Borstein Enterprises pays $25M for Torrance office building

Borstein Enterprises has bought a 116,200-square-foot office building in Torrance for $24.8 million.

An affiliate of the Sawtelle-based investor bought DYAD South Bay, a two-story campus at 19700 and 19750 South Vermont Avenue, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The seller was a firm owned by funds managed by Westport Capital Partners, based in Connecticut.

The price came out to $213 per square foot. The 5-acre property, renovated in 2020, is 92-percent leased.

Brokers Steve Solomon, Mark Schuessler, Sean Fulp, Ryan Plummer and Kristen Bowman of Colliers represented both the buyer and seller in the deal.

“Several surrounding competitive office buildings have been purchased by industrial developers with plans for demolition and construction of state-of-the-art warehouses,” Solomon said in a statement. “Due to this trend, we expect the DYAD South Bay campus to benefit significantly from reduced office supply in the market.”

In the first quarter, the office vacancy rate in Torrance was 25.2 percent, down from 30.5 percent year-over-year, according to JLL. Asking rents for Class A properties in the area were $3.07 a square foot.

In November, Borstein filed plans to build 37 homes, including 29 single-family homes and eight duplexes, on a vacant lot at 8601 Mission Drive in Rosemead.

In August, the company filed plans to build 80 townhomes with shops and restaurants at 11709 Artesia Boulevard and 17212 Alburtis Avenue on the site of a demolished dairy plant in Artesia.

It’s also working to build 21 luxury homes at 5300 North Oakdale Avenue, between Woodland Hills and Tarzana. It would replace the 14-acre Bothwell Ranch, the last commercial orange grove in the San Fernando Valley.

Elsewhere, Borstein is developing various townhome projects in Gardena, including 22 three-story homes on Marine Avenue.

Since it was founded in 1980 by Alan Borstein, the company has developed more than 150 residential subdivisions and more than 3.6 million square feet of industrial and commercial property, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew