San Pedro office building sale sets up residential conversion

Los Angeles has led the country in conversions of office buildings to residential in 2022, and with a recent sale in Los Angeles’ San Pedro district, it looks like the trend is continuing.

Urban Stearns, a  Los Angeles-based REIT, acquired Topaz Tower, a 12-story, 293,00-square-foot building for an undisclosed sum. The sellers were Harbor Associates and Platform Ventures. Representing the sellers was a Newmark team which included Kevin Shannon, co-head of US capital markets, Ken White, executive managing director, Chris Benton and Scott Schumacher, senior managing directors and Anthony Muhlstein, a managing director. 

The news was first posted by Bisnow. 

Located at 222 West 6th Street, about a mile away from the former Ports O’ Call Village retail district, this section of San Pedro is part of a waterfront sector in redevelopment. A significant area project is West Harbor, a $160 million development which will include 42 acres of restaurants, office and an open-air amphitheater, according to a website for the project. The Ratkovich Company and Jerico Development broke ground on the project in 2022.

Topaz Tower Apartments will eventually offer 228 studio, as well as one- and two-bedroom apartments. About 70 percent of the units will have balconies. 

Plans to convert Topaz Tower into apartments have been in the works since 2019, when Harbor Associates bought the building for $43.4 million. Harbor Associates filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to convert the building into apartments with 15,000 square feet of retail space, according to a 2019 story in Urbanize LA.

– Andrew Asch