Barings and World Class Property Co. scoop up warehouse property in Chinatown, home to LA Recycling Center

Barings and Austin, Texas-based World Class Property Company picked up a warehouse property in Chinatown for $14.6 million, according to property records.

The 2.4-acre site at 1000 N. Main Street is home to the L.A. Recycling Center, which appears to be owned by the seller, Nam Sook Kim, who is connected to one other recycling company and a holding company. The joint venture is planning the redevelop the site.

The high sales price, which works out to $594-per-square-foot, indicates its value as a development property. JLL marketed it as such as recently as March of last year.

The listing agents couldn’t be reached for comment.

While on the outside edge of Chinatown, the center is less than a quarter mile away from the Chinatown Gold Line station. Union Station is one stop away with connections to the Purple Line, Red Line, Amtrak, and Metrolink commuter lines.

The property qualifies for up to a 70 percent increase in density and other significant bonuses through the city’s Transit Oriented Communities program, which is meant to promote development near major transit options.

Chinatown has seen in an influx of interest from investors and developers looking to take advantage of relatively cheap properties in a neighborhood near Downtown that appeals to young and hip renters, much of the same elements that continue to drive development in the Arts District. The neighborhood is awash with similar industrial properties ripe for redevelopment.

The purchase is the North Carolina-based global investor’s third in the L.A. market in the last two years, according to Real Capital Analytics data. The investor formerly known as Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors’ last play in the area was its $58 million sale of a distribution center in Vernon in February to LBA Realty. It was the priciest sale of the month and one of the priciest of the year so far.