WEHOville is reporting that a dispute over the billboard above the former Standard Hotel on the Sunset Strip is snagging a $120 million deal to sell the property. The former Standard Hotel is in the process of being sold and in March 2022, a deal was struck with the property’s current owners, Rittersbacher Sunset. The deal included $30 million in signage rights for the billboard which sits above the hotel.

But the deal has stalled since then, according to court records. In June, Rittersbacher Sunset filed a lawsuit against Osik Media, an advertising company that is using the billboard, alleging it won’t give up its sublease. As a result, Osik has “prevented Rittersbacher from closing a pending sale of the property to a third party. Apparently, Osik subleased the billboard rights in 2001 from the Ferrado Group a former owner of the property. Osik indicated that the sublease was signed in 2011 and is valid through 2027. Shortly after Rittersbacher Sunset put the property up for sale last year, Rittersbacher notified Osik that it would terminate the sublease and asked the billboard operator to give up the property.  Osik has refused to” give up the billboard, and Osik said in a court filing that the sublease was never terminated and Rittersbacher is not entitled to cancel the lease. Osik further claims its lease is valid through 2027.

Insider reached out to a California attorney group, who is not directly involved on the case, for their thoughts;

“Absent seeing the lease, it is hard to say who wins this one. It’s even harder to comment without knowing more about the purported agreement in which Osik Media may have offered to give up the lease. Absent the latter agreement, I would suspect the lease was valid through 2027 as Osik Media contends. I wonder if Ferrado Group attempted to protect itself with a build clause that would have allowed it to terminate, demo and rebuild a new sign. But if WeHo severely limits the renovation and the sign is not displaced by proposed new construction, then Osik may well enjoy the benefit of 5 more years.

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