BlackRock Purchases Sunset+Vine Complex
Bond Cos. and Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund have sold the Sunset+Vine apartment and retail complex in Hollywood to investor BlackRock Inc. for close to $160 million.
Bond and Canyon-Johnson completed the project on the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in July at a cost of about $125 million. The 750,000-square-foot development includes 300 apartments, 87,000 square feet of shops, an 833-space parking garage and 19 billboards. About 60% of the apartments are leased.
The development partners, which include former Laker basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, built the project on the site of the former TAV Studios. The 1938 Art Deco facade of the studio, which once housed ABC Radio and later the Merv Griffin Theater, was preserved.
Retail tenants include Borders, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kabuki Sushi and Schwab’s. The developers bought the rights to the name and logo of Schwab’s Pharmacy, a legendary soda fountain and store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood that was a popular entertainment hangout for decades until it closed in 1983.
Canyon-Johnson is managed by Canyon-Johnson Realty Advisors, a partnership between Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and Johnson Development Corp., both based in Beverly Hills. Bond Cos. is based in Santa Monica. New York-based BlackRock is one of the largest investment managers in the country.
Sunset+Vine is across the street from the historic Cinerama Dome and the Dome Entertainment Center. Last month landlord Robertson Properties Group leased 20,000 square feet there to Career Education Corp. for a culinary institute scheduled to open early this summer.
