Reclaiming History: How Pegasus Helped Laemmle Theatres Buy Back the Laemmle NoHo 7

Commercial real estate advisor Pegasus announced the $6.5-million acquisition of the Laemmle NoHo 7, a marquee theater-anchored mixed-use retail and office property located in the heart of the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood, by a Los Angeles-based investor group led by the Laemmle family.

Pegasus exclusively advised the buyer of the 32,800-square-foot property located at 5240 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood. The property was originally constructed in 2011. It was purchased as part of a 1031 exchange following the disposition of a former theater asset previously owned and operated by the family.

“We were under immense pressure to reduce debt and preserve equity. There was no relief in sight,” said Greg Laemmle, owner and president of Laemmle Theatres, in a statement. “As much as I hated to let the NoHo 7 go, at the time it felt like the only way to keep the business afloat.”

In 2021, amid pandemic-driven headwinds facing the theater industry, the family sold the NoHo Arts District property to a Charlotte-based development group with plans to redevelop the site into a mixed-use project, featuring ground-floor retail and luxury multifamily housing.

Ultimately, factors that included a prolonged and costly entitlement process, affordable housing mandates, shifting capital markets and the implementation of ULA transfer taxes rendered the housing project infeasible. The investment group was ultimately presented with an opportunity to reacquire the property and return the asset to long-term family ownership.

“Stories like this carry a significance that goes well beyond real estate,” said David Chasin, chief executive of Pegasus, in a statement. “The ability to help a family reclaim an asset so closely tied to their history, and to do so in a way that supports their next chapter, is exactly the kind of outcome we strive for.”

Upon stabilization, the property will once again be anchored by a Laemmle Theatre, operating in the same capacity, and used as it did under prior family ownership, alongside an existing ground-floor tenant, Chipotle. The upper-level office space, previously vacated in anticipation of redevelopment, will be repositioned and leased to drive additional income.

“This reacquisition represents more than a real estate transaction,” said Laemmle. “With ownership comes stability, and with stability comes the ability to plan ahead to book films with confidence, to host festivals and special screenings, and to deepen our ties to the filmmaking community and audiences alike.”

Laemmle Theatres was founded in 1938 by brothers Max and Kurt Laemmle when they took over the operation of two theaters, the Franklin and the Park, in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Now in its third generation of family ownership, the chain currently operates seven locations across the greater L.A. region, including the five-screen Laemmle Glendale, the new six-screen venue in downtown Newhall and the updated Monica Film Center in Santa Monica.

Information for this article was sourced from Pegasus.