Downtown Long Beach Office Building Sells For Record Price

A nearly 200K SF building in downtown Long Beach just sold for a record price for Class-A office buildings in the area this year, brokers at Cushman & Wakefield said.

An affiliate of Thrifty Oil Co., a Santa Fe Springs-based oil and natural gas company, has acquired the 12-story 180 East Ocean tower in downtown Long Beach from The Salvation Army for $180/SF, or a reported $35.8M.

“With the phased departure of The Salvation Army from the building, this property offers a rare repositioning opportunity of one of the most recognizable office assets in Long Beach,” Cushman & Wakefield Vice Chairman Jeffrey Cole said.

Cole, along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Group’s team of Robert Garey, Ed Hernandez and Nico Napolitano represented the seller. 

“180 East Ocean Blvd. was sold at a significant discount to replacement cost and proved an ideal investment for the buyer,” Cole said. 

The acquisition comes as downtown Long Beach is seeing a resurgence of commercial activity. Just a 25-mile drive from downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach has more than 30 projects valued at $3.5B planned or underway, according to the New York Times. 

Built in 1984, the Class-A office building on Ocean Boulevard has views of the Pacific Ocean and features 16K SF octagonal floor plates and granite-clad lobby. 

Thrifty Oil officials said they have plans to further improve the building. 

“We are excited to participate in the revitalization of downtown Long Beach,”  Thrifty Oil Co. co-CEO Moshe Sassover said in a news release. “The revitalization is well underway with substantial investments by the City of Long Beach, the addition of numerous quality retail and restaurant establishments, as well as the ongoing construction of thousands of new residential units.”