Tishman buys Hilton HQ from Blackstone

Tishman Speyer has acquired the former Hilton Hotels headquarters in Beverly Hills from The Blackstone Group in a deal valued at $65 million.

Tishman announced it had acquired the two four-storey office properties, but declined to comment on financial details. People familiar with the matter said the transaction was valued at $65 million and was closed through the firm’s $1.05 billion opportunity fund, Tishman Speyer Real Estate Venture VII.

Hilton Hotel's former Beverly Hills HQ

Hilton moved out of its Beverly Hill headquarters in August 2009 after the hotel chain was acquired by Blackstone in a $39 billion deal two years prior. The 185,000-square-foot office has sat vacant since that time, with Hilton and Blackstone last year dropping plans to sell the asset when offers came in too low, according to people familiar with the deal. Blackstone declined to comment, but sources said the Tishman acquisition represented a roughly 20 percent increase on prices offered in 2010.

A Tishman spokesman said the firm would invest around $23 million upgrading the office to allow it to be leased to multiple tenants or a single user, but declined to comment further.

Over the past 12 months, Tishman modified large chunks of its debt load but has also been actively acquiring US office properties. In December, the firm bought the Chicago headquarters of Mesirow Financial for $385 million on behalf of Fund VII. Mesirow originally acquired the development site at 353 North Clark in November 2006 for an estimated $20 million, according to data provider Real Capital Analytics, with plans to build a $442 million headquarters. Failed German lender Hypo Real Estate financed the project with a $353 million first mortgage.

A month earlier, Tishman also purchased the 305,000-square-foot office property at 1110 Vermont Avenue NW in Washington, DC, for an estimated $130 million. The office, sold by a partnership between GMAC Institutional Advisors and PRP, formerly known as Perseus Realty Partners, was 83 percent leased at the time of the acquisition.