Related, Cruzan refi Torrance office building

311K sf property currently 20% vacant

William Witte and Dennis Cruzan with 21250 Hawthorne Boulevard (LoopNet, Cruzan, Adam Southard, iStock)
William Witte and Dennis Cruzan with 21250 Hawthorne Boulevard (LoopNet, Cruzan, Adam Southard, iStock)

Related Companies and its partner Cruzan have refinanced an office complex in Torrance, a signal that lenders are still willing to finance the still-sluggish sector.

The firms scored a $59.2 million loan from the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, which acted on behalf of a group of unnamed lenders, according to property records.

Related and San Diego-based Cruzan bought the complex at 21250 Hawthorne Boulevard for $106.75 million in 2017, getting about $80 million in financing from Bank of America two years later, a loan that followed a renovation of the property.

The roughly 311,000-square-foot building is made up of small flexible office spaces, along with speculatively built suites. Around 20 percent of the property is currently available for direct lease, according to CBRE — about 67,700 square feet.

Related and Cruzan are currently asking for $3.65 per square foot per month for space at the property.

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Direct asking rates in the South Bay, which includes Torrance, averaged $3.22 a month per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to CBRE. About 18 percent of all office properties were vacant during the same time period across the South Bay.

Tech and aerospace companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Amazon’s Ring subsidiary, have flocked to the South Bay in recent years, though most properties in the area are still zoned for industrial uses.

Cruzan’s building is currently leased to a number of medical tenants, including the R&R Surgical Institute and the Torrance Bariatric Institute.

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