Historic Hollywood Tower gets sold for $34.5 million
The faux French-Normandy style Hollywood Tower apartment building in Hollywood, a familiar sight to drivers on the Hollywood Freeway, has been sold for $34.5 million to a Phoenix landlord that plans to build more units next to it.
“It has been a major landmark since it was built,” Hollywood historian Marc Wanamaker said. “Even before the freeway, it was a landmark on that hill.”
The tower at 6200 Franklin Ave. is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is often cited as an inspiration for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride at Disney theme parks.
The building was sold by Los Angeles real estate investor Jack Dell, who said it still attracted the Hollywood crowd. “It has bachelor and single units that people who first come to town are often looking for, and it’s close to the studios,” he said.
The buyer, Alliance Residential Co., plans to renovate the 52-unit building, which includes three penthouses, and build an additional 146 units on adjacent land that was part of the deal, said real estate broker Adrienne Barr of CB Richard Ellis Group.
The V-shaped apartment building designed by architects Cramer & Wise was called La Belle Tour when it was completed in 1929. It was a luxurious option for entertainment industry employees during Hollywood’s Golden Age but fell into disrepair during the neighborhood’s economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Hollywood neighborhood’s fortunes have improved substantially in recent years with billions of dollars of residential, retail and office development completed or underway.
Among the most desirable buildings now are those built years ago in the French-Normandy style or other distinctive architectural fashions . The blocks around Franklin and Argyle avenues were home to several castle-style mansions that the Hollywood Tower reflected, Wanamaker said.
