until 2024.
The strip is hip, which seems to be RYDA’s calling card. Ryan Neman, the former real estate manager for Sweetgreen, founded RYDA ventures in 2014 with his brother, Daniel, formerly of Legend Real Estate Management. Last year, the firm acquired a 100-year-old bungalow in Los Feliz that used to serve as a doctor’s office for $2.2 million with plans to turn it into two restaurants. Also listed on the firm’s website is the Arts District strip that includes the Poketo store.
The RYDA brothers’ plans for the site are not known. They could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bullard was assisted by Howard Lorey and Carolyn Rae Cole of Nourmand and Associates. Oron Maher of Coldwell Banker represented the Nemans.