This Investor Paid $6M. My Math Says It Could Be Worth $9M to $11M. What I Learned When I Looked at What Else They Bought.

What I Learned

I learned to look for forced sales with a clear path to rent.

Jared says two lease offers topped asking here.

I like using rent to help carry the land while keeping a future housing option open.

Deal Box

Item	Details
Address	601 to 619 S Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Price	$6,046,500 (county deed, from transfer tax), about $6.05M
Deed recorded	July 8, 2024. Auction held May 21, 2024.
Land	22,555 SF (0.52 acre) across 4 parcels
Building	13,580 SF across 3 buildings
Price per SF of land	About $268/SF
Price per SF of building	About $445/SF
Buyer	Fairfax 6th Holding Company LLC (Bolour Associates, led by Mark Bolour)
Seller	99 Cents Only Stores LLC (bankruptcy estate)
Sale run by	Hilco Real Estate, with Jefferies
Zoning	C2
Reported lease	13,158 SF, 10 years, above $47.40/SF a year asking (per broker). Tenant not named.

The 4 parcels (LA County Assessor)

Parcel	Address	Land SF	Building SF
5510 026 041	601 S Fairfax (old 99 Cents store)	9,351	8,312
5510 026 042	611 S Fairfax	4,402	3,300
5510 026 043	No address (parking lot)	5,501	None
5510 026 050	619 S Fairfax	3,301	1,968
Total		22,555	13,580

What Happened

99 Cents Only filed for Chapter 11 in April 2024.

Hilco and Jefferies sold its owned stores at auction.

Bolour won this site in May 2024.

The court approved the sale on May 23, 2024.

The deed recorded July 8, 2024, at $6,046,500.

Bolour then fixed up the old buildings.

NAI Capital now reports a lease.

The Lease

Jared Swedelson leased 13,158 SF at the site for the landlord.

He asked $47.40 to $51.00 per SF a year NNN.

I asked Jared Swedelson of NAI Capital about the lease. Here is what he told me.

They marketed it at $3.95/SF a month, with NNN costs of $1.25/SF a month, on a 10 year lease. That asking rent is $47.40/SF a year.

They got several offers, for the whole building and for parts of it.

Two offers came in above the asking rent. The landlord picked a niche brand with multiple locations.

In his words, the corner, the parking and the remodel "helped us generate strong competition and ultimately secure a high quality tenant at a rent above our initial asking price."

The tenant name and the exact rent are not public yet.

The Money

We are using asking lease of $47 to $51 and discounting it to $45 NNN.

Jared says the signed rent came in above the $47.40 asking rent. So I think $45 is a careful number.

The $45 is my number. The signed rent is higher, per the broker.

13,158 SF x $45 = $592,110 a year.

Cap rate I picked	Math	My estimate
6.5%	$592,110 divided by 6.5%	About $9.1M
5.5%	$592,110 divided by 5.5%	About $10.8M

That rounds to $9M to $11M. It is my estimate. It is not a sale or an appraisal.

The price was about $6.05M. Bolour has not shared what the remodel cost.

So I cannot say how much value was added until I see that bill.

The Billboard

There is a big billboard on the roof. I have no record of what it pays.

My estimate is $5,000 to $10,000 a month. That is $60,000 to $120,000 a year.

At the same 6.5% to 5.5% cap rates, that could add about $0.9M to $2.2M in value.

With the sign, my estimate for the whole site is about $10.0M to $13.0M. That is a guess until I see the sign lease.  

What Else Has Bolour Bought

Fairfax is not a one off. Here is what Bolour bought in LA in the last 5 years.

Address	Type	Price	Date	$/SF land	$/SF building
1330 W Sunset Blvd, Echo Park	Empty lot	$3.8M	Dec 2021	$170	None
5780 Canoga Ave, Warner Center	Food retail center	$9M	Jun 2022	$168	$886
6432 Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood	Shops and offices	$13.7M	Jul 2022	$604	$421 (per Bolour, 32,500 SF)
5151 W Pico Blvd, Mid City	Strip center	$4.45M	Feb 2024	$155	$602
6325 to 6363 Santa Monica Blvd and 1115 to 1125 Lillian Way, Hollywood	School campus, 49,285 SF land, 45,781 SF building	Not reported (sold for $20.5M, Apr 2026)	2024	Not available	Not available
601 S Fairfax Ave, Mid City	Old 99 Cents store and 3 more parcels (bankruptcy auction)	$6.05M	Jul 2024	$268	$445
2829 Hyperion Ave, Silver Lake	Retail center, half leased (court ordered sale)	$6.55M	Mar 2025	$380	$663
8690 Hayden Pl, Culver City	Industrial building, bought with a partner	$5.5M	Nov 2025	$223	$498

Five of the eight are shop buildings on busy streets, and at Canoga, Fairfax and Hyperion the plan was to fix them up and lease them. On Fairfax and Sunset the plan is apartments later, and on Pico, Bolour says it buys and holds land for future building. Two of the buys came out of a bankruptcy or a court sale, so Bolour shows up when a seller has to sell.

These numbers come from news reports and Bolour's press releases. Only Fairfax is checked against the deed. They also sold a Hermosa Beach portfolio for $33.5M in 2025.

What I See as an Owner

Buying out of a bankruptcy can work. The seller had to sell. Bolour got 4 parcels and a parking lot in one deed.

The signed rent is the real test. Asking rent is a goal. Free rent and tenant work can cut what the owner keeps.

The remodel bill decides the gain. Price plus remodel plus holding costs is the true cost. I don't have that number yet.

The land can pay for the wait. If the lease brings in real rent, it helps carry the site while a housing plan of 120 to 140 units moves through the city.

Team

Stephen Madura, Hilco Real Estate, represented the seller.

Bolour represented itself on the buy.

Jared Swedelson, NAI Capital Commercial, handled the lease.

jswedelson@naicapital.com

(818) 742 1632

Sources

• LA County Assessor parcel and ownership records; CoStar; NAI Capital post and listing by Jared Swedelson; Bolour Associates press release (July 29, 2024); Hilco Real Estate; Beverly Press; GlobeSt/Bisnow; Urbanize LA; The Real Deal. Rent value math is my estimate.