Laurus, Torchlight sell Westchester mall at steep loss

UPDATED, March 30, 2023, 2:28 p.m.: Private real estate firm Laurus Corporation and Torchlight Investors have sold a roughly 250,000-square-foot mall named HHLA for about $30 million less than what they paid for it in 2015, The Real Deal has learned. 

The firms sold the West L.A. property, formerly known as The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, for about $80 million, or about $320 a square foot, according to a source familiar with the deal. 

Cannon Commercial’s TTM Real Estate Capital bought the property, located at 6081 Center Drive and announced the deal, but declined to disclose a price. Newmark and JLL brokered the sale. 

Laurus and Torchlight bought HHLA for $111 million in 2015, records show, or about $444 a square foot. The duo spent a further $35 million to renovate the building and add outdoor areas. 

The mall, located a few miles from Los Angeles International Airport, actually has few retail spots — it’s mostly dining and entertainment spaces, including a movie theater from CineMark and paint-your-own pottery studio Color Me Mine. 

TTM has signed two new leases at the property — one for an escape room and an immersive exhibit about the late champion boxer Muhammed Ali — but did not disclose terms. Both will open later this year. 

About 55,000 square feet at the center is available for lease, according to online listings for the property, making it about 80 percent occupied. 

The sale closed days before L.A.’s new transfer taxes on sales over $4 million goes into effect, meaning sellers avoided an extra 5.5 percent tax, or $4.4 million charge, on the deal. 

Based in L.A., Cannon Commercial manages and invests in a range of commercial assets, including three office properties in L.A. County, according to its website.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Cannon Commercial was based in Seattle. This story has been corrected to reflect that the firm is based in L.A.