West Hollywood-based Mani Brothers Real Estate Group, run by brothers Simon and Daniel Mani, is in contracts to buy the Landing, a Playa Vista office complex next door to the building it acquired last March, The Real Deal has exclusively learned.
Mani entered into an agreement with the seller, Hudson Pacific Properties, to buy the fully pre-leased, 100,007-square-foot creative office redevelopment at 12655 Jefferson Boulevard. The sale price is $80 million, according to Hudson’s latest filing with the SEC.
The sale is expected to close in November, sources said.
Bob Safai of Madison Partners represented both the buyer and the seller in the sale, but declined to comment. Hudson Pacific Properties also declined to comment. The Mani Brothers could not be reached.
Hudson is making a significant profit on the complex, which it bought for $38 million in 2014. At the time, it was called the Marina Corporate Center.
The majority of the property is leased to the New York-based co-working operator WeWork, which signed a lease for 78,000 square feet at the property earlier this year, The Real Deal previously reported. Dentsu Aegis Network has leased the remainder.
The Mani Brothers seem to be building a collection in Playa Vista. Last year, they bought the three-story office building right next door to the Landing at 12555 Jefferson Boulevard from Ocean West Capital Partners. They are now renovating that property. The firm tends to complete high-end, extensive renovations, and to hold onto properties for years after completion, before selling.
The Mani’s own a prolific amount of Westside trophy real estate, including the building at 9200 Sunset Boulevard which is home to Soho House West Hollywood.
Their purchase of the Landing shows that investors’ interest in “unicorn credit,” i.e. leases from companies valued at more than $1 billion that have yet to have initial public offerings, is largely undeterred by reports of a slowdown in the tech startup industry. That sector provides WeWork, which was recently valued at $16 billion, with many of its tenants.
Some investors, however, remain skeptical about the firm’s ability to weather a downturn.
Anthony Malkin, the CEO of Empire State Realty Trust, recently affirmed his position that “venture capital startups” are not worth the risk as tenants on an earnings call.
“People blow in and out of WeWork,” Malkin said. “They beat the hell out of buildings, bathrooms, systems. …Why should we take a venture capital risk when our only upside is to collect rent?”