Ocean Park Plaza, a largely vacant office and medical property in Santa Monica, has traded in an all-cash transaction and is slated to become a new school campus. Colliers arranged the sale of the two-story, 100,700-square-foot building at 2701 Ocean Park Blvd., with the buyer identified as an undisclosed co-educational school that intends to relocate to the site and establish its campus there.
The property was marketed and sold by a Colliers team led by vice chair Sean Fulp, along with executive vice presidents Mark Schuessler and Todd Tydlaska and associate vice presidents Jordan Garcia and Blake Hammerstein, who represented the seller and facilitated the transaction. On the buy side, the school was represented by Tim Dornin and Scott Rigsby of Industry Partners and Dan Pickart of Newmark.
Prior to the sale, Ocean Park Plaza had significant vacancy, with approximately 73% of its space available for immediate occupancy. The building is now being repositioned from traditional office use to an educational campus, converting a largely underutilized asset into an active institutional use.
According to commentary from the Colliers team, the transaction is viewed as a positive outcome for the surrounding community. By accommodating a school in a central Westside location, the property is expected to bring more daily activity and long-term stability to the neighborhood while serving local educational needs.
The change in use also removes a sizable asset from the local office inventory at a time when many office markets are contending with elevated vacancy. The all-cash nature of the acquisition underscores that certain mission-driven users can move decisively when a property aligns with their operational requirements, particularly when large, mostly vacant buildings can be adapted for institutional purposes.
As the school moves forward with its campus plans at Ocean Park Plaza, the deal illustrates how nontraditional users are emerging as alternative takers for underperforming office properties, reshaping how older or underutilized office assets can be integrated back into the community fabric.
