Downtown L.A. apartment building sold for $100 million
The downtown Los Angeles apartment building know as the Pegasus has been sold to Chicago real estate investment trust Equity Residential for $100 million.
It was one of the largest residential property sales ever in the central business district and a sign that downtown’s revitalization has caught the attention of national institutional investors, said real estate broker Marc Renard of Cushman & Wakefield.
“Equity Residential’s purchase is a tremendous endorsement of downtown L.A.,” Renard said. “One of the largest publicly trades REITs has employed substantial capital.”
The 13-story building on Flower Street at Wilshire Boulevard was designed by prominent architect Welton Becket and opened in 1949 as the General Petroleum Building. It once was the headquarters of Mobil Oil and got its current name from the company’s Pegasus logo.
After sitting vacant for 12 years, the General Petroleum Building was reborn in 2003 as a 322-unit apartment building. It was one of the first buildings converted under an ordinance to encourage adaptive reuses of properties, enabling the creation of thousands of housing units in former office and industrial properties.
Selling the building at 612 S. Flower St. was Buchanan Street Partners and the Kor Group. Buchanan upgraded the property before putting it on the market, Vice President Kimberly Stevenson said.
Ground-floor retail tenants include the Daily Grill, a bar and a coffee bistro. Becket was the architect of several Los Angeles landmarks, including the Capitol Records building, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Cinerama Dome.
