Bolour Sells Proposed Hotel Site in Hermosa Beach for $33.5M

Beverly Hills-based Bolour Associates traded a 1-acre beachfront retail and short-term rental portfolio where it had been planning to develop a three-story hotel along The Strand in Hermosa Beach for $33.5 million, the company announced.

Hermosa Pier and Strand, a limited liability company tied to food manufacturer Harold Rothman, bought the parcels at the corner of Pier Avenue and The Strand directly across from Hermosa Beach Pier, according to property records filed in Los Angeles County.

The portfolio includes four single-story retail buildings totaling 18,551 square feet at 11-29 Pier Avenue and 1250-1272 The Strand, plus three lots with nine short-term rental units on the other side of the block at 20-32 13th Street.

Rothman — a local restaurateur known for running Manhattan Beach eateries Fishbar and Manhattan Beach Creamery — could not be reached for comment. He also previously founded snack food manufacturing company Bar Bakers in 2013. That company expanded into four factories and two warehouses in California before it merged with competitor TruFood Manufacturing last year, according to an announcement of the merger.

Boulour, for its part, acquired the portfolio in pieces beginning in 2013, when it bought the beachfront retail buildings for $19.5 million, according to county property records. It then snapped up the neighboring rental properties for $7.2 million in two separate deals in 2015 and 2017. Bolour has since renovated and rebranded them as short-term rentals, thanks to local zoning laws that allow for the switch along the city’s beachfront district.

The company had been planning to transform the buildings into a three-story hotel with upscale restaurants on the ground floor, according to information about the proposal on its website. But that project never got off the ground, and the properties are currently only entitled for single-story commercial development.

The retail units are currently 88 percent leased, according to a spokesperson for Bolour.

CEO Mark Bolour said in a statement the sale, “underscores Bolour’s interest in supporting the advancement of cornerstone infill parcels.”

JLL’s Tim Kuruzar, who arranged the deal for Bolour along with Bryan Ley, Brendan McArthur and Tess Berghoff, described it in a statement as a “generational trade,” and added that the new owner plans to hang onto the properties on a permanent basis.

“Oceanfront commercial assets are rare,” Kuruzar added.

JLL’s Jeff Sause and Chad Morgan arranged the financing for the deal and did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear how Rothman financed the purchase.