Binoculars Building Trades Hands

The iconic Binoculars Building, a Frank Gehry-designed creative office property that’s home to technology giant Google and minutes away from the Venice Beach Boardwalk, has sold for $39.6 million, according to property records.

The city transfer tax on 340 Main Street, which includes a special tax via Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax, amounted to more than $2 million.

The seller is connected to W.P. Carey, whose spin-off Net Lease Office Properties listed the creative office building last year, The Real Deal previously reported. The company purchased the property for about $18 million decades ago and later shifted many office properties into a separate real estate investment trust. W.P Carey managing director Peter Bates signed the deed dated early January. W.P Carey and Bates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The buyer is the Luzzatto Company, which received a $24 million loan for the deal, per records signed by firm president, Asher Luzzatto. He confirmed the deal, calling it a generational opportunity.

The deal for the roughly 79,000-square-foot Silicon Beach property comes out to more than $500 per square foot. The three-story property is entirely leased to Google. That lease expires in October 2030, according to a CBRE marketing memorandum. Luzzatto hopes, and expects, Google to remain a long-term tenant beyond that, he said.

The late-Gehry, a legendary architect, originally designed the building for Chiat/Day, the advertising agency that created Apple’s “1984” Macintosh ad.

Last year, two mixed-used oceanfront buildings in Venice that were once home to Snapchat sold for about $31 million. The three-story buildings, at 619 and 701 Ocean Front Walk, were the social media company’s headquarters. The property, which encompasses 10 beachfront live-work lofts, was purchased by a company connected to Stefan Ashkenazy, who owns the Petit Ermitage hotel in West Hollywood.