King of 'B-Movies' Produces $6-Mil Deal

SANTA MONICA, CA-A company controlled by Roger Corman, widely considered the king of B-movie producers, has paid $6 million for a recently converted property that once showed some of the filmmaker’s biggest hits—from the breasty “Candy Stripe Nurses” to the bloody “Carnivore” series and “Body Bags.”

The 17,000-sf complex stands at 1442 2nd Street, between Colorado Ave. and Broadway. It was an X-rated Pussycat Theater for 30 years before it was turned into a mixed-use restaurant and office building about 18 months ago.

The seller is a locally based private investment group, Calstar Arvada LLC. Calstar bought the property in the 1990s and, after finishing its conversion, landed the Buca de Beppo Italian restaurant as the ground-floor tenant and rented most of the office space to Internet venture-capital firm KORE.

Many film critics and legions of moviegoers say Corman is the undisputed king of low-budget flicks. He is credited with producing or directing hundreds of films over the past 50 years: Though few of them have been nominated for even the smallest of awards, most have been solid moneymakers at the box office.

An Insignia/ESG brokerage team of Christopher Houge and Evan Meyer represented the buyer in the transaction. Calstar Arvada was represented by Rick Buckley and Jake King, two other Insignia/ESG brokers.

Though none of the Insignia brokers would confirm Corman’s involvement in the purchase, others familiar with the deal tell GlobeSt.com the buyer is a limited liability company that Corman controls.