Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen has invested in Hollywood with the $69-million buy of retail property close to the legendary TCL Chinese language Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
In a wager on the long run worth of native actual property, Mateen and his brother Tyler purchased the Hollywood Galaxy purchasing middle and the historic Petersen Constructing subsequent door.
The acquisition comes at a time when most institutional buyers reminiscent of pension funds have stopped buying property in Los Angeles. Values of many buildings within the area, together with workplace skyscrapers, have fallen lately because the lack of tenants that began in the course of the pandemic and different elements have pushed down sale costs.
The Mateens, nonetheless, see this as a possibility. They purchased outstanding properties in Beverly Hills and Westchester final 12 months and at the moment are stakeholders in Hollywood.
Justin Mateen is thought for being a co-founder of fashionable courting app Tinder however can be a solo enterprise capitalist by his JAM Fund. He and his brother have a technique to spend money on their hometown of Los Angeles throughout a cooling industrial actual property market as a result of they count on the area to bounce again within the years forward.
“I’ve at all times been a contrarian investor,” he mentioned. “Whether or not it’s startups, public markets or actual property, I take the lengthy view and maintain by cycles for perpetually. Whereas others are pulling again from cities like L.A., we’re doubling down. Its resurgence feels inevitable.”
The Mateens plan to spruce up the Hollywood property bought by Federal Realty Funding Belief and search tenants who wish to work together with the thousands and thousands of vacationers who go to the blocks across the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue yearly.
The three-story Hollywood Galaxy purchasing middle, which was accomplished in 1990, is almost 80% leased to tenants together with Goal and LA Health. The remaining area may go to a high-profile enterprise reminiscent of Nintendo or Lego that wishes to create an interactive, immersive attraction for Hollywood guests, Tyler Mateen mentioned.
The brothers are searching for tenants “who profit off heavy foot visitors and worth a big format with visibility,” he mentioned. That may even be a flagship retailer for a giant model reminiscent of Nike, Adidas or Sephora.
Rendering of the historic Petersen Constructing, which was as soon as a Cadillac dealership.
(It-makes-Architects)
The Petersen Constructing at Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, which can be a part of the deal, was inbuilt 1929 as the house of a Cadillac dealership. It’s now occupied by a Marshalls division retailer and La La Land memento store.
Final 12 months the Mateens and their accomplice Pouya Abdi purchased Wilshire Rodeo Plaza, a five-story workplace constructing at Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. They’re within the means of signing new retail tenants for the constructing and planning a rooftop restaurant.
The Mateens additionally purchased the HHLA leisure middle in Westchester close to Playa Vista final 12 months and are within the means of refurbishing it. Amongst its new tenants will likely be Meow Wolf, an immersive leisure agency.
All three properties are in high-profile areas the place it’s tough to develop new initiatives, Tyler Mateen mentioned. “We wish to personal belongings that you may’t construct once more and that the market can’t ignore.”
