Salvation Army sells Long Beach office tower for $36M

The nonprofit unloaded the 12-story property, which it has owned for more than two decades

180 E. Ocean Boulevard and Salvation Army National Commander David E. Hudson
180 E. Ocean Boulevard and Salvation Army National Commander David E. Hudson

The Salvation Army has sold its 12-story office tower in Long Beach, unloading the property that it has owned for more than 20 years.

Still, the $35.8 million trade was four times what the Salvation Army paid for the property, when it acquired it in 1995.

The 153-year-old institution sold 180 E. Ocean Boulevard to a Santa Fe Springs-based investor, Thrifty Oil Company. It marked the largest Class A office building sold in the South Bay city this year.

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The nearly 200,000-square-foot tower was traded “at a significant discount to replacement cost,” according to Cushman & Wakefield, which represented Thrifty Oil in the sale. The sale comes out to around $180 per square foot.

The office building is in a prime location, near the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, Shoreline Aquatic Park and numerous hotels. Thrifty Oil has plans to improve the now 34-year-old building, according to Cushman.

Long Beach saw its priciest multifamily trade in July, when IMT residential paid $123 million for the 291-unit Gallery 421 building nearby, at 421 W. Broadway. So far this year, there have been more notable multifamily trades than office trades in Long Beach.

Cushman agents Jeffrey Cole, Robert Garey, Ed Hernandez and Nico Napolitano represented Thrifty Oil.