Developer Izek Shomof purchased a Long Beach office tower for $50 million, The Real Deal has learned.
The 24-story, 460,000 square foot property at 111 W. Ocean Boulevard, called Landmark Square is one of the newer and taller offices in the seaside downtown, located at the key intersection of Pine Avenue.
The seller, a Manulife Financial Corporation affiliate, paid $135.5 million in 2013 when it acquired the property from Brookfield Properties, according to an announcement. The price per square foot has gone from $295 to $109 under Manulife’s ownership.
Head of transactions and capital markets for another Manulife unit, Jessica Harrison, signed the deed in mid-October.
East West Bank issued a $25 million note to Shomof, according to records.
Neither the seller nor the lender immediately responded to a request for comment. Shomof, who founded the Shomof Group, confirmed the deal.
The property has views of the Pacific Ocean, the Queen Mary, the Port of Long Beach and the Los Angeles skyline — but offices in the area haven’t recovered from the drag of the pandemic. The Downtown Long Beach office submarket has a 28.5 percent vacancy rate, according to recent CBRE analysis. That’s high by historic standards and nearly on par with downtown Los Angeles, which is a regional poster-child for office distress.
Shomof appears to be on a shopping spree in search of discounted offices. Early this year, he purchased an office building at 101 N. Brand Boulevard in Glendale for $58.8 million — it was owned by Beacon Capital Partners, which paid $128.5 million for the property in 2016. And, last year, Shomof landed 617 W. 7th Street in Downtown Los Angeles’ Financial District for $20.5 million — about 47 percent less than what seller Swig Company bought it for.
Shomof and another well-known developer, Leo Pustilnikov, who have partnered on purchases in the past, may have discounted office buys in common. Pustilnikov and other investors, in early October, bought the Pacmutual property (three connected offices) at a bargain price of $48.5 million; its prior owners paid $200 million in 2015.
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