MIRACLE MILE : Controlling Interest in Park La Brea Complex Sold

An Ohio-based company announced Tuesday that it has sold controlling interest in the Park La Brea apartment complex, the largest rental property in Los Angeles.

Although the deal includes the right to add 1,600 new units, a spokesman for the new owners would not comment on any plans to expand the sprawling Miracle Mile site of residential towers and garden units.

“We’re focused currently on the existing apartment operation and the residential community of Park La Brea,” said Daniel James, general manager for the new owners, a limited partnership known as Prime Park La Brea Holdings.

He declined to identify the new owners or to reveal the sale price. But the seller, Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland, said the deal relieves it of about $180 million in real estate assets and reduces its indebtedness by about $220 million.

Real estate sources said the Park La Brea property is worth significantly less now than it was when Forest City acquired 2,825 of the complex’s 4,222 units in 1986.