$14M Takes Lankershim Center

STUDIO CITY, CA-Younan Properties has sold the 73,000-sf Lankershim Media Center at 4640 Lankershim Blvd. to LaeRoc Partners LLC of Los Angeles after holding the property for a year and boosting occupancy to 98% from the 88%. Younan paid $11.2 million for the six-story, class A office building when it acquired the asset in October 2002 from CT Realty Corp.

According to Zaya Younan, chairman and CEO of the Woodland Hills-based real estate investment firm, the company negotiated new leases at higher rates and also boosted the property’s results by reduciing operating costs by 38%. Younan notes that the results ran contrary to what some real estate industry observers predicted when his company acquired the building. “We received a difference of opinion from the brokerage and lending community, saying that this property did not have any upside potential since it was already 88% leased and running smoothly,” Younan says.

Both Younan Properties and the buyer were represented by Jeff Andrew of CB Richard Ellis. Andrew notes that Younan initially purchased a ground lease for the property and made tenant changes. Then, after buying the entire property, Younan completed interior and exterior improvements and increased the occupancy rate with a view toward selling the property. Among the tenants at the building are Pixel Blues, eBuilt, Herzog Productions and I/O films.

Younan Properties specializes in acquiring, repositioning and managing office buildings throughout the country. Since its founding in January 2002, it has acquired more than 25 office buildings throughout the US totaling more than 3.2 million sf, and sold 12 buildings comprising more than one million sf.