They could be in an industrial complex almost anywhere, with their absence of color and hard angles. They’re not what you think of when you think of Manhattan Beach, or $96 million, for that matter.
But that’s how much the two buildings at 1230 and 1240 Rosecrans Avenue sold for on July 22, setting the record for the largest online transaction, according to the website that hosted the sale, Auction.com, in a Aug. 4 press release.
“As the commercial real estate landscape changes, the way people buy and sell real estate evolves, and Manhattan Towers is proof of just that,” said Gordon Smith of the site’s commercial real estate division in the release.
The California business said it was basing its claim on the current record in the Guinness Book of World Records, the 1999 purchase of a Gulfstream V business jet for $40 million by a Texas internet titan.
A representative at Guinness World Records said that they hadn’t received an application for the Manhattan Towers sale, so the 1999 purchase still had the record.
According to the county assessor’s office, the five acres of land were worth $13 million and the improvements, made in 1984, $49 million.
The towers, across from the Manhattan Village Mall, were sold by CWCapital, a commercial real estate company, to Onni Group, a Canadian developer. Kevin Carpenter, the senior vice president of acquisitions at Onni, said the company had no plans to develop the site.
It was noticeably quiet in the courtyard between the two six-story, zigzag buildings on a weekday afternoon last week. The loudest sound was of a vacuum cleaner, out of sight. This might be explained by the fact that despite the high price fetched by the property, a little less than half of its offices are currently occupied—a fact underscored by signs around the perimeter advertising office space for rent. The only tenants listed on the sign facing Rosecrans were the Banc of California and a law office. ER
