Merrill Lynch signs on as anchor tenant for Drexel Burnham ex-HQ.

In the mid- and late-1980s, the fast-track securities brokerage most identified with that era -- Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. -- anchored a four-building comple at a true "100 percent" location, Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills' "Golden Triangle." Partnerships headed by local developer Avi Lerner, an rumored to include Drexel "junk bond king" Michael Milken, were the then-dynami investment outfit's landlords.

But as the big office relocation deal inked at that complex last week illustrates, the 1980s are ancient history as far as the Wilshire Rodeo Plaza i concerned.

The 250,000-plus-square-foot property is now owned by Lerner's lender, Citicorp Real Estate Inc., an "institutional" landlord affiliated with America's biggest banking company. And the complex's soon-to-be anchor tenant is a firm that has survived generations of economic cycles -- Merrill Lynch & Co., the nation's biggest investment house.

Merrill Lynch will move to about 34,000 square feet on a Wilshire Rodeo "superfloor" -- comprised of the third stories of the complex's three Wilshire-front buildings -- from offices it simply outgrew at the boutique La Colonnade building nearby on Camden Drive, noted Citicorp Real Estate Vice President Geoffrey Sears.

The investment brokerage's lease of about 17,000 square feet at La Colonnade expires at the end of next February, according to that property's leasing agents, Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s Anthony Gatti and Tom Korey. Merrill's move opens up a "signage" slot of tastefully improved space at one of Beverly Hills' better building, they added.

The Merrill deal is by far the largest Sears has completed since Citicorp took title to the Wilshire Rodeo property last fall through a bankruptcy reorganization -- about 18 months after the Lerner partnerships sought Chapter 11 protection. The Chapter 11 filings came on the heels of Drexel's bankruptcy petition in 1990 -- reportedly 10 years before its leases were to expire.

Noting the "massive changes" in the Beverly Hills office property market since Drexel's heyday, Sears lamented that Citicorp's costly experience with Wilshire Rodeo will only get more expensive in the short run. The deed granting Citicorp title to the complex specified unpaid principal and interest of more than $94 million tied to three Citicorp loans secured by the property.

The expensive turnaround challenge is in transforming the project from single-tenant office use to a facility featuring one or two levels of multi-tenant retail space and one to three stories of multi-tenant office space Sears continued.

Wilshire Rodeo Plaza was about 25 percent leased when Citicorp took over and named The Shorenstein Co. as property manager. Citicorp has since spent somewhere between $4 million and $5 million to improve and lease another approximately 20 percent of the complex, Sears noted.

Outside of the newest portion of the property, a three-story addition on Rodeo Drive completed about eight years ago, Drexel operated from "disgusting quality offices as the firm gobbled up more and more space at the project, Sears continued. Citicorp is now renovating all lobby and other common areas with "multi-million" expenditures, he added.

"You don't locate in Beverly Hills unless you require top-notch offices," Sears commented. Hence, a landlord "can't do deals in Beverly Hills without spending money hand over foot," he stressed.

And Citicorp's investments have generated some activity before the Merrill Lync deal, which is thought to be a 10-year lease although details weren't released. Sears would only say that "realistic pricing" helped clinch the Merrill transaction, noting that Fawn Bellavia of Beitler Commercial Realty Services, working with her husband Joe Bellavia of Beitler, represented Merrill Lynch in the negotiations.

Among the other key recent leases are a deal with "oversize" clothing shop The Forgotten Woman, which took 6,300 square feet at the Rodeo building. Movie producer Rocket Pictures doubled its office space to 3,700 square feet. And talent agency Hookstratten & Hookstratten, which claims Johnny Carson as a client, relocated and expanded within the Wilshire Rodeo complex to about 4,000 square feet.

Amid the renovation activities, the Citicorp team disassembled the massive gourmet-equipped kitchen Drexel Burnham had incorporated into its facilities. Sears' firm donated the equipment to Project Angel Food, which provides "meals on wheels" to AIDS patients, for the kitchen slated for the organizations to-be-built Sunset Boulevard facility.

As for developer Lerner, a partnership affiliated with his Westwood-based Trident Group Inc. quietly purchased Blue Cross of California's 427,000-square-foot Woodland Hills headquarters for $77 million hardly a month after he deeded back the Drexel headquarters to Citicorp. Lerner's partner in the Blue Cross purchase -- none other than former Drexel mergers and acquisitions chief Leon Black.

To follow up on an article in last week's edition: Travers Realty Corp's. Jeff Mintz was also a key member of the team representing BBDO Worldwide Inc. in its 60,000-square-foot lease renewal at the 10960 Wilshire building in Westwood. Mintz had also earned mention in the column two weeks ago when he represented Katz Communications' Seltel unit, which relocated to 10,000 square feet at the Miracle Mile's 6300 Wilshire tower.