Every day, The Real Deal rounds up Los Angeles’ biggest real estate news. We update this page in real time, starting at 9 a.m. PT. Please send any tips or deals to tips@therealdeal.com
This page was last updated at 2:59 p.m. PT
The 57-story mixed-use “Olympic Tower” project will go before the L.A. planning board next week. The tower, to be developed by the Neman family, would replace a car wash in Downtown. It would contain 373 hotel rooms and 374 condo units, along with 65,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 34,000 square feet of office space. [Urbanize]
A co-working firm backed personally by Adam Neumann is raising $500 million. Selina, which provides office space to travelers, is seeking to launch a fund to invest into U.S. properties. [Bloomberg]
Fitch Ratings: WeWork’s bonds are junk. The ratings agency downgraded the company’s credit rating to “CCC+” on Tuesday, becoming the second ratings agency to downgrade WeWork’s rating to junk status. Standard & Poor downgraded the company to “B-” last week. The downgrade comes amid troubling uncertainty with the company surrounding its planned IPO that culminated with a decision Monday to call off the public offering. CEO Adam Neumann stepped down last week and the company is in the midst of an overhaul at the leadership level. [Reuters]
L.A. deed scammer sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Van Nuys resident Michael Henschel was found guilt of mail fraud for tricking homeowners into signing fake deeds presented as collateral for equally bogus loans. The $17 million scheme saw some victims, many of them elderly, lose their homes and life savings. [Associated Press]
Gwen Stefani sells Beverly Hills estate after price cuts. The rocker singer and her ex-husband Gavin Rossdale listed the 15,500-square-foot manse for $35 million in 2016. With no bites for nearly three years, they cut the ask to $24 million and have unloaded it for $21.7 million. The home was built in 2003 in a gated community off Mulholland Drive near Franklin Canyon. It has seven bedrooms and bathrooms and a tennis court in the backyard. [WSJ]
Newsom signs into law an environmental exemption for affordable housing in L.A. Assembly Bill 1197 allows projects funded with bond money as well as temporary homeless shelters, to skip the lengthy and often expensive environmental review process required by the state. It only applies to projects within L.A. city limits. [Curbed]
Martin Cadillac, Westside landmark, to be razed for mixed-use development. The Martin family and development partner Hines have demolition permits to tear down the well-known auto dealership to build the Martin Expo Town Center. The project, which has approval from the city, is planned with 150,000 square feet of office space, around 600 apartments, a grocery store and a restaurant. [Urbanize]
The 90210 dominated the top end of sales over the last week. Four of the five top home sales in L.A. County were in the coveted zip-code. The $43 million sale of a 24,000-square-foot spec home in Beverly Hills Post Office topped the list. Max J. Fowles-Pazdro and London & Regional Properties built the home. [TRD]
Amazon has inked at a dozen leases around L.A. for its grocery store chain. SoCal is ground zero for the e-commerce giant’s push into the grocery store business. Some of the L.A.-area stores could open by the end of the year. The goods will be less expensive than the ones at Amazon’s Whole Foods chain. [TRD]
WeWork installs new head of Japan amid Asia shakeup. Kazuyuki Sasaki, the former managing director of WeWork Japan, is replacing Adam Neumann ally Chris Hill as CEO of Japan operations. The company is also considering halting its growth plans in China, which would fall into line with drastic cost-cutting measures meant to reduce mounting losses. [TRD, Bloomberg]
Justice Department’s broker commission inquiry widens. The agency acknowledged Monday that it sent a civil investigative demand to CoreLogic linked to a probe into residential real estate brokerages. Two class action lawsuits allege that multiple brokerages are inflating seller costs. And a source told Law360 that the DOJ’s inquiry likely involves other firms. [Law360, Inman]
FROM THE CITY’S RECORDS:
A 69-unit Transit-Oriented Communities project is planned at 1350 W. Court Street in Echo Park. The applicant is Lee Rubinoff with 1350 Court Partners LP. [LADCP]
Plans were filed on Tuesday for a four-story, 49-unit apartment building at 9502 N. Van Nuys Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Panorama City. [LADCP]
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