CMC Sale Progresses
Escrow on the sale of the California Market Center in Los Angeles is expected to close early next year, sources said.
Los Angeles real estate company Jamison Properties Inc. and its partners opened escrow recently on the 3-millionsquare- foot building at 110 E. Ninth St., said several real estate brokers who wished to remain anonymous. Under terms of the contract, which set the sale price close to $135 million, Jamison and its partners have until the end of October to come up with a portion of the sale price to show they are serious about the deal.
A real estate broker who specializes in downtown Los Angeles properties said he has a client waiting in the wings with a back-up deal of more than $135 million for the building, which is in the hub of the Fashion District.
Meanwhile, Jamison, headed by Dr. David Lee, is working out the details of the CMC purchase.
Jamison, which owns more than 60 commercial properties in the Los Angeles area, specializes in office and medical buildings located mostly along the Wilshire Boulevard corridor that passes through Koreatown.
But in the past few years, Jamison has been venturing into the downtown area. The company made its first downtown investment in 2002, when it purchased the 150,000- square-foot Banco Popular Center for $6 million from the Hertz Investment Group. Hertz is one of the principal owners of the CMC, which was bought in May 2000 for $90 million.
One year ago, Jamison bought a 345,000- square-foot commercial building at 811 Wilshire Blvd. for $26.5 million. And early this year, the real estate company purchased the World Trade Center—bounded by Third, Fourth, Figueroa and Flower streets—for more than $53 million.
Lee said he did not have specific plans yet for the CMC. “We will figure it out in the next few weeks,” he said.
—Deborah Belgum
