Two, three-story, mixed-used oceanfront buildings in Venice sold for $30.7 million, according to property records. The buildings, at 619 and 701 Ocean Front Walk, were once home to Snapchat when the social media company was headquartered in the Silicon Beach neighborhood.
The roughly 45,000-square-foot property, which encompasses 10 beachfront live-work lofts (with outdoor patios and balconies, plus private rooftops) and ground-floor retail, was purchased by a company connected to Stefan Ashkenazy — who owns the Petit Ermitage hotel in West Hollywood. A BrightSpire Capital subsidiary provided a $27 million loan, according to documents signed by Ashkenazy.
The seller was a company linked to DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners. A firm managing director, Timan Khoubian, signed the deed. DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners purchased the property, also called Thornton Lofts, for $40.5 million in 2014. None of the parties involved responded to a request for comment.
Snapchat’s parent company, now headquartered in Santa Monica at 3000 31st Street, was housed in a blue beachfront bungalow at 523 Ocean Front Walk on the Venice boardwalk before it expanded throughout the beach. The company, helmed by Evan Spiegel, eventually attempted to sublease much of its Venice office space when it made the move to Santa Monica, but struggled to fill the space. For years, the company’s rise was synonymous with the funky beachside neighborhood and its becoming part of Silicon Beach.
The property was marketed as an opportunity for luxury apartment loft rentals, the sale of individual condominiums or a creative office campus, per a brochure. West Los Angeles offices have a 22 percent vacancy rate, according to a third-quarter CBRE report.
In other Silicon Beach trades, earlier this year, Google’s Venice office campus, the binoculars-shaped building at 340 West Main Street, went up for sale. Clarion Partners recently sold its 300,000-square-foot business center in Playa Vista, another Silicon Beach neighborhood, to Barings for about $151 million.
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