Wave of downtown dealmaking breaks over Figueroa.

DOWNTOWN L.A.'s investment market, which has kept a torrid pace for the last two years, shows no sign of slowing.

The hottest pocket fight now is a four-block stretch of Figueroa Street, where about $430 million in transactions have closed or are nearing deals.

CommonWealth Partners LLC, which played jilted suitor in two recent attempts to land downtown office properties, is nearing a deal to buy 777 Tower for about $250 million, according to a source familiar with the deal.

CommonWealth is paying about $250 a foot for the 1 million-square-foot tower, owned by 777 Tower Associates, a partnership led by Mitsubishi Estate New York Inc. Built in 1990, the building is about 95 percent occupied, with insurance giant American International Group Inc. as its largest tenant.

In November, Mitsubishi's Rockefeller Group International unit made an unspecified investment in CommonWealth, allowing it "to acquire and develop large-scale office and mixed-use projects across the country on behalf of institutional investors," according to a release at the time.

Michael Croft, CommonWealth's chief executive, did not return calls. The firm, formed in 1996, says it manages an office property portfolio valued at more than $1.5 billion, mostly in Southern California and the Southwestern U.S.

The firm was among the suitors for Citibank Center, at 444 S. Flower St., which sold last year to Beacon Capital Partners LLC for about $90 million. It also bid on Arco Plaza, which ended up going to Thomas Properties Group for $270 million last year.

Mitsubishi has been exploring plans to develop the 1.5-acre vacant parcel just west of 777 Tower into a 400-room hotel and 150 residential units, according to the city's Community Redevelopment Agency. That property is not believed to be part of the deal with CommonWealth.

The 777 Tower deal was first reported in the real estate Web site Rentv.com.

In August, CommonWealth sold the 435,000-square-foot building at 801 Figueroa St. $105 million, about $240 a foot, to Mani Bros. Real Estate Investment Group.

Mani has kept the churn going with its recent sale of 660 S. Figueroa to Milbank Real Estate Services for $62.4 million. Milbank paid about $225 a foot for the 280,000-square-foot building, which is about 20 percent vacant. Aaron Yashouafar, Milbank's chief executive, said the firm would relocate its headquarters and affiliated mortgage company from the nearby Roosevelt Building.

"With all the activity and development in downtown Los Angeles, we're going to have a very healthy market, especially in the office segment," said Yashouafar.

Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s Richard Plummer, David Hasbrouck and John Eichler and Madison Partners' Bob Safai represented Mani Bros. on the deal. Milbank was represented internally.

Meanwhile, Walton Street Capital LLC has hired Lehman Bros. to market Union Bank Plaza at 445 S. Figueroa, according to a source familiar with the process. Walton Street purchased the 645,000-square-foot building from Hertz Investment Group in 2002 for $110 million,

Northwest Passage

Meta Housing Corp. has received funding to build a $55 million mixed-use complex on a 2.5-acre Second Street site near the Beverly Boulevard overpass.

Meta Housing plans to break ground on the project, dubbed Northwest Gateway, in September, when it will begin building 263 units above 3,000 square feet of retail. The project, which received $47 million in tax-exempt state funding last month, is scheduled for completion in mid-2006.

The development would complete the residential bookending of a mile-long Pacific Electric Railway tunnel that was once part of the line connecting downtown and Hollywood.

At the other end of the tunnel, used by the old Red Car system between 1925 and 1955, Forest City Residential West Inc. is redeveloping the old Subway Terminal Building at Hill and Fourth streets into 277-unit residential project.

"We try to work in communities that need revitalization," said Nancy Morris, spokeswoman for L.A.-based Meta Housing. Morris added that Meta plans to clean up the graffiti-covered tunnel, most of which has been walled off.

'West' Buys North

Opus West Corp. has purchased a 6.7-acre site on Valencia Boulevard near the Golden State (5) Freeway from Newhall Land and Farming Co. for about $6 million, where it plans two speculative office buildings totaling 160,000 square feet.

Groundbreaking on the Opus Corporate Center is slated for June. The site will be marketed to financial services firms, said Gary Toeller, vice president at Phoenix-based Opus West. It is one of three Valencia sites Opus and Newhall had agreed to jointly develop into more than 400,000 square feet of new buildings.

"We decided to go it alone and purchase this site," said Toeller. "Our strategy is to really grow with that market."

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