EY Plaza might have found a buyer.
Morningstar Credit thinks so, the receiver says there’s no contract in place, and the brokerage is keeping its mouth shut.
This follows earlier reports by The Real Deal that Colliers — which replaced Eastdil Secured — was shopping the $275 million, non-performing note on the office tower in receivership. The loan was anticipated to trade at a discount, and Morningstar Credit earlier this month offered servicer commentary that a deal was shaping up with “a buyer likely identified.”
Receiver Gregg Williams said no buyer was under contract as of Friday, but did not answer when asked if one had been identified. The brokerage declined to comment and the special servicer did not respond to a request for comment.
The identity of any potential buyer and pricing is a mystery — and it is fair to wonder whether any deal would stick.
Two years ago, the downtown skyscraper was handed to a receiver after Brookfield defaulted on the debt. Since then a $130 million deal to purchase it collapsed, and its value has plummeted further.
The 41-story, 900,000-square-foot property at 725 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles’ Financial District was worth $446 million in August 2020, according to Morningstar. It’s worth $135 million, now. That puts its value at about $150 a square foot.
It’s one of four office offerings in the Financial District tied to Brookfield and on the market via some form of distress — a quartet that adds up to almost a fifth of the Class A office space in the submarket.
Shopping the mall
In other Brookfield news, the commercial giant is selling FIGat7th.
JLL has the offering, and the 330,000-square-foot mall at 735 South Figueroa Street is 85.8 percent occupied, per the broker. The shopping mall “could fetch $70 million,” according to Green Street, which would come out to about $210 per square foot — a bargain compared to recent retail deals, but not the typical distress that is synonymous with downtown properties owned by the landlord. Still, Brookfield is nearing an end of a three-year extension on a $58.5 million loan on the real estate.
Under fire
Landlord Jamison reportedly turned away Section 8 voucher holders at its properties, according to nonprofit publication Capital & Main. If true, that would be a violation of state law, which prohibits such discrimination.
Jamison, helmed by Jamie Lee, denied the allegations and in a statement claimed its management companies “accept and welcome tenants utilizing Section 8 vouchers.” The company called the reporting “completely wrong and/or misleading,” according to Capital & Main but did not cite any specific errors in the reporting.
Capital & Main said it hired testers to pose as Section 8 voucher holders and contact leasing agents at buildings owned or operated by seven landlords between late 2024 and early 2025. Of the 21 Jamison properties, agents at 15 said they did not accept Section 8 vouchers at all. At others, agents noted income or credit requirements that would exclude voucher holders, or failed to follow up after suggesting vouchers may be accepted. Between 2021 and 2024, only one Section 8 tenant moved into a Jamison property, according to Capital & Main.
Hollywood can’t take another takeover
Soundstage owners can’t catch a break. Things were bad before all the talk of a Netflix-Warner Bros. takeover, but things could get worse. Michael Hackman, chief executive of Hackman Capital Partners, the largest independent owner and operator of soundstages, told the Wall Street Journal, “the whole ecosystem is really under distress.”
Filming in Los Angeles remains in a slowdown touched off by the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes and the rise of cheaper production centers abroad. The result lately has been sky-high vacancies and depressed rents for studios. The consolidation likely to accompany a Warner Bros.-Netflix match would mean even less demand for studio space.
Hackman, who happens to be in the midst of a legal tussle with billionaire Rick Caruso over the $1-billion expansion and renovation of the former CBS Television City studio, isn’t the only one feeling the pain.
Losses are ballooning at Victor Coleman’s Hudson Pacific Properties, which owns studios and offices. The company reported a loss of $136.5 million in the third quarter and mostly blamed the slump on the deconsolidation of Sunset Glenoaks, a $200 million purpose-built studio developed by Hudson Pacific in partnership with Blackstone. It’s only 8 percent leased after being delivered last year.
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Commercial
Los Angeles
Brookfield’s latest selloff: FIGat7th
Commercial
Los Angeles
Brookfield distress roster puts 18% of LA Financial District in play