Probity Associates scores $52M refi on Rodeo Drive store

Though they’re staying away from high-end office buildings, lenders still have money for loans on luxury retail buildings. 

Probity International, a Beverly Hills-based developer, scored a $52 million loan to refinance 426-430 North Rodeo Drive earlier this year, according to records filed with L.A. County. Deutsche Bank provided the loan, for which no terms were provided. Probity did not respond to a request for comment.

The deal values the debt on the 8,500-square-foot building at about $6,100 a foot. 

The loan replaces a $28.2 million loan from Morgan Stanley, which the firm scored in 2013, records show.

Luxury wedding dress designer Vera Wang and Swiss luxury watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre occupy the property, which was built in 1953. 

Probity, known for constructing the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills and other luxury hotels in Southern California, has owned the property since 1994, records show. 

The refinancing is higher than some of the deals provided to Rodeo Drive owners before the pandemic. In 2019, an affiliate of Apollo Global Management provided a $160 million loan on two storefronts at 338 North Rodeo Drive totaling 28,114 square feet — about $5,700 a foot. 

Over the last two years, as the luxury goods market sharply rebounded after the effects of the pandemic, retailers have revealed plans to pour more money into their Rodeo Drive digs. 

Dior, for example, filed plans in January of last year to replace its existing men’s store on Rodeo Drive with a three-story Dior store with a restaurant. LVMH, which owns a number of properties on the high-end street, owns a 50 percent stake in Dior.