Hollywood's iconic Capitol Records building has been put up for sale by parent company EMI Group. The potential of converting the circular, Welton Becket Associates-designed tower on Vine Street into condos has helped attract several offers. But Andy Fixmer reports in the L.A. Business Journal that Mayor Villaraigosa and other city officials are scrambling to keep Capitol's 160 employees in Hollywood, perhaps by making improvements that will entice a new owner to let Capitol Records stay on a lease. A source tells the LABJ that “EMI has decided that they are in the record business; not the real estate business...[they] can get a lot of money for the property, so that is what they’re going to do.” Just six years ago the city came up with $4 million to help renovate the 1950s building that is shaped like a stack of records and head off Capitol's threatened departure. Now EMI is said to be upset that so many buildings around the tower are going residential. Josh Kamensky, the spokesman for Council president Eric Garcetti, says in the story that EMI has been told that Capitol Records doesn't qualify for adaptive reuse.

Also: The blog Los Angeles City Nerd discussed the residential conversion issue a week ago.

Real estate-related: February home sales in Los Angeles County dropped 9.2% from a year ago. Feel a cooling trend?

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