ImaginAsian Sale Listing Seems an About-Face by Developer

By Eric Richardson
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008, at 05:53PM

Ed Fuentes [Flickr]

Exterior view of the ImaginAsian Center, on Main street.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Earlier this week Curbed noticed that the ImaginAsian Center was listed on Loopnet, a real estate sales site. The theatre, which opened in late 2007, is listed for $5.7 million.

Cinema Properties Group developed the site, bringing ImaginAsian in to operate. In statements to Curbed and later the Downtown News, broker Sandy Bleifer said that a turn-around sale was always the plan. That stands in contrast to a statement Cinema Properties Group made to the L.A. Business Journal in 2006.

This week, Bleifer told the Downtown News that

"That's [Cinema Property Group's] modus operandi," said Bleifer. "They develop properties in partnerships and then sell the real estate when it's finished."

In 2006, though, the company was painting a different picture of its intent. A March 6th article in the L.A. Business Journal talked of what sounded like long-term plans. It made sure to point out that its agreement with ImaginAsian was a joint venture, not a simple lease.

"It's not a conventional arrangement, it's a little bit different than a lease," [co-owner Sue Ann] Kirst said. "We want to be included in the business that they do. We want to be involved owners. We're not in it just to flip it--we want to make it something very nice and a successful business."

Listing for sale at six months seems far closer to a flip than it does to having built a successful business. One also has to wonder what provisions the then-touted joint venture agreement has for a change in ownership.

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Topic:
ImaginAsian Center

7 stories

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Comments

jim winstead writes:

i'm sure that nic and kjell are thrilled to have the knife in their backs being tugged and twisted like this again.

# on May.16.2008 AT 06:19 PM

David Kennedy writes:

Jim, I'm not clear on what exactly you are referring to. You seem to implying that things happening to Nic and Kjell. Could you elaborate?

# on May.16.2008 AT 06:37 PM

Tim Quinn writes:

Imagine a developer not being completely honest about their intentions. I am shocked!

Really, though, given the depth of the problems in the economy, a lot of people and companies are scrambling to stay afloat. This change of plans is not that surprising. They are spinning it to not look too desperate. Nice try.

Kjell and Nic were presented as partners and inspirations behind this venture when the developer was looking for community approval. As soon as the project was approved the developers turned their back on the Gallery Row founders and made plans to ruin the building.

The thing is a dog if you ask me.

# on May.16.2008 AT 11:42 PM

Mallory writes:

Made plans to ruin the building? What are you talking about? However, I'm assuming you didn't believe the theater in its previous condition, raggedy and filthy for years, was a thing to cherish. If not, then your opinion is suspect.

# on May.17.2008 AT 09:55 AM

celia writes:

nic and kjell brought in the buyer/developer for the building with a "deal" that nick and kjell were to program the space. then as tim stated (comment #3), as soon as community approval and other hurdles were surpassed, nic and kjell were cut out of the deal, another operator brought in, and imaginasian theater was born.

if that's the kind of business you want to see downtown, vote with your pocket.

# on May.17.2008 AT 10:33 AM

Tim Quinn writes:

I said I don't like it. What is suspicious about that?

# on May.17.2008 AT 10:44 AM

Metro Local writes:

Did their CUB get approved yet? That could be a challenge for a new operator and a reason for a current investor to bolt. Or it could have been the last 'improvement' someone wanted done before flipping the project.

As frustrating as this must be for the people who poured their heart and soul into it, the nature of any development is to make value-added improvements to land for the eventual profit of investors. If the initial model didn't profit, then the people with their money invested can be expected to lose for the sake of maintaining the status quo.

# on May.17.2008 AT 11:41 AM

brian writes:

cecilia: you're absolutely right. and i think we HAVE voted with our pockets. hopefully they'll get a decent programmer in there.

# on May.17.2008 AT 12:13 PM

Norbie 7 writes:

Well.... I mean..... After the California Supreme Court's latest decision this week, why all the hot air?

THE END is upon us!

We all know that now there will be that 8.2 Big One on the San Andreas and we'll all be under water in an instant. And it'll happen at the stroke of midnight, June 15th.

# on May.17.2008 AT 04:44 PM

Dunne's Ghost writes:

Norbie: surely you jest.

I hope.

# on May.17.2008 AT 07:27 PM

Urban Bruin writes:

Unrelated to the ownership issue, I’d be sad to loose the theater and its programming. There are very few if any places to watch new Asian topic/themed movies; in addition they’ve held several well received Asian movie festivals in their short run. Lastly, the theater has slowly become a popular location for Asian American non-profit groups to hold workshops and other community events.

Hopefully if there is new ownership they won’t do away with the Asian focused programming.

# on May.19.2008 AT 09:39 AM

tornadoes28 writes:

Don't overblow this story. So what that they are selling.

And I don't see anywhere in their 2006 statement that says they were in this for the long haul. It just says that they want to be involved owners and not simply flip it.

They were involved in getting the good tenants, the Imagian Asian people, and have them run a good theater.

Now their work is done and they are moving on. So what.

So I don't see that they were dishonest.

# on May.19.2008 AT 03:24 PM

Jared Hungerford writes:

Please make a mental note that whenever you make any mention of either Nic or Kjell that you include myself in the mix. It would be proper and completely correct to say all 3 of us got screwed and it would appear that business hasn't been so good to them (haha, karma!) so it kinda looks like they are trying to flip it. It would be very satisfactory for me to see that sold to someone who actually gives a shit about the downtown community. That would make me feel as if i didn't waste valuable time of my life on that project.

This project has been a mockery of me for a few years now and the sooner the Kirst's can remove their stain upon downtown the better. Well enough ranting from moi . . .

# on May.20.2008 AT 02:54 PM

Qathryn Brehm writes:

Jared says it right!! ...and it comes down to karma for the folks that are basically flipping off the downtown community.

Hopefully a wise investor will see this as a real opportunity and we may see indies or some other screenings that reflect the local industry and still turn a profit.

# on May.23.2008 AT 01:43 AM

blame imaginasian writes:

The blame for this sale and how the theater is programmed can be squarely put on ImaginAsian Entertainment's shoulders. They have had crap films and zero community outreach since day one. The owners are likely giving the excuse of moving on so as to not offend ImaginAsian and their new cinema partner Adlabs.

On the other hand, the theater has been available to rent since it opened for any use the community sees fit. other than the film fests, how many people actually stepped up and offered to produce a special event for the community?

# on May.27.2008 AT 09:43 AM

sophie writes:

I think it is so funny that people have such negative things to say when they don't even know half the story. First of all, the building itself is owned by Cinema Properties, and it is operated by ImaginAsian Entertainment, hence the name. The Owners are merely selling the building, the tenants will remain the same. It will continue to be a theater and be run by Imaginasian or possibly the new company AdLabs. Hopefully everyone that has been blogging about it will actually get off their butts and go see a film and support it. As far as "poor Nic and Kjell", and now I guess we add newly named Jared to the picture, they had nothing to do with the theater and no one should feel bad for them. I have never read or heard of any "deal" made and I would love for any of you to provide such information.You guys were never partners and should accept that and move on. You guys do great things for gallery row and should stick to what you know. Owning and operating an asian-based theater is definately not in your realm. With all of the millions that were put into this project, I would love for you to provide a reciept that you spent even one cent. Of course, the easiest way to provide harsh criticism is to provide false information while hiding behind a screen name.

# on Jun.02.2008 AT 09:14 PM

Nic Cha Kim writes:

Hi Sophie, Don't know who you are since you didn't leave an email. So much for your comment about hiding behind screen names. This is all old news and I'm only responding b/c I just found this and I don't want my name associated with lies on the internet. I've avoided responding to this until I read Sophie's uninformed comment.

So here's some documentation as you (Sophie) requested:

Story about Theatre for Sale. My biz partner is quoted for submitting a proposal: http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2004/06/07/news/news03.txt

Story about me and Kjell Hagen winning the RFP from the seller: http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2005/02/07/news/news04.txt

Story about me and Kjell getting screwed: http://www.iatv.tv/Press/LADowntownNews022006.pdf

I have all my documentation for the previous 3 years spent writing the business plan as well as all my emails with the seller, Joanne Grace, Ron Fong of the LTSC, and Sandy Bliefer, the realtor. All were present during the transaction. I also have all my emails with Sue Ann Kirst, who was the investor that pushed us out. Lastly, I have signed confidentiality agreements from everyone mentioned, which they very clearly broke. Yes, I have plenty of documention to prove everything stated here.

We had EVERYTHING to do with inviting the Kirsts to invest in this project since we were the ones to win the RFP. And yes, it did go down exactly the way Jared and others described it here.

Anyways, old story and I've moved on to bigger and better things. Gallery Row is a phenomenal success and I'm very fullfilled as an artist.

# on Feb.20.2009 AT 04:22 PM