Hollywood office projects qualify for $76M loan

Deutsche Bank provides capital to Bardas Investment for developments on Melrose and Seward

Bardas' David Simon with rendering of project at 717 Seward Street (Bardas Investment Group)
Bardas' David Simon with rendering of project at 717 Seward Street (Bardas Investment Group)

Bardas Investment Group has scored a loan on a new development under construction at Melrose Avenue and Seward Street, The Real Deal has learned.

Deutsche Bank provided Bardas with a $76 million loan for 6101 Melrose Avenue, where the company plans to build a 68,000-square-foot office project, according to property records filed with L.A. County. Bardas did not immediately respond to a request for comment and terms of the deal were not disclosed in records.

The loan also includes two other finished developments on the same block — two buildings at 729 and 733 Seward Street totaling 22,000 square feet and a 15,500-square-foot building at 712 Seward Street.

Netflix currently occupies both buildings at 729 and 733 Seward Street. The streaming service was identified as a tenant in mechanic’s liens filed last year, records show, when it was working on a tenant improvement buildout at the property.

Bardas assembled the land for the three developments in February 2020, spending $37.8 million on the sites across three separate purchases, records show. The firm had a $29.3 million loan in connection with the acquisitions from Wells Fargo.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Construction at 712 Seward Street was finished earlier this year and the property is currently available for lease, according to online listings.

Bardas recently received approval from the L.A. City Planning Commission to build a five-story office complex at 6101 Melrose Avenue, replacing a parking lot and a commercial building dating back to the 1920s. It’s unclear whether Bardas will use the proceeds from the Deutsche Bank loan for construction, though Bardas has previously estimated it would cost at least $65 million to build at the site.

Last month, Bardas CEO David Simon told TRD the firm was “not putting any plans on hold” in light of rising interest rates.

Bardas is currently building five soundstages across L.A., as well as five other commercial developments focused on media and entertainment tenants.