Beverly Hills building sold to big rock for $16 million: offices at 400 S. Beverly present rent-growth opportunity.

Local real estate private equity fund Big Rock Partners LLC has purchased a 1950s Beverly Hills office building from Blue Real Estate for $16 million.

The renovated building at 400 S. Beverly Drive is a Class B property at a well-traveled Beverly Hills location. "It is on the corner--a good, prominent corner of Olympic Boulevard and Beverly Drive," said Bob Safai of Madison Partners.

The deal breaks down to about $377 per square foot for the 42A22-square-foot building.

The multi-tenant four-story building is next door to the Avalon Hotel, a small boutique hotel. The building, which sits on about a quarter acre, was 94 percent occupied at the time of closing of the sale in late May.

Safai said that existing rents are in the $2.20 per foot per month range--the lower end of the spectrum for the neighborhood. The average asking rate for Class B space in Beverly Hills was $3.56 in the first quarter. That was up from $3.10 a year earlier, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.

Those lower rates create an opportunity for rent growth, especially considering Big Rock's plans. The firm will renovate the building's exterior facade and also expects to add a retail tenant on the ground floor, where there is 9,000 square feet of available space, according to Big Rock principal Nicole Belcore.

"We think there is an opportunity to take advantage of increasing demands," Belcore said.

Beverly Hills-based Big Rock owns the nearby office building at 315 S. Beverly Drive and recently renovated that building, adding a trendy Lisa Kline clothing store to the ground floor of that property. Belcore said the renovation of Big Rock's new acquisition will be similar.

The company represented itself in-house on the deal and Safai represented Blue Real Estate.

Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [phone], ext. 263, or [e-mail].