Vevo

Online music video distribution

Lease: 9,000 square feet

Location: Euclid Street, Santa Monica

When Rio Caraeff went looking for an office to house his new music video company, Vevo, in 2009, he wanted a space that would help inspire creativity.

The office he found, off Euclid Street in Santa Monica, is not only aesthetically stunning, but it also has a creative history. Built in 1922, the space was once occupied by midcentury modern furniture designers Charles and Ray Eames.

“It really gives the space a heritage and history rooted in functional utilitarian design,” said Caraeff, Vevo’s chief executive. “Outside it looks like a nondescript, generic space, but when you get inside it has a lot of light, beautiful skylights and exposed wood.”

The centerpiece of the 9,000-square-foot creative office space, which features unfinished flooring and an exposed ceiling, is a coy pond surrounded by glass that extends up to a small cutout in the building’s roof.

The building’s broker, Industry Partners, would not disclose the terms of the lease but said creative office space like Vevo’s in Santa Monica can range widely in cost, from $1.43 to $4.61 a square foot.

Vevo’s neighbors on the street include entertainment companies, including J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot, and businesses that handle car repairs. It’s a far cry from the corporate offices where Vevo got its start.

Caraeff helped found the company in 2009 at Universal Music Group as a way to streamline the distribution of music videos across the Internet. After working out of Universal Music’s office in a Santa Monica corporate park off Colorado Boulevard, Caraeff went looking for a new location in Santa Monica.

“We wanted to be near our parent company,” Caraeff said.

Today, Vevo has 125 employees and works with multiple music labels to distribute videos to YouTube and other websites and sell advertising around them. And since the company works closely with advertisers, Caraeff has moved to New York, where he runs the company.

Vevo now has offices in London, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco, but Los Angeles, with 25 employees, is the second largest behind New York.