Two top executives have left the West L.A. office of Lee & Associates to found Industry Partners, a commercial real estate brokerage specializing in creative space.
Jim Jacobsen, a former co-president, and Scott Rigsby, a former vice president, are heading up the new outfit, which is based in a 2,000-square-foot office in Santa Monica’s Lantana Entertainment Media Campus, a key account. The two have been joined by Andrew Jennison and Travis Landrum, formerly of LA Realty Partners.
Jacobsen said he left Lee amicably, and wanted to create his own company without heavy corporate overhead costs and focus on a hot market segment.
“We saw this as a chance, with all of us being under 40, to start something new and be singularly focused on a new market,” Jacobsen said. “We think everything is primarily headed for the specific product we deal with on the Westside.”
Industry Partners plans to offer a wide variety of creative space services: representing buyers, builders and tenants, and providing leasing, sales, conversion and build-to-suit consultation.
The brokerage is representing Houston real estate investment firm Lionstone Group, which last year bought the Lantana campus, an office park that stretches across 12 acres and contains 463,000 square feet of space.
Other listings include a 227,000-square-foot Class C industrial space at 13031 W. Jefferson Blvd. and a 75,000-square-foot Class B office building at 1630 Stewart St. in Santa Monica.
Patrick Ayau, a principle with Lee, said the departure was natural for an executive of Jacobsen’s experience.
“In our business, we’ve very entrepreneurial to begin with and I think for him, it was time to fly his flag,” Ayau said.
10-10 Club
Moss Adams LLP, a large full-service accounting firm, has signed a 10-year lease valued at $10.6 million for new L.A headquarters space in Westwood.
The 25,413-square-foot Class A space at 10960 Wilshire Blvd. owned by Equity Office is significantly smaller than its previous 45,000-square-foot Brentwood office, which the firm leased about 10 years ago but never fully utilized.
“We’re not getting smaller as a firm, it’s just how we are using our real estate,” said Todd Van der Wel, an L.A. office managing partner for the Seattle company. “It is a significant cost to our business and we’re trying to maximize the efficiency of our space.”
Broker Joe Faulkner, an executive vice president with CresaPartners who represented Moss Adams, said the accounting firm benefited from the still-weak office market. He said Equity Office outbid a downtown L.A. landlord to lure the firm to Westwood.
“They decided they were going to stay on the Westside and both landlords at the end were extremely aggressive,” he said.
Peter Best, a principal at LA Realty Partners who represented, Equity Office, said the landlord offered a package of sweeteners such as an unrestricted “bucket of money” that could be spent on relocation and tenant improvement costs.
“I think the key thing is the landlords have to put a compelling economic package together,” he said.
The 11th-floor space was previously occupied by another accounting firm that is changing floors.
LA Realty Partners principal Hunt Barnett, and directors Beau Rawi and Karly Nolen also represented the landlord. Roy Longman, a principal with Cresa, also represented Moss Adams.
Pianos to Puppies
A single-story, 4,367-square-foot building at 8162 Beverly Blvd. changed hands for $2.135 million. The new owner operates Chateau Marmutt, a doggie day-care provider.
Keyboard Concepts, a piano chain with several stores, had the space but decided to close down the location. The building is about two blocks from Chateau Marmutt’s current Third Street location but has more parking, said store owner Michelle Rivera. She had been looking for new quarters since her existing space was put up for sale.
“That was a stressful time for me for two to three years when I didn’t know where we were going to go,” she said. “This is just allowing us to continue business indefinitely and create longer relationships with the community.”
Rivera said she had tried to buy the West Third Street building but could come not come to terms with the owner, who could not be reached for comment.
Chateau Marmutt is expected to occupy the premises before Feb. 1.
Michael Rojas, William Althouse and T.C. Macker of Coldwell Banker Commercial Westmac represented Chateau Marmutt. Neal Golub of CB Richard Ellis Group represented the seller, Hagerty-Falgien RE Partnership, an entity formed by the principals of Keyboard Concepts.
Staff reporter Max Zimbert can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
