Sale of Ailing Watercourt Viewed With Optimism

The comeback of the county’s commercial real estate market is illustrated by the sale earlier this month of the long-troubled Watercourt at Westlake Village complex.

Even though the 170,000-square-foot development is only 57% leased, 18 offers were made when it was put on the market by Bank of America, which had acquired the property through foreclosure.

Tony Principe of Westcord/Westoaks Commercial Group, who represented a Malibu-based partnership that purchased the complex, declined to disclose the purchase price.

But he said Trammell Crow Co. bought the property for $12 million five years ago and spent an additional $10 million to refurbish it. Bank of America later took the property back after Trammell Crow’s mortgage payments fell behind schedule.

Watercourt, formerly known as the Olive Grove Shopping Center, is on Hampshire Road just west of the Ventura Freeway.