Luxury Condos at Elysian Park?

Now that most Dodgers critics are done (sort of) blowing a fuse and claiming the team paid for its World Series win, some interesting food for thought has emerged with the start of the offseason.

A caller into television broadcaster Brodie Brazil’s YouTube show wondered whether a mixed-use entertainment complex around Dodger Stadium would ever be in the cards. Brazil’s take was that an entertainment district is not likely considering the dual ownership (Guggenheim Baseball Management and former team owner Frank McCourt) of the parking lots surrounding the facility and the lack of transit options for moving people in and out of the stadium, which is on a graded hilltop in Elysian Park, and has its hands full with traffic on game days.

Still, the question about an entertainment district stoked an additional one: Could high-rise condo living — often one component to stadium-anchored, mixed-use projects — thrive in Elysian Park.

Maybe, but no one should expect anything in the heart of L.A. to be comparable to the luxury high-rise development taking place on the Westside — with or without a world champion baseball team as an anchor.

In particular, Cain International’s One Beverly Hills development and the incoming ultra-luxe Aman Residences are being closely watched for their impact on the market. We reported earlier this year local agents have said the ultra-luxury segment can command as much as $3,000 to $5,000 per square foot locally.

That’s really not a figure that pencils out in the central or eastern part of Los Angeles.

Look no further than Downtown L.A., which is less than two miles south of Dodger Stadium. The Ritz Carlton Residences luxury condos, which opened in 2010, were the final puzzle piece of the L.A. Live mixed-use project anchored by Crypto.com Arena. There are currently 19 units available at the Ritz with the average price per square foot of those units $924 and a median ask of $1.8 million, according to data from RubyHome Luxury Real Estate.

The largest condo deal so far this year in downtown was at 1155 South Grand Avenue, which traded for $1.8 million, or $766 per square foot, based on Zillow data. That’s a sliver of the $39.1 million paid in January for a Century City penthouse at 1 West Century Drive, which came out to $4,153 per square foot.

So, would building a condo tower work even near the stadium? Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.

The strong get stronger…

There is some significant shuffling afoot across Southern California brokerages.

Luis Carrion picked up and moved his business’ franchise affiliate license from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties to Coldwell Banker Real Estate to become Coldwell Banker Envision.

The operation has 14 offices and more than 1,300 agents that counted $2.4 billion in volume from over 1,000 deals to rank sixth in this year’s list of Los Angeles County’s top brokerages. 

Carrion positioned the move as a “customer service and sustained growth” play.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties’ company-owned brokerage business remains with over 2,000 people across nearly 50 offices, in addition to three franchises in Sierra Madre, Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach and San Luis Obispo. The company-owned business did not rank in this year’s list of top brokerages by TRD Research.

Elsewhere, two Keller Williams franchisees filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday.

The Pismo Beach brokerage listed 0 to $50,000 in assets, with between $1 million to $10 million in liabilities, according to documents filed in bankruptcy court for the southern district of California. Meanwhile, the Oxnard business posted the same amount in assets, with liabilities amounting to anywhere from $10 million to $50 million.

Beverly Hills Estates parks it in the Palisades

Speaking of the business of brokerages, the Beverly Hills Estates is moving into the Pacific Palisades.

The West Hollywood-headquartered brokerage revealed a new division called Palisades Estates, led by Jacqueline Chernov. The new business will start from an Airstream  parked on an Alphabet Streets lot owned by Chernov until they find permanent space, potentially on Sunset   Boulevard.

“We started [Beverly Hills Estates] with just Rayni and I and our small team, and we’ve grown this into a really great, small-big operation,” said Beverly Hills Estates co-founder and President Branden Williams.  

Chernov is already putting out the call for “experienced agents, particularly in the Palisades and in Malibu” to further build out the office, which already has about half of the 20 agents she’s targeting.

Next up, Beverly Hills Estates is eyeing similar moves in the Valley, Malibu, Montecito and the Eastside.

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