Civic Center Commercial Landmarks on the Market

• Trend Continues for Properties to Change Hands

BY BILL KOENEKER

Two more Civic Center commercial properties are being marketed after a buying spree of commercial properties was undertaken in mid-Malibu during the past year.
The Malibu Inn, a well-known bar and restaurant for over forty years, is for sale for $10.5 million.
The other commercial property on the market is the former Chevron service station near the Malibu Colony, for sale for $4.6 million. The nearly half-acre parcel is being marketed as an excellent location for a “redevelopment opportunity.”
The Malibu Inn comprises 7500 square feet and is apparently being sold since the owner recently died. The property consists of two separate parcels and 400 feet of Pacific Coast Highway frontage.
A real estate listing indicates the property holds a full type liquor license, and live venue entertainment license. The occupancy is described as 299, with an outdoor patio and bar, which can serve 200 people.
A real estate listing on the service station for the triangular shaped property that fronts PCH and Malibu Road boasts a .54 acre lot that has more than 52,000 cars per day travel by or near it at the intersection of PCH and Webb Way.
The listing states, the property offers a “high identity site” adjacent to the “prestigious Malibu Colony residences.”
Some of the site advantages of the Malibu Inn, according to a real estate listing, are that the restaurant is across the street from Surfrider Beach. Two public parking lots sit also across the street from the property, which is described as just 50 yards away from David Geffen’s Malibu Beach Inn.
The properties add to the list of Civic Center real estate currently on the market, including several vacant parcels located near the Civic Center government complex such as the nine-acre Wave property, a 24-acre vacant parcel behind the government complex and the so-called Yamaguchi property located on the northwest corner of Webb Way and Stuart Ranch Road.
In the past couple of years, numerous commercial properties have changed hands, including several shopping centers, strip malls and vacant land in the Civic Center or nearby. Most of the acquisitions have been funded with big money from outside the area as investors see the small stock of retail and office coverage in Malibu offering an ultimate bargain as demand outstrips supply. Those winds of opportunity may have already shifted, at least in the short term, as the overall economy has ground to a halt and “for lease” signs are popping up in Malibu.