From LinkedIn: UCLA has become one of the largest commercial landlords in the Westwood area of Los Angeles after paying $49.8 million for a 16-property portfolio, Realty Today reports. The properties include 181,855 square feet of retail, office and open space just south of UCLA’s campus. The seller was Anderson Real Estate, the family company tied to the late John E. Anderson. UCLA’s business school is named after Anderson, whose family donated more than $140 million to the university. UC Investments, which manages the system’s roughly $190 billion portfolio, has not announced any redevelopment plans. The acquisition gives the university direct control over leasing and tenant mix in a district that has struggled with retail vacancy near 40% in recent years amid the closures of chains like Sur La Table and Victoria’s Secret. The purchase follows a broader pattern of UCLA real estate acquisitions, including the $700 million Westside Pavilion mall conversion into a research park and the $55 million South Bay property now being redeveloped into a sports medicine institute.
Note that there is confusion in the item above between "UCLA" and UC (systemwide) Investments. It is the latter that apparently made the purchase. This transaction may be (yet) another attempt to fix Westwood's chronic vacancy problems which date back decades. The Daily Bruin reports that the Urban Outfitters store shown above - part of the purchase - is closing:
It would seem logical, or at least in keeping with Economics 1, that if you want to fill vacancies, you need to cut the rents (maybe a lot) until commercial tenants are attracted.
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