Alon Abady Donates Pico Boulevard Office to Chabad

Investor Alon Abady has made his latest real estate play, this time in the form of a 300,000-square-foot office campus donation to West Coast Chabad.

The 16-story office building in Pico-Robertson, with a 1,200-vehicle parking facility, sits on an acre and a half at 9911 West Pico Boulevard and was recently appraised for $103 million, according to Abady. He and his wife Monique made the donation in honor of Alon’s mother, Liora Abady.

“When we moved to the States in the late 70s, we had nothing,” said Alon, whose mother found a job with Chabad after the family immigrated to Los Angeles. “They were there for us when we first came here and that carried a personal weight.”

Abady, who is managing partner of Waterfall Bridge Capital, paid Blackstone $35 million, or about $140 per square foot, for the property in 2023 with plans to redevelop it. That could still happen with the property holding by-right entitlements, which holds the door open for a possible residential conversion.

However, plans in the near future call for the building to serve as the Chabad Campus for Jewish Life, which will encompass a synagogue, educational facilities, mental and social services, a banquet and events hall and the Abady Family Center once fully operational.

Abady described the building as “special” and an “iconic LA property,” sitting between Culver City and Beverly Hills. Fox Studios is located next door, while Hillcrest Country Club sits opposite the property. In a sea of mostly low-rise commercial or multifamily structures, 9911 Pico Boulevard can be seen driving from the east or west.

Abady’s latest deal, which closed on Friday, is different from some of the other trades tied to his name within the local marketplace.

The investor is best known for his $96 million purchase of the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills in 2021, but his name is also known in high-end residential real estate.

That portfolio includes the 2020, $25 million purchase of Simon Cowell’s former home at 717 North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, which Abady flipped for $34 million three years later. Also in 2023, Abady sold a property in the gated Madison Club community of La Quinta to Justin and Hailey Bieber for $16.6 million. More recently, in 2024, he paid $17 million for 1357 Laurel Way, which was previously owned by conservationists Dan and Susan Gottlieb.