Rams Owner Spent $150 Million on Westfield Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills Earlier This Year
By Jack Witthaus
CoStar News
May 13, 2022 | 2:41 P.M.
Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is considering whether to expand his Southern California real estate empire again in a move that could further catalyze a once-struggling office market in the west San Fernando Valley.
Kroenke is in talks to buy the long-vacant Warner Landmark property at 21555 Oxnard St. in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, according to three people familiar with the deal. In March, Kroenke bought the 34-acre Westfield Promenade shopping mall next door for $150 million, according to CoStar data.
It's unclear what plans Kroenke has for the Warner Landmark and Westfield Promenade properties, and the Warner Landmark's asking price is not known. However, buying the Warner Landmark property would give Kroenke side-by-side parcels as the billionaire real estate investor and developer potentially seeks to redevelop the mall.
CBRE began marketing the Warner Landmark building for sale in January, and the roughly 6-acre property is still listed for sale, according to CoStar data. The real estate has floated on and off the market after its anchor tenant, health insurer Anthem, revealed plans to leave in 2018 and departed the following year. Anthem had occupied the building since 1977.
Warner Landmark features a roughly 310,000-square-foot office building and three smaller parcels, according to CoStar data. The property is owned by Avi Lerner and sits roughly 30 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. A representative for Kroenke did not respond to a request to comment, and a CBRE representative declined to comment. Lerner could not be reached.
A deal with Kroenke would be a coup for Lerner, who has failed to lure a buyer or developer over the years as the office building sat vacant. It would also be significant for the Woodland Hills office market, which has struggled at times during the pandemic. In January, Farmers Insurance revealed it was marketing for sublease its roughly 500,000-square-foot headquarters space 3 miles from Warner Landmark at 6301 and 6303 Owensmouth Ave. It was perhaps the biggest office sublease move in greater L.A. during the pandemic.
That said, Woodland Hills, and the Warner Center community within it, has been on an upswing in recent months. Some of the biggest deals in the area include a 266-unit apartment property selling for $96 million, a 183,000-square-foot industrial property selling for $60 million and, of course, Kroenke's deal to buy the mostly vacant Westfield Promenade shopping mall. The mall itself is approved to be redeveloped into apartments, a hotel, Class A office space and a 10,000-seat sports venue.
Based in Missouri, Kroenke has deep development ties to Los Angeles. The billionaire redeveloped the former Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood for the $5 billion SoFi Stadium, which hosts the Rams and Los Angeles Chargers NFL teams. The site also features offices and is expected to host apartments and retail space.
The Woodland Hills-Warner Center office market features average asking rents of $32.31 per square foot on an annual basis, lower than the greater L.A. average of $41.74 per square foot, according to CoStar data. The market's average vacancy is 15.7%, higher than the metropolitan area average of 13.9%.