Buyers revealed for Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade storefronts

Federal Realty Investment Trust’s eight parcels along Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade were sold to two separate buyers, both with core businesses outside of real estate.

Daniel Negari, a tech founder, bought seven parcels from Federal Realty for a combined $84.5 million, according to property records filed with Los Angeles County. Negari is behind XYZ.com, an internet domain site. 

The other parcel sold to United El Segundo, a gas station-operator-turned-developer, which spent $19.5 million, records show.

Negari purchased 1202, 1222, 1225, 1232, 1339 and 1344 Third Street Promenade, along with 301 Arizona Avenue. He did not respond to a request for comment. 

His priciest acquisition was for the 24,600-square-foot building on Arizona Avenue, which came out to more than $900 a square foot, one of the most expensive commercial deals to trade across Santa Monica over the last year. In 2021, a site housing a Whole Foods in the market sold for $1,022 a square foot. 

The Arizona Avenue building is currently 50 percent vacant, according to online listings for the property. 

Negari used about $61 million in loans from the Royal Bank of Canada for the acquisitions, records show. Terms of the debt were not disclosed. 

Though Negari’s main business is in the internet space, he’s not a stranger to real estate in Santa Monica. In 2018, Negari bought 310 Wilshire Boulevard, an office building just around the corner from the Promenade, for $9.4 million. 

United El Segundo, the other buyer, bought 214 Wilshire Boulevard, a 31,000-square-foot building occupied by liquor store Wally’s Wine. 

United recently made headlines for proposing a 29,000-square-foot office building on Sunset Boulevard, to be entirely wrapped in a digital billboard.