Partial owners Duncan Lemmon and John Battle of Lee & Associates negotiated the sale
Torrance, CA – August 14, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — The historic Brown Derby building in Los Feliz has sold for $9.25 million. Located at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., the 14,000-square-foot restaurant-retail building was once owned by famed Hollywood director Cecile B. DeMille and is the site of the last of the original four local Brown Derby restaurants.
Duncan Lemmon, president of Lee’s West LA office, and John Battle, SIOR, principal of the LA North/Ventura Inc. office, purchased the building in 2004 with a group of investors, which included Mike Adler and Rick Gable of Adler Realty Investments Inc. in Woodland Hills. The original plan of building a mixed-use complex in its place was dropped after the building was named a historical monument.
“Once it was apparent we were not going to be able to redevelop the site into a major mixed-use project we redirected our efforts to determine how we could create some value with the existing property,” said Battle. “We did that by replacing the former Derby Nightclub with a new Chase Bank branch, renewing Louise’s lease for 10 years and creating an additional 2,100 square feet of leasable space. We spent close to $2 million refurbishing prior to putting it on the market. The resulting sale is best for all parties involved; we are thrilled with the transaction and the neighborhood will be happy to keep the historic nature of the building.”
Lemmon and Battle represented Hillhurst/Los Feliz, LLC. in the transaction. A Los Feliz investment group, CMC Asset Management LLC, represented in-house by James Chu, bought the retail and restaurant building with plans to operate the property as is.
About Lee & Associates
Celebrating more than 33 years of leadership excellence in commercial real estate, Lee & Associates is the largest broker-owned firm in the nation, with 45 locations across the nation including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. With a roster of nearly 700 expert brokers, Lee & Associates provides a wide range of specialized commercial real estate services. Additional information is available at www.lee-associates.com.
