Amazon Building Sells to London-Based Investors

The Amazon building at 1001 State Street sold recently to Global Mutual, a London-based commercial real estate investment company. The sale price was not disclosed but is said to be “close to” the asking price of $38.4 million and closed on December 3, according to broker CBRE.

Owned by Michael Rosenfeld, the CEO of Woodbridge Capital Partners of Los Angeles, the building had held Saks Off 5^th before the store closed in 2018. Prior to that, it had been a Saks Fifth Avenue, downgrading to the outlet store when the property sold for $15 million in 2015. Rosenfeld subsequently bought the property for $18 million, and he and Amazon sank $20 million into building renovations before the world’s largest online retailer moved into the corner of State and West Carrillo streets. The 48,000 square-foot building holds a branch of the company’s Alexa engineers, who are said to be improving the voice-activated machine’s ability to answer questions in seven languages. 

At the time he acquired 1001 State Street, Rosenfeld was renovating the Hotel Californian and its environs along State Street just up from the beach, had purchased Chapala One several years before, and was pursuing the development of the old Craviotto Ironworks property at Anacapa and Ortega, which now holds 30 high-end apartments and commercial space, being handled by Radius Commercial Real Estate.

Global Mutual retains Amazon as a tenant whose lease runs through 2029. The deal marks a high point in the year for Radius, whose brokers Austin Herlihy and Chris Parker worked with Dan Riley, Austin Wolitarsky, and Simon Mattox of international real-estate company CBRE on completing the sale and acquisition.

“The execution of this sale is a real statement of confidence in the local economy despite the pandemic, particularly when you have an asset generate the kind of international interest this one did,” said Herlihy, who called the turnover a positive sign of renewal along State Street.

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