$21 million buys Brand building

Ryan Carter

An Orange County company bought an office building at 600 N. Brand

Blvd. for $21 million, seller Reading International Inc. announced

Thursday.

Escrow closed on the sale Tuesday, allowing TWS Realty to buy the

building from Los Angeles-based Reading International, Inc., Reading

Chief Financial Officer Andrzej Matyczynski said.

“It was the last remaining non-entertainment property on our

books, and an offer came along,” Matyczynski said. “It was

opportunistic. We weren’t looking to sell. But it was a good offer,

so we decided to take it.”

The building’s tenants include the Walt Disney Co. and California

National Bank, Matyczynski said. The sale was negotiated over a

period of about six months, TWS spokeswoman Sima Far said.

“We think the Glendale market is a strong market to invest in,”

Far said.

In recent months, local office market observers have not painted a

rosy picture.

In February, Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc. -- owner of the

Walt Disney Co. stores -- announced it would move to Pasadena, and

Glendale-based Nestle USA Inc. reportedly chose to cut about 20% of

its space at its headquarters on North Brand Boulevard.

“Vacancies are high,” said John Krikorian, editor of Business Life

magazine, which covers the region’s business. “Nestle’s reduced their

workforce. Disney sold out and moved to Pasadena. There’s two big

blocks on Brand of property that’s vacant.”

Krikorian wonders what the city is doing to help fill the vacant

Nestle space, and said the city should do more to promote itself and

its office space.

TWS generally invests in office space, Far said. Reading, which

owned the building since the late 1990s, owns and operates cinemas

and develops and owns entertainment-themed retail centers in the

United States, Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.

The Glendale office space was Reading’s last property in

California, Matyczynski said.

Lease terms for the tenants would not change as a result of the

deal, Matyczynski said. Far would not elaborate on the terms.