Jason Illoulian and fashion and hospitality entrepreneur Frank Zarabi have bought one of Tishman Speyer’s two remaining Beverly Hills office buildings for $90 million.
A joint venture between Illoulian’s Faring and Zarabi’s Envision Hotel Partners paid $668 per square foot for 9242 Beverly Boulevard, according to a spokesperson for Tishman Speyer and Faring acquisitions executive Alex Smith.
Smith described the joint venture with Envision as “a platform acquiring commercial properties,” but declined to comment further. It’s unclear how the partners financed the deal.
What’s undeniable is Zarabi’s enthusiasm about going into business with the younger Illoulian, a third-generation West Hollywood real estate scion who founded Faring Capital two decades ago at the age of 22.
Faring has lately ventured into novel territory. The firm formed a joint venture focused on affordable housing with Standard Communities in 2021 and is also building a 123-room boutique hotel on the site of the former nightclub The Factory in its Robertson Lane development at 645-681 North Robertson Boulevard.
The Beverly Hills deal gives Faring and Envision a taste of office market prestige.
Tishman Speyer bought the 134,800-square-foot office building in 2005 for $38.3 million and outfitted the ground floor to welcome a Mercedes-Benz dealership. The carmaker continues to occupy the space, rolling out its latest wares behind double-height windows between Maple Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard.
Offices on the upper floors are leased to private multifamily investment firm Post Real Estate Group.
In 2007, Tishman Speyer took out a $220 million loan tied to a trio of Beverly Hills properties including 9242 Beverly Boulevard, 345 and 407 North Maple Drive, according to Morningstar data. The debt was briefly placed on a special servicing watchlist in 2016, but Tishman Speyer landed a $275 million refinancing from Crédit Agricole ahead of its maturity date the following year, county property records show.
Now the New York office developer seems ready to cash in on Beverly Hills.
Earlier this year, Tishman Speyer sold the 175,000-square-foot 407 North Maple Drive to Fashion Nova founder and CEO Richard Saghian for $118 million, as The Real Deal previously reported. That deal worked out to nearly $675 per square foot.
The $90 million Beverly Boulevard deal “demonstrates the success of our investment strategy,” Paul Galiano, senior managing director at Tishman Speyer, said in a statement. “It is a testament to the high-quality environment we cultivated at the building.”
Madison Partners’ Bob Safai and Matt Case arranged the deal for Tishman Speyer and did not respond to requests for comment.