Catalina Yacht plant in Woodland Hills Sold

UPDATED, Feb. 16, 10:45 a.m. ET: The Catalina Yacht plant that built thousands of fiberglass sailboats in Woodland Hills has been sold for $61 million.

The Butler Family Trust sold the 187,000-square-foot industrial building at 21200 Victory Blvd. in Warner Center to W-F Catalina Owner IX.

The buyer is actually Chicago-based private equity firm Walton Street Capital, according to a source familiar with the deal.

The two-story building on 9.3 acres, sandwiched between Victory Boulevard and a Home Depot, includes 60,000 square feet of office space.

Catalina Yacht founder Frank Butler bought the building in 1974 and turned it into the largest production fiberglass sailboat factory in the U.S., according to the company website. But production of the sloop-rigged boats was shifted to Florida more than a decade ago. Butler passed away in 2020.

“The closing of the Woodland Hills operation signals the real and symbolic end of a grand era in California boatbuilding,” the company said.

Gordon Mace and Josh Linn of Beitler Commercial Realty were the listing agents. Mace represented the buyer.

“It’s a historic building at Warner Center,” Mace told the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. “It was built for Rocketdyne to test jet engines back in the 1960s. It has got a 32-foot ceiling clearance. Not many buildings have that. And it’s in a great location.”

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to delete mistaken references to Amazon.com as the buyer of the Catalina Yacht plant.

[SFVBJ] – Dana Bartholomew