Frederick’s to Sell Its Headquarters

Spurred by redevelopment and rising property values in Hollywood, Frederick’s of Hollywood has decided to sell its landmark Art Deco building on Hollywood Boulevard.

Brokers are asking $4.5 million for the 1930s-era structure emblazoned with the lingerie company’s shocking pink star, distinctive logo and awnings. The three-story building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, houses the company’s headquarters, retail store and a warehouse.

Frederick’s decision to sell the 28,000-square-foot building, which it has occupied for decades, underscores the renewed optimism among Hollywood property owners as redevelopments, including Trizec-Hahn Corp.’s Hollywood & Highland entertainment center and the Hollywood Marketplace at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street, begin to take shape.

Investors are betting that trendy restaurants and shops in these new projects will lure back the entertainment companies and other businesses that fled in the early 1990s. In some cases, building sellers are now getting twice what they paid for prime properties at the height of the real estate recession.

“We’re seeing a substantial transformation of this market and at a bewildering pace,” says Michael Malick, partner in brokerage Ramsey-Schilling Co., which is listing the Frederick’s building.

Frederick’s, which operates more than 200 lingerie shops around the country, plans to keep its ground-floor retail store and museum of celebrity and historical lingerie, which has become a tourist stop. The company expects to rent the space from whomever buys the building.

However, officials say they will move company offices out of the property at 6608 Hollywood Blvd. and into another Hollywood location. Distribution will be consolidated at another site, perhaps in Compton, where Frederick’s has a warehouse.