Downtown's Roosevelt could be next to go residential.

LOWE Enterprises Inc., attempting to join the growing fray of downtown residential redevelopment, is in discussions to buy the Roosevelt Building at the northeast corner of Seventh and Flower streets, with plans to redevelop the 334,000-square-foot office building into a residential project, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Under Lowe's plan, the ground floor of the 75-year-old building would remain retail space and the upper floors, about a third vacant, would be converted to about 200 condominium units, sources said.

Aaron Yashouafar, chief executive of Milbank Real Estate Services, which manages the building for landlord York Properties, denied that a sale was near.

"There is no sale pending," said Yasbouafar. "We had some preliminary discussions (with Lowe but) we're not in any meaningful discussions with anyone."

Officials at Los Angeles-based Lowe declined comment.

No price has been revealed, although York had been asking $75 a square foot, or about $25 million, during discussions last year with Foster City, Calif.-based Legacy Partners, according to Nathan Pellow, vice president at Colliers Seeley, who represented Legacy.

It would be the first downtown residential project for L.A.-based Lowe, which has developed more than 4 million square feet in the county since it was founded in 1972. Among its projects are the 1.4 million-square-foot Howard Hughes Center near Culver City and the Alameda Trade Center industrial park downtown.

The Roosevelt "lends itself well to residential because of its location and floorplate configuration," said Pellow, noting that its E-shaped floor plans create two courtyards for the 12-story building.

Shaping UP

Crown Realty & Development has signed 24 Hour Fitness to a 15-year lease at its Wateridge project near Baldwin Hills for a 37,000-squarefoot 24 Hour Fitness/Magic Johnson Sport Club.

The club, to be built on a pad just east of Wateridge's main entrance, will begin construction next month and is scheduled for completion next summer, according to Jim O'Neil, senior vice president at Crown Realty.

The deal is worth about $11 million.

"There's a void for a quality health club in the neighborhood," said O'Neil. "It'll further enhance the amenities and quality of life at Wateridge."

The lease is the second deal in the area for 24 Hour Fitness, which is moving from its 15,000-square-foot facility at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport to a larger one at 5959 W. Century Blvd. in another 15-year-deal worth more than $7 million.

CB Richard Ellis' Steve Solomon represented the tenant.

Trade Winds

Properties in Warner Center continue to wade. Younan Properties Inc. has purchased the 60,000-square-foot Warnerview building at 5959 Topanga Canyon Blvd. from a joint venture of Kearny Real Estate Co. and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.

Younan paid $10 million for the 22-year-old building, which is 35 percent vacant. It will invest another $1.5 million in upgrades.

"The area vacancy is 15 percent, so we felt the property had significant upside potential," said Zaya Younan, the firm's chairman.

Younan Properties owns office buildings throughout California, Texas and Alabama and is moving its offices to Warnerview from North Hollywood. Its portfolio is roughly 2 million square feet.

The sale continues a divestment process for Kearny, which bought the 15-building Warner Center Business Park last November. It has since sold all but four of the buildings.

Lee & Associates' John Battle represented Younan and the seller was represented internally.

Sell Low, Buy High

The Chicago-based real estate investor buying downtown's Aon Center has sold the seven-story Imperial Centre in Norwalk for $48 million.

Transwestern Investment Co., along with partner Starwood Real Estate, has sold the 464,000-square-foot building on Imperial Highway, which houses state and county government offices and the local branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The joint venture had owned the 16-year-old building since 1998.

The buyer is Sonnenblick-Del Rio Development Inc, which recently developed buildings for the County Department of Social Services in El Monte and at Pico and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles.

Transwestern is buying Aon Center, Los Angeles' second-tallest building, from Wells Fargo & Co. for about $120 million.

Mystery Tenant

Last month, Richard Lundquist, president of Continental Development Corp. confirmed his firm had a 12.5-year deal with a tenant for 65,000 square feet at the Atrium at Continental Park. He just wouldn't say with whom.

A source familiar with the deal now says Comeriea Inc. is the tenant, signing a deal worth about $30 million for the space in the building at 2301-2321 Rosecrans Ave. in El Segundo.

Comerica, which purchased Imperial Bank parent Imperial Bancorp in 2001 for $1.3 billion, will shift from former Imperial Bank space nearby.

The 288,000-square-foot Atrium project was completed in mid 2001, but has been about 60 percent empty. With the Comerica deal signed, the project would be about two-thirds occupied.

Trammell Crow Co.'s Craig De Miranda, who is representing Detroit-based Comerica, declined comment.

Shibuya Shifts

Robert Shibuya, who had been in charge of Insignia/ESG Inc.'s Western region before CB Richard Ellis acquired the firm in July, has become executive director of the national brokerage services group at Trammell Crow Co.

Shibuya, who helped establish New York-based Insignia's L.A. office in the late 1990s, became executive vice president at CB Richard Ellis after the $419 million buyout of Insignia Financial Group Inc.

Staff reporter Danny King can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail]