Cape Horn Group recently floated a plan to convert its building on El Camino Drive, where employees of the recently merged William Morris Endeavor Entertainment are ensconced as they wait for their new headquarters building to be completed at Beverly Drive and Wilshire Boulevard.
Cape Horn, based in Santiago, Chile, paid $143 million for the property and envisions doing there what it has successfully done with buildings it owns in Chicago and Miami. The idea is also catching on in Anaheim and Costa Mesa.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, June 26, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Beverly Hills office space: An article in Thursday's Section A about commercial office space in Beverly Hills said Platinum Equity had bought auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. Platinum is seeking to buy Delphi, but the transaction has not closed.
"The concept has proved to be very successful in [cities] where Cape Horn has other properties," said a representative close to the firm who asked that he not be named. He said Cape Horn was preparing information that would show that the conversion would be a "revenue-enhancing proposal."
Beverly Hills certainly has not lost its cachet as a business address. The city of about 38,000 residents has a daytime population of nearly 300,000 -- mostly office and retail workers, not ladies who lunch.
But the loss of CAA, ICM and Hilton -- three stellar employers -- was painful.
"We regretted losing all of those headquarters businesses," said Anita Zusman Eddy, vice president of economic development and government affairs with the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.
Among the high-status companies that remain are MySpace, the social networking company; Live Nation, a top producer and promoter of live entertainment; City National Bank; and Platinum Equity, a leveraged buyout firm that just bought Delphi Corp., General Motors Corp.'s bankrupt auto parts business.
But the city would like to see more like them and is busily promoting its Class A office buildings as landing pads for big, high-end tenants. It's especially eager to snare ICM, which city officials say regretted leaving Beverly Hills and for a year has been exploring the idea of moving back.
ICM's return would be especially satisfying, officials say.
"We're in constant discussion with them," said Councilman Barry Brucker. "We will try very hard to encourage that decision."
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martha.groves@latimes.com
