Monday, June 22, 2015

HFF closes sale on behalf of Passco Companies LLC and secures preferred equity for The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles, CA


The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, West Los Angeles, CA

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 22, 2015 – Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. (HFF) announced today that it has closed the sale of and secured preferred equity for The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, a 248,841-square-foot retail center in West Los Angeles recently repositioned by Passco Companies LLC into an entertainment-focused destination center. 

Bryan Ley
HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Passco Companies LLC.  Laurus Corporation purchased the property and received senior financing through a major money center bank.  Torchlight Investors, LLC provided preferred equity for the project.

The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center is a high-profile, two-story outdoor retail and entertainment center completed in 2001.

 Ninety-one percent leased at the time of closing, the center is home to national tenants that include Cinemark Theatres, Dave & Busters, Buffalo Wild Wings, Souplantation, Johnny Rockets, Starbucks and Kabuki Japanese Restaurant. 

Situated at the confluence of Sepulveda and the 405 Freeway, the property has outstanding visibility with 1,200 feet of freeway frontage and a traffic count of more than 600,000 vehicles per day.  

The asset is located within the Howard Hughes Center mixed-use development that consists of approximately 1.8 million square feet of commercial space and over 900 apartment units under construction.


John Crump




 The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center provides the only retail amenities in the development and is situated to serve the surrounding residential and creative office communities of Westchester, Playa Vista and Culver City.  

The project is at the gateway to the Westside’s Silicon Beach, one of the largest tech hubs in the world with offices for Google, Hulu, Snapchat, Facebook and more.

The HFF investment sales team representing the seller was led by managing director Bryan Ley and director John Crump.  

HFF’s equity placement team was led by senior managing director Paul Brindley, associate director Jeff Sause and real estate analyst Ryan Ash.

Jeff Sause
“During our 10-year investment period on the property, we were able to reposition and transform Promenade at Howard Hughes into the Westside’s premier entertainment-focused destination center, capitalizing on the desires of today’s large demographic of millennial consumers,” said Todd Siegel, Passco Companies’ vice president of retail.

 “With the repositioning and leasing strategy we executed, Passco was able to maintain the asset value throughout one of the worst recessions in retail history.”

Solidifying Promenade at Howard Hughes’ positioning in the market as an entertainment center, Passco secured two large entertainment-focused tenants, including the first Los Angeles location of Dave & Busters, as well as Buffalo Wild Wings.

According to Siegel, the new owners of the asset now have the opportunity to take advantage of the rapidly increasing population of affluent workers and residents located nearby, as well as tourists travelling to and from LAX.

“The sale of Promenade at Howard Hughes Center represents one of the largest retail trades so far in 2015 in West Los Angeles,” Ley said.

 “The property is an iconic asset in West Los Angeles that most residents have visited or passed by while driving on the 405 Freeway.  

"More recently, the asset has seen a tremendous amount of momentum with the expansion of the area, and this speaks volumes to the further development of the asset with the new owners. 

Todd Siegel
“With all the explosive growth of the Playa Vista/Westchester area and Silicon Beach, retailers and capital will continue to pour into this area to follow tech giants such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook and many more, as they call this area home for their new Southern California offices.”

“Laurus Corporation plans on implementing a significant renovation plan to enhance the center’s atmosphere and circulation,” Brindley added.  

“With the planned improvements, the property will provide tenants and patrons with one of the most engaging and accessible entertainment venues in Los Angeles.”

In addition to the recent Promenade at Howard Hughes Center transaction, HFF’s Ley and Crump also recently completed the sale of Lakewood Galleria in Lakewood, California, and Puente Hills Mall, a 1.1 million-square-foot regional mall in the City of Industry, California, for their client, a publicly traded REIT.  

In February, HFF also announced that it had secured joint venture equity for The Village at Howard Hughes, which is one of the new multi-housing development sites adjacent to the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center and speaks to the residential growth in the surrounding area.

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Kristen M. Murphy
Associate Director
HFF | One Post Office Square, Suite 3500 | Boston, MA 02109
Main: 617-338-0990 | Direct: 617-848-1572 | Cell: 617-543-4873 | www.hfflp.com

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