Brentwood restaurant building in limelight during O.J. Simpson case sold

The building at 11752-11770 San Vicente Blvd. in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

By Roger Vincent

Oct. 21, 2014 11:43 AM PT

A Brentwood building historically linked to one of Los Angeles’ most notorious murders has been sold for about $25 million to local investors who intend to improve it.

Real estate investment firm GPI Cos. bought the retail complex at 11572-11770 San Vicente Blvd. that was once home to Mezzaluna, an Italian restaurant where Nicole Brown Simpson dined on the last night of her life and where Ron Goldman worked as a waiter. Both were slain June 12, 1994.
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FOR THE RECORD

Oct. 21, 11:43 a.m.: An earlier version of this post gave the wrong address for the property and the incorrect date for the slayings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

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Football star O.J. Simpson was acquitted of their murders in 1995 after a long trial that brought unwelcome attention to Mezzaluna and drove away its local client base. The restaurant at the triangular intersection of San Vicente and Gorham Avenue closed in 1997.

A Peet’s Coffee & Tea outlet now occupies the space. Other tenants in the building completed in 1927 include First Republic Bank, Gaucho Grill and Pizzicotto restaurant.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the sellers were asking for $25 million and real estate experts familiar with Brentwood said the property traded for close to that price.

The seller of the 12,000-square-foot property was a family trust that had owned it for more than 40 years, said Drew Planting, managing partner of GPI. His firm is based across San Vicente Boulevard from the recently purchased complex.
“Properties here trade so infrequently,” he said. “This is one of the great neighborhoods of Los Angeles.”

He predicted the already upscale stretch of San Vicente will see more improvements. Prominent Los Angeles shopping center developer Rick Caruso recently purchased the Early World restaurant site at 11930-11938 San Vicente and billionaire Charles Munger will eventually develop the former Dutton’s bookstore site at 11975 San Vicente, Planting said.
Other developments in the works on San Vicente include a new restaurant by Beverly Hills-based Hillstone Restaurant Group.

“The area is really becoming vibrant,” Planting said. “People are investing fresh capital in the area.”

Twitter: @rogervincent