Bloomberg reports that the original Hustler store -- open since 1998 -- has been sold to a secretive buyer for an undisclosed amount of money. Flynt Publications denied that the sale was related to last year's sale of the Flynt Publications Building at Wilshire and La Cienega, which made publisher Larry Flynt $82 million.
According to an L.A. Curbed report in 2014, as for the future of Hustler Store, Flynt did not make any comment. However, the assistant director of WeHo's Community Development Department says that lawyers representing "an unidentified party'' interested in buying the Hustler store came to a meeting a couple of months ago to explore the possibility of turning the property into a hotel. A broker for CBRE who is familiar with the area says that a hotel to rise on the spot makes sense. "It will either happen now or eventually because once you use up all the land on the Strip, the next step is to find all the underutilized places that can be torn down and rebuilt," said the broker.
When the Hustler Store on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood was sold last year, it was seen as not going to stick around much longer in the age of development. Gwyneth Paltrow announced last spring that she would be helping to open an L.A. arm of Arts Club next to the Hustler Store. The L.A. Business Journal reports that there's also a talk that a brand new hotel will rise alongside the club.
Based on the latest report of L.A. Curbed, the Hustler Store was bought for $18.3 million last year by the New York based firm VE Equities. This firm has teamed up with Arts Club and London & Regional Properties (both London-based) on the property. Developers plan to build a 164-room hotel with four residences. Other developers would venture also along the less-than-two-mile-long stretch of the Sunset Strip. Shoppers at Hustler Store will be pleased to know that the store will be moving to a new location at Hollywood and Schrader Boulevards.
