CIM Group and ADIA shopping Hollywood & Highland retail complex: sources

Adia’s Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and CIM Group’s Shaul Kuba

CIM Group and joint venture partner Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are putting the sprawling Hollywood & Highland Center on the market for sale, The Real Deal has learned.

Spanning about 460,000 square feet, the outdoor retail complex, located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, is one of the busiest destinations in Hollywood, where a swarm of tourists and street vendors mix with movie-character impersonators.

Sources familiar with the five-story property say it could fetch bids as high as $300 million, or roughly $652 per square foot. The ownership entity is rumored to have tapped Chris Hoffman from Eastdil Secured to market the property.

Representatives for ADIA and CIM declined to comment. Hoffman did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

ADIA, a sovereign wealth fund, invested $142 million when CIM Group recapitalized the retail complex in June 2013, CoStar analytics show. Retailers at the bustling site include Sephora, Forever 21, and Dave & Busters, among others.

CIM had owned the property since 2004, when it acquired the mega-complex from Trizec Properties for about $200 million. The deal reflected a major blow for Trizec, which lost millions on the project, once valued at almost $650 million.

As part of the deal, CIM also acquired the iconic Dolby Theatre, formerly known as the Kodak Theatre, and a 632-room hotel on the site.

Then in 2012, Loews Hotels & Resorts acquired the hotel property for $165 million, renovating and rebranding the property to the Loews Hollywood Hotel.

The Dolby Theatre, owned in part by the city, is not included in the offering.

CIM, led by co-founders Shaul Kuba, Richard Ressler and Avi Shemesh, is one of the most prolific developers in L.A. Last month, the firm added the historic Desmond building in the Miracle Mile to its portfolio. It also owns the building at 9460 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Sunset Gordon Tower in Hollywood and 2 California Plaza in Downtown L.A.