Los Angeles — Chanel S.A., a Paris-based fragrance and fashion house, has purchased its 11,500-square-foot store at 400 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills for $152 million.
The price sets a Southern California record of $13,217 per square foot.
“It is a regional record price, and sets a new standard for Los Angeles-area retail space,” says Scott Kalt, partner at Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP, which represented the seller and landlord, Rodeo-Brighton LP, in the transaction. “This is a premier retail location for world-class luxury-goods purveyors, and we were very happy to have obtained such an aggressive price for our client.”
Kalt, Ron Goldie, an attorney based in Los Angeles, and Jeff Reuben, partner with Elkins Kalt, negotiated the sale.
“This was an incredibly challenging transaction that spanned almost 18 months of negotiation that resulted in a successful conclusion for all parties,” says Goldie.
The previous record sales price for retail space in Southern California was set in 2013, when billionaire Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A., purchased a 7,100‑square-foot building at 319-323 N. Rodeo Drive for $85 million, or $11,971 per square foot.
Chanel is also the owner and tenant of an adjacent retail property on Rodeo Drive. The company plans to combine both properties.
Goldie represents high-net-worth individuals and global businesses in complex transactions. He has been a senior partner at several national and regional law firms and is on the faculty at University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where he teaches transaction law.
Founded in 2010 by veteran lawyers who practiced together for over 20 years, Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP advises small, medium and large institutions ranging from closely held corporations to publicly traded companies, as well as startups and high-net-worth individuals.
Chanel is a privately held company owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of Coco Chanel. Its products include luxury clothes, fragrances, handbags and watches. The brand was valued at $6.8 billion as of May 2015, according to Forbes.
— John Nelson