Engineering and construction giant Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is moving its headquarters into new Pasadena digs.
The aerospace and defense contractor has signed a lease at 155 N. Lake Ave. with landlord Equity Office Properties to relocate from its nearby headquarters. Terms were not disclosed.
Since 1997, the firm has occupied about 74,000 square feet at 1111 S. Arroyo Parkway. It is scheduled to move this week.
Company representatives were not available for comment, but sources told the Business Journal the firm has outgrown its current home. It had been searching for new offices since at least last year.
The new facility’s floor plan will eliminate most offices in an effort to encourage more teamwork and collaboration. The space will include some conference rooms for meetings.
Linda Lee, who handles deals in the Tri-Cities for Charles Dunn Co. but was not involved in the deal, said the new office will give the company a better location and more visibility, but not require it to move too far.
“The Arroyo building is out of the way of the main business district,” she said. “It makes sense to move to (the more central) Lake Avenue building,” which offers better access to the shops and amenities of Pasadena.
Consolidation Move
Alloy Digital LLC is moving and consolidating its regional offices into one Beverly Hills location.
The digital media firm, which is a subsidiary of Alloy Media LLC in New York, signed a lease for 34,003 square feet at 8750 Wilshire Blvd., known as Wilshire Robertson Plaza, in Beverly Hills. Industry sources estimate the deal with landlord Amir Development to be about $8 million.
Alloy produces online video content for sites such as YouTube LLC, where it has one of the most watched channels on the website.
Alloy’s main regional office is at 6300 Wilshire Blvd. on Miracle Mile now; it also has offices in Hollywood and Santa Monica, which the company took over after acquiring firms such as Smosh and Clevver Media.
Craig Kish, a senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. who represented Alloy, said the company sought space at the new location after looking around the county, including Culver City and West Hollywood. Instead of choosing popular Santa Monica, the company ultimately decided on the 118,000-square-foot Beverly Hills office complex, which was formerly home to music label BMG Chrysalis, for the building quality and its location.
“They’ve got employees coming from the Valley and the Westside, so it was more a what’s-equally-inconvenient-for-everyone decision,” he said.
What’s more, the large 46,000-square-foot floor plates allowed the company to occupy one floor instead of breaking up into two different floors. Alloy, which could expand by about 12,000 square feet, plans to add studios with green screens and other features.
It plans to move in April.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Alexander Chudnoff and Dan Turkewitz in New York also represented Alloy. The landlord was represented by Michael Geller, Josh Bernstein and Gayle Landes of First Property Realty Corp.
Multifamily Sale
A Hollywood Hills apartment complex near Runyon Canyon sold last month for $13.5 million, the second largest apartment sale in the area this year.
An entity operated by Westwood-based Xenon Investment Corp. bought the 45-unit property at 1865 N. Fuller Ave. from South Brockton Partners LLC, which is operated by a Florida billionaire who acquired the property in 1999 for $4.35 million.
For the Hollywood submarket, the total sale price was topped only by the $14.7 million sale of 6500 Yucca St. in July, according to CoStar Group Inc.
The seller is liquidating most of its L.A. holdings in order to use the capital to purchase properties closer to Florida.
Xenon owns at least 30 multifamily properties around the county, including the Savoy and Sovereign in Beverly Hills.
Hamid Soroudi, a Charles Dunn broker who represented both sides in the deal, said the firm was interested in the property in part for its attractive location.
“It was an unusual location near Runyon Canyon, and to the west is old Hollywood mansions,” he said. “The property itself was unique in the sense that it had huge units compared with properties around it.”
The one- to three-bedroom units average about 1,400 square feet with average monthly rents around $1,880.
Xenon plans to renovate the interior and exterior of the building in order to raise rents.
The property, which is almost fully occupied, sits on about one acre of land and includes a gym and swimming pool.
Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.
