L.A. Mart Sold but Operations Will Continue

Owners of the L.A. Mart in downtown Los Angeles have agreed to sell the 860,000-square-foot gift and furniture wholesaler mart to Saddle Brook, N.J.-based Vornado Realty Trust, one of the market’s owners confirmed Wednesday.

The agreement provides for Vornado to acquire the building on South Broadway at Washington Boulevard, “subject to the satisfaction of a number of contingencies,” and to continue to operate itin its present form with current management remaining in place, said Jay Grodin, managing member of L.A. Mart LLC, owner of the building.

Grodin would not disclose the sale price for the building, and Vornado officials declined to comment.

However, several downtown real estate brokers said the L.A. Mart would probably sell for considerably more per square foot than the 2-million-square-foot California Mart at 9th and Main streets in downtown, which sold for a reported $90 million, or $45 a square foot, in May. That means the L.A. Mart probably commanded considerably more than $40 million and possibly as much as $70 million, the brokers said.

L.A. Mart, built in 1958, was developed by the Los Angeles Home Furniture Manufacturers Assn., which moved into the building that year, Grodin said. The building’s other owners include the Stanley Kleeman family and the families of the late David Weisz and Richard Miller, Grodin said.

The 12-story building is about 94% occupied, according to Grodin. He said the sale to Vornado was brokered by Bill Puget and Carl Muhlstein of the Los Angeles office of Cushman Realty Corp.