Toymaker Jakks Pacific Inc. will move next year from its perch overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu to a building about three miles inland in Santa Monica.
The public company last month signed a 10-year lease for about 65,000 square feet at 2951 28th St., a 94,000-square-foot office building in Santa Monica Business Park near the municipal airport. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but brokers for CBRE Group Inc. had been marketing the space on behalf of New York landlord Blackstone Group for between $3.95 and $4.15 a square foot a month, according to real estate data provider CoStar Group Inc. Given that range, the Jakks lease would be valued at least at $31 million.
The move will consolidate its headquarters, now housed in about 32,000 square feet at 22619 Pacific Coast Highway, with three smaller offices in Brentwood, Culver City and Santa Monica.
Adam Tromp, chief operations officer for Jakks, said that with its Malibu lease coming to an end, the company saw an opportunity to bring its disparate divisions together in a more accessible location while also saving money.
“Malibu’s a bit of an island, but (the new office) is in proximity to pretty much everything,” he said. “Getting all our entities and our people under one roof was our mission, and, of course, the savings will be nice, too.”
With Jakks set to move out of its Malibu office sometime next year, the company’s Malibu landlord, Theory R/Enclave, has begun marketing the space for up to $4.80 a square foot a month.
Anthony Gatti, Kent Stalwick and Mark Latimer of CBRE represented the tenant in the deal, while Deron White, also of CBRE, represented the landlord.
Lively Leasing
Jakks is not the only tenant to recently sign a big lease. In the last several weeks, at least a half-dozen companies have been signing or preparing to sign big leases throughout Los Angeles, from Playa Vista and El Segundo to downtown.
Media company Fullscreen Inc., which just sold a majority stake to Otter Media in a deal valuing the company at between $200 million and $300 million, signed a lease earlier this month for about 60,000 square feet in Playa Vista. The Culver City company will move next year into the Latitude 34 project at 12130-12180 Millennium Drive, owned by New York real estate company Clarion Partners.
Kent Handleman of Lincoln Property Co. and Rick Buckley of LA Realty Partners represented the landlord in the deal.
In El Segundo, digital ad agency Ignited USA signed a 10-year lease for about 52,000 square feet at 800 Apollo St., a creative office project known as Apollo at Rosecrans owned by Invesco Real Estate of Newport Beach and Second Street Ventures of Burbank. Sources said that deal was struck for more than $3 a square foot a month, a rate that would value the lease at more than $18.7 million.
Robert Cavaiola of Savills Studley represented the tenant; Bob Healey of CBRE represented the landlord.
Pharmaceutical company Kite Pharma is also close to signing a 10-year lease in El Segundo. The company, currently located in Santa Monica, is negotiating for about 43,600 square feet at 2355 Utah Ave., another creative office project in the area, owned by Beverly Hills developer NSB Associates Inc.
Brokers with Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. are representing the landlord in the deal; CBRE is representing the tenant.
In Hollywood, production company Deluxe Media signed a 10-year lease for the entire 40,300-square-foot building at 900 N. Seward St. Andrew Lustgarten and Mark Sullivan of Savills Studley represented the tenant in the off-market deal.
Recent Renewals
In Century City, real estate law firm Cox Castle & Nicholson has signed a 10-year lease for about 49,000 square feet at 2029 Century Park East, one of the twin Century Plaza towers. Though not technically a renewal, the firm will move in February from floors 28 and 29 in the south tower to floors 21 and 22 in the north tower.
There, the firm will occupy updated space in a slightly smaller footprint, said Mario Camara, a partner at the firm.
“We basically reduced our footprint and increased the number of professional offices in order to become more cost-efficient,” he said. “We made the move also to allow us to modernize our facilities. We’d been in the same location for 38 years, so it was time for a more modern approach.”
On Miracle Mile, CBS Radio Inc. last week renewed its nearly 64,000 square foot lease at 5670 Wilshire Blvd.
In addition, architecture and design firm RTKL renewed and expanded its downtown L.A. lease at 333 S. Hope St., also known as Bank of America Plaza, from about 37,000 square feet to about 45,000 square feet.
David Kluth and Josef Farrar of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the tenant in the deal, while John Barganski, James Malone and Marin Turney of Brookfield Office Properties Inc. represented the landlord.
Staff reporter Bethany Firnhaber can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.
