Swiss bank Credit Suisse buys Glendale office for nearly $59M

Switzerland may be the keeper of secret cash from around the world, but that doesn’t mean Swiss money itself doesn’t travel.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse recently acquired a Class A office building at 207 Goode Avenue in Glendale in an all-cash deal for $58.75 million, or about $311 per square foot, The Real Deal has learned. It’s comparable to recent office transactions in the submarket, such as Kennedy Wilson’s $330 per square foot purchase of two buildings on N. Brand Boulevard in May.

The seller, a joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Lincoln Property Company, bought the 190,000-square-foot glass building in 2010 for about $23 million, or $121 per square foot, records show. At the time, the brand new structure developed by Maguire Properties was in distress due to a slow lease-up, according to Real Capital Analytics.

In the years following, Morgan and Lincoln leased the eight-story building up to 76 percent occupancy, said Kevin Shannon of Newmark Knight Frank, who brokered both sides of the deal with colleagues Rob Hannan and Michael Moll. Tenants include Whole Foods corporate, Canon Solutions, and Equinox.

Credit Suisse, based in Zurich, manages about $42.8 billion in real estate assets, according to its website. The properties are scattered around the world, mostly in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, RCA shows. This is the bank’s only property in L.A., Shannon said.

In February, DivcoWest closed on its $179 million acquisition of Glendale Plaza. The deal penciled out to be about $337 per square foot, according to RCA.

Lincoln Property is behind a major Culver City project in the works. When complete, it will house the new headquarters of HBO, TRD reported Tuesday.