Onni Group’s Rossano De Cotiis and Wilshire Courtyard
Canadian developer Onni Group has agreed to purchase the sprawling Wilshire Courtyard in the Miracle Mile district for $630 million, The Real Deal has learned.
The seller, Tishman Speyer, put the 8.7-acre property on the market in September.
Sources familiar with the deal said Onni Group and Tishman Speyer have executed a preliminary agreement that values the deal at about $630 per square foot, but have not yet entered into a formal contract.
Pending the deal’s closure, it would top the most expensive deal of 2018 — Boston Properties’ purchase of the Santa Monica Business Park. The firm paid $627.5 million to acquire the ground lease at the 1 million-square-foot Westside campus in July.
A spokesperson for Tishman declined to comment. Onni and Eastdil Secured, the listing brokerage, did not respond to requests for comment.
At 1 million square feet, the Wilshire Courtyard is one of the largest office campuses in Los Angeles. It includes two Class A office buildings with six stories apiece, which are separated by a manicured courtyard. Also on the property are a three-story parking garage, a 16,000-square-foot fitness center and a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Tishman purchased the property, at 5700 and 5750 Wilshire Boulevard, from RREEF in 2012 for $423 million. The New York-based firm then completed a multi-million dollar renovation in 2014 to update the plazas, lobbies and balconies.
Upon listing, the campus was about 60 percent leased to tenants that included Coffee Bean, the Los Angeles Business Journal, The Hollywood Reporter and IPG Mediabrands.
Vacancy at the corporate campus is expected to increase in the coming years as Coffee Bean relocates its headquarters to a new facility in Baldwin Hills. Coffee Bean has been a tenant at the Wilshire Courtyard since 2015. Its exit follows E! Entertainment Television, which terminated its 400,000-square-foot lease at the property in 2015.
Onni has been on a bit of a tear in L.A. in recent months. The firm recently concluded a months-long legal battle with preservationists over its plans to redevelop Times Mirror Square in Downtown Los Angeles. It has since secured approvals to build a pair of high-rise towers that would house 1,127 residential units, along with restaurants, retail and office space.
Source: The Real Deal Los Angeles