Los Angeles’ Fairfax Theatre for Sale for $45 Million

Los Angeles’ historic Fairfax Theatre is looking for a buyer after partial demolitions cleared the way for a new development.

The 29,000-square-foot lot, once home to the Art Deco venue at 7901-09 Beverly Boulevard, is on the market for $45 million, L.A. Business First reported. The building dates back to 1930 and closed in 2010 due to roof damage. Owner Alex Gorby of B&F Associates has been looking to redevelop the property ever since.

The city granted the landmark Historic-Cultural Monument status in 2021, but because the designation only requires the building’s facade to be protected, Gorby demolished a majority of the property in 2023. All that remains is the street-facing walls at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.

The initial plan, hatched by Gorby and Santa Monica-based Howard Laks Architects, included 71 market-rate apartments in an 80,000-square-foot residential building with about 10,000 square feet of retail.

The buyer of the property can either move forward with the fully entitled plan or choose from two other concepts proposed by Major Properties brokerage. One calls for a 146-unit building with a similar plan for retail as Gorby’s, and the other for a hotel and apartment complex with 95 hotel rooms and 90 residential units and retail.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity at a main-and-main intersection in the heart of Los Angeles,” Anthony Behar, executive vice president at Major Properties and one of the brokers marketing the property, told CoStar.

“This isn’t for someone looking for quick cash flow,” he said, noting the forthcoming Olympics as an incentive for potential buyers. “It’s for a developer with a long-term vision who wants to shape a high-profile corner of Los Angeles — and be ready by the time the world comes to town in 2028.”

Meanwhile, Television City, kitty-corner to the theater site, is in the midst of its own $1.3 billion renovation, adding to the intersection’s potential transformation over the coming years.

— Chris Malone Méndez