Blackstone and Worthe Real Estate Group have sold the former Los Angeles headquarters of retail chain Forever 21, a 1.8 million-square-foot campus with industrial and office space, to Related Fund Management and Newland Capital Group for $120 million.
The deal for the 39-acre property at 3880 North Mission Road, located about 4 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, was first reported by Commercial Observer.
CBRE’s Barbara Perrier and Mike Longo were the brokers for the transaction, according to the same source. The property had been listed for sale in February 2024. At that time, media reports noted the owners hoped to get bids as high as $200 million for the site that had been entitled for a three-building redevelopment.
The Commercial Observer story states RFM and Newland are moving forward with the redevelopment they are calling Mission Crossing and plan to demolish three of eight buildings on the site. RFM is an affiliate of New York-based national developer Related Cos., and Newland is a national investment, development and asset management firm focused on e-commerce and distribution properties, with offices in New York and Irvine, Calif.
The plan for Mission Crossing will include a new 280,000-square-foot industrial property with 280,000 square feet of underground warehouse and parking space; an 11-acre industrial outdoor storage facility and a 670,000-square-foot flex industrial building. The IOS facility could also be developed as a 225,000-square-foot build-to-suit asset. RFM and Newland officials told CO construction is expected to start within two weeks and could be completed by next July.
Property history
Blackstone acquired the Forever 21 property from the former fast-fashion company in late 2018 for $166 million. Forever 21 had owned the site, completed in 1955, since 2010, when it purchased it from Macy’s for $38 million, according to Bisnow. The property has approximately 1.2 million square feet of distribution and warehouse space, about 300,000 square feet of creative office space and 1,700 parking spaces.
In June 2021, a joint venture of Blackstone and Worthe Real Estate secured a $185 million loan from H.I.G Capital’s affiliate, H.I G. Partners for the property. At that time, the partners planned to use the financing to lease up the asset that had previously been fully occupied by Forever 21. The troubled chain retailer first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019. The chain filed its second bankruptcy in March 2025 and closed all its U.S. stores by May 1. Forever 21 is still operating international stores and its website.
Tight but stabilized market
Officials for RFM and Newland Capital told CO they were speaking with prospective tenants but did not provide further details.
The Greater Los Angeles industrial market has stabilized in the post-Covid years when there was a period of heightened availability, according to Avison Young’s first quarter 2025 report. While overall availability was 9.1 percent in the first quarter, sublet space declined 5.9 percent quarter-over-quarter. Leasing activity was up 11.3 percent, quarter-over-quarter.
Avison Young noted that renewed tenant activity is being driven by rising import costs and tenants’ needs to optimize logistics. However, the brokerage firm states the total space leased was modest at 6.3 million square feet, reflecting shifts toward smaller, more efficient footprints.
Having an entitled project ready for construction will be a benefit to RFM and Newland as new industrial development in the market has remained limited due to elevated land costs, restrictive policies, and AB98 restrictions, according Avison Young. The firm notes 5.2 million square feet of new product was under construction in the first quarter. Less than 37 million square feet of new development were delivered from 2018 through 2024, Avison Young reported. In 2023, 6.3 million square feet of industrial construction were completed.
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