Miracle Mile Skyscraper under contract for $105 million.

DEVELOPER Wayne Ratkovich's firm is under contract to buy the 32-story People s Bank building in the Miracle Mile. Ratkovich has agreed to pay close to $105 million for the 500,000-square-foot high-rise at 5900 Wilshire Blvd., according to sources close to the transaction. At that price, Ratkovich would pay $210 a square foot for the building, across from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Though the Miracle Mile office market has picked up steam in the last few quarters, the per-square-foot-price is below other recent Miracle Mile transactions.

Earlier this year, Arden Realty Inc. paid $228 a foot for the 27-story tower at 5670 Wilshire Blvd., and Rreef Funds LLC paid $378 in August for a 95 percent stake in the 1 million-square-foot Wilshire Courtyard at 5700-5750 Wilshire Blvd.

The People's Bank building is about 25 percent unoccupied--a higher vacancy rate than the Miracle Mile/Park Mile submarket's average of 10.7 percent for the third quarter, according to Grubb & Ellis Co. People's Bank is no longer in the building, and the largest tenant may be the L.A. Fitness on the ground floor.

Sid Moray, general partner with the building's owner, R.M.R. Properties, confirmed a deal with Ratkovich but wouldn't comment on terms. Ratkovich declined comment. The tower, the only office building in R.M.R. Properties' portfolio, hadn't been on the market, Moray said.

The sale is expected to close by mid-December. Ratkovich's multi-million dollar deposit on the building is non-refundable, so while the deal could still unravel, sources said that was unlikely.

R.M.R Properties, primarily a shopping center owner, bought 5900 Wilshire Blvd. nine years ago for less than $20 million. Moray said the firm will use profits from the sale to buy more shopping centers in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. "It was a good investment," said Moray.

Ratkovich Co. is known for urban infill and rehabilitation projects, especially restoring and breathing new life into historic office buildings.

Among his notable projects: the Oviatt Building and the Fine Arts Building in downtown L.A., and the Pellissier Building with its Wiltern Theatre, at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue.

With his recent purchases, Ratkovich has moved away from older buildings. He paid $30 million for a modern 16-story office building last year at 800 Wilshire Blvd. in downtown L.A.