Santa Monica's Clock Tower: Bought for $58M.  Sold $28.5M. 

The Team That Got It Done

Receiver: Brian Holmes, Cushman & Wakefield, named by the court to run the building.

Sale brokers: not named in any report yet. Newmark put out the 2026 leasing brochure.

What Happened

Rockwood Capital, now part of Harrison Street, bought the Clock Tower from Sorgente Group of America for $58M. It took on about $27M of CMBS debt.

The loan came due in May 2025 and was not paid off. Rialto Capital, the special servicer, sued and said Rockwood owed about $25M. The case went to court in September 2025, and a judge put the building in the hands of a receiver.

In late September 2026, a group tied to Simon, Daniel and Joseph Mani bought it for $28.5M. Court papers name the buyer as an entity tied to the brothers, who run Mani Brothers Real Estate Group in West Hollywood. Morningstar servicer comments say the buyer took over the loan and moved its due date to May 2027.

The 12 story Art Deco tower opened in January 1930. For four decades it was the tallest building in Santa Monica. It became a city landmark in 2004.

The Money

• Sale price: $28,500,000, out of receivership, late September 2026
• Rockwood paid: $58M, so the sale is about 51% less
• Value in 2015: $49M, per Morningstar. Cut to $27.4M in summer 2025.
• Loan: about $27M of CMBS debt taken on by Rockwood. The buyer took it over, now due May 2027.
• Building: 50,000 SF in some reports and 53,500 SF in others. That is about $533 to $570 per SF of building, my estimate.
• Land: one data service lists the lot at about 5,000 SF. That would be about $5,700 per SF of land, my estimate, with the building included. I have not seen a county record for the lot.
• Office space full: 43%
• Seller: Rockwood Capital, through the receiver
• Buyer: an entity tied to the Mani brothers. The exact LLC name is not public yet.

What Else Sold

• 2701 Ocean Park Blvd (Ocean Park Plaza). Sold for $50.6M to The Wildwood School on July 10, 2026, all cash. It has 100,700 SF on a 65,095 SF lot. That is about $502 per SF of building and about $777 per SF of land, my estimate. It sold for $63.5M in 2017, so this was about 20% less. It was 73% empty. Colliers' Sean Fulp, Mark Schuessler, Todd Tydlaska, Jordan Garcia and Blake Hammerstein sold it. Tim Dornin and Scott Rigsby of Industry Partners and Dan Pickart of Newmark had the buyer.

A school bought that building to use, not to lease. The Clock Tower buyer has to fill offices.

What I See as an Owner

I own and build in LA. I am seeing prices drop 30% to 70%, and this is one brutal real estate crash.

Here are the commercial sales I am watching:

• The Clock Tower, 225 Santa Monica Blvd. Rockwood paid $58M. It sold for $28.5M. That is about 51% less.
• Fairfax Theatre, Beverly and Fairfax. I was quoted $40M. It sold at auction for $7.21M.
• Ocean Park Plaza, 2701 Ocean Park Blvd. Sold for $50.6M after a $63.5M sale in 2017. That is about 20% less, and a school was the buyer.

The Fairfax Theatre is the 70% end of my view. The Clock Tower sits right in the middle.

This might be the time that some investors will get some great deals.  

Sources

The Real Deal via Yahoo, sale, The Real Deal, receivership, Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica Lookout, Colliers, Ocean Park Plaza, LA Business Journal, Compass, 2701 Ocean Park records, Atlas Brief, Fairfax Theatre.

Photo: Ken Lund via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)