Hooman Nissani drops $24M on Playa Vista property next to planned site of his massive mixed-use project

Car dealership magnate Hooman Nissani is adding some mileage in Playa Vista.

The Culver City investor spent $24 million to acquire a 24,500-square-foot office building — home to Kaiser Permanente’s Playa Vista Medical Offices — at 5620 Mesmer Avenue, just a few steps away from the 8.5-acre site he acquired for $83 million in June 2016, The Real Deal has learned.

The seller was Beverly Hills-based Black Equities Group. It acquired the site, renovated in 1995, in April 2014 for an undisclosed price, property records show.

This isn’t the first time Nissani, who owns Hooman Automotive Group, struck a deal with Black Equities. Nissani paid the firm $83 million – or about $9.7 million per acre – to buy 5750 Mesmer Avenue in June 2016.

His plan for the site, which abuts South Centinela and Jefferson Boulevard, is scheduled to roll out in two stages, Nissani told TRD last year. The first would include constructing a 128,340-square-foot building to house the six dealerships he owns and operates across Los Angeles. For the second stage, he would demolish that building to make way for a mixed-use complex including eight dealerships and buildings with other uses, such as a hotel and/or a residential tower, depending on what he can get entitled.

Nissani tapped Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company, which developed Runway Playa Vista nearby and is currently redeveloping the Lincoln Heights Jail, as a third-party operator spearheading the second phase of development. Gensler will design the project.

Nissani could not be reached for comment, while Black Equities Group declined to comment and Lincoln Property Company could not immediately be reached.

While it’s unclear if the newly acquired office center would be used as part of the planned mixed-use development, the two sites are only separated by a large parking lot.

Nissani owns and operates a long list of dealerships that include Hooman Toyota of Long Beach, Hooman Nissan of Long Beach, Hooman Hyundai of Los Angeles and Hooman Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Los Angeles. He also owns existing Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and Acura dealerships elsewhere on the Westside, according to a financing memo issued last year. This marks his first foray into mixed-use development.

Developers have taken a shine to Playa Vista for some time now, and the area has nabbed top tech tenants such as Google and Facebook. Century City-based Rockwood was in talks last month to pay about $190 million to buy the creative office campus Water’s Edge at 5510 Jefferson Boulevard, which is home to gaming giant Electronic Arts.