Beitler Family Sells Holmby Hall to Unnamed Buyer

A well-known shopping center across from UCLA in Los Angeles’ Westwood Village has sold in a nearly $33 million transaction.

Holmby Hall, the first retail building in Westwood Village, was sold by the Barry Beitler family to an undisclosed buyer for almost $32.7 million, L.A. Business First reported. The property, complete with its well-known 110-foot clock tower, spans 50,800 square feet on a roughly 0.7-acre site.

Located across from UCLA at 921 Westwood Boulevard, the 1929-built property spans the entire block from Weyburn Avenue to LeConte Avenue and hosts a bevy of food, beverage and other tenants. Amazon, Insomnia Cookies, Pret a Manger, Robeks Fresh Juice, Sontre Nails & Salon and Westwood Smoke Shop all have spaces in the building.

The unnamed buyer plans to maintain the historic character of Holmby Hall while implementing seismic and interior upgrades at the property, Tanel Harunzade, a Kidder Mathews broker who arranged the sale, said in a statement.

The building, erected in a Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style, is designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and qualifies for preservation incentives and tax credits.

“Our client recognized the enduring value of an irreplaceable Westwood Village property, and we were gratified to help secure a buyer aligned with that vision,” Harunzade said.

Retail properties across Greater Los Angeles have been trading hands in recent months, though at notably lower prices than previously valued.

Last week, Costa Mesa-based real estate investor CenterCal Properties and private equity firm DRA Advisors acquired Long Beach Towne Center from Phoenix-based Vestar for $145 million, or about $167 per square foot for the 870,000-square-foot retail property.

In August, Pacific Retail Capital Partners, Lyon Living and Silverpeak joined forces to buy the Lakewood Center mall in Lakewood for $332.1 million. Its value was $280 million in May, which was a 55 percent drop from a high of $630 million in 2015. The month before that, Regency Centers acquired five retail properties in Orange County — Bridgepark Plaza, Mercantile West, Mercantile East, Terrace Shops and Sendero Marketplace — for a total of $357 million.

— Chris Malone Méndez