Seeking steam. (Real Estate).

One Studio City-based investor decided to include a little history in his first foray to the Mid-Wilshire Area.

Jeffrey Fish, who owns four Hollywood properties and two in the San Fernando Valley, purchased four buildings in the area totaling 158,000 square feet. The combined price of the purchases was about $8 million.

"We felt the steam was coming out of Hollywood as far as purchase price, and were looking to invest in an area that's improving," said Fish, managing member of JMF Development LLC.

While two of the properties are apartments, the third was the Granada office building at 672 S. Lafayette Park Place, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Originally built as live-work loft space in 1927, it was converted into office units in the late 1980s. The 58,000-square-foot building is about 85 percent occupied.

The four properties were purchased within the past two months from four different family-owned entities. The Granada's seller, I & J Partnership, had owned the building for about eight years.

Fish hopes to continue attracting a wide range of tenants for the building, which includes designers, small production companies and attorneys. Rents range from $1.15 to $1.30 a foot.

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