The Luzzatto Company has been hit with a $48 million loan tied to a West Adams office property that serves as the headquarters of the millennial favorite salad chain Sweetgreen, The Real Deal has learned.
Luzzatto owes the entire principal under the loan tied to 3101 Exposition Boulevard, according to a notice of default filed with L.A. County this month. The loan, handed out by El Segundo-based TerraCotta Group last year, came due in August.
Under California state rules, a foreclosure can be scheduled no earlier than 90 days after an initial notice of default. On 3101 Exposition, a foreclosure can be scheduled for Jan. 10.
Since then, “all outstanding defaults, issues, etc. have been corrected,” Luzzatto head Asher Luzzatto told TRD. “In going back through history it looks like TC may have filed just to preserve their legal rights but we were already in agreement in a loan workout when the notice was filed and they never actually charged us default interest or default penalties under our loan.
The office building, which was completed in 2020 and is attached to another roughly 30,000-square-foot space, has struggled to keep a tenant over the last few years.
In 2019, Sweetgreen signed a lease to move its headquarters to the 57,000-square-foot building. By last year, the firm had put the space up for sublease. A Sweetgreen spokesperson told CoStar last year that the firm left in July 2022.
Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, signed a short-term deal with Sweetgreen to occupy the office space for his clothing company Yeezy, according to Luzzatto, a one-time L.A. mayoral candidate. The three-month sublease lasted through December, but was not renewed.
But Sweetgreen is back in its HQ, Luzzatto told TRD.
“They have been back in the office full time since the beginning of the year,” Luzzatto said, citing return-to-office policies.
Sweetgreen’s lease is in place until 2032, per Luzzatto.
Updated: This story has been edited to reflect that Luzzatto corrected all outstanding defaults and Sweetgreen has maintained its headquarters at the location.