Douglas Emmett sells 14-story Sherman Oaks office building for $56.7M

Los Angeles-based Sandstone Properties just bought a Class A office building in Sherman Oaks for $56.7 million, or $338 per square foot, from Douglas Emmett.

At the time of the sale, the 14-story building at 14724 Ventura Boulevard, dubbed the Tower at Sherman Oaks, was 96 percent occupied, according to a release from Madison Partners. Its brokers Bob Safai, Matt Case and Brad Schlaak brokered the deal on behalf of both parties and arranged a $48.1 million Loancore Capital loan for Sandstone.

The 167,726-square-foot building was built in 1966 and most recently renovated in 1991.  Sandstone has definite plans to further improve the property, which will be a long-term hold, a source familiar with the transaction told The Real Deal. The buyer will court more creative-minded entertainment tenants as current leases expire, the source said. 

Sandstone owns a handful of commercial properties in Southern California, including the offices at at 11175 Santa Monica Boulevard.

“Sandstone will go into an extensive renovation and reposition [the building],” Safai told TRD. “It did the same for the Variety building in West L.A., completely changing the property — the glass and everything — and got it fully leased to 100 percent. I anticipate this will happen again.”

The office building had been under the Douglas Emmett umbrella since 1997, when Douglas Emmett & Co. bought it for $19.8 million, according to CoStar. Safai and Madison Partners’ Chris DuMont and Bob Pearson will be leasing the property going forward.