It’s not exactly every day that a new office building debuts in Malibu. So it’s no surprise that the first new project on the Pacific Coast Highway in the past decade is leased up several months before it’s finished.
The $8 million, 26,000-square-foot Enclave project is being built into a hillside on the inland side of the PCH, half a mile east of the pier.
Woodland Hills-based Winco Asset Management acquired the property (which earlier had been tied up in a lawsuit) in January 1998. Winco scraped several old one-story buildings on the site and began building last year. It is slated for completion this summer, said Winco principal Richard Shapiro.
The three green-hued, bungalow-style buildings aren’t your typical office environment, even by Westside standards. The offices feature floor-to-ceiling windows to take advantage of the 180-degree ocean views, patios and 14-foot-high vaulted wooden ceilings. Solar light shelves will bounce light deep into the interior space, while overhangs on the exterior block direct sunlight from most angles.
It was designed by Clive Bridgwater, who is predominantly a high-end residential architect. Shapiro said he wanted to incorporate Bridgwater’s residential expertise into a commercial environment and blend it into the landscape.
“We wanted something special. Because it’s so long, it’s going to look big, so we wanted it to make a statement, but not be an offensive statement,” Shapiro said.
The largest tenant is the toy company JAKKS Pacific, which leased about 20,000 square feet and is moving from elsewhere in Malibu.
The city of Malibu is currently considering a development proposal from its largest commercial property owner, the Perenchio family, which would end a 10-year land war. Shapiro said his small project was actually relatively easy to build.
“It’s a difficult environment to develop in, but we’ve had terrific luck,” he said.
Winco also performs asset and property management services and is the fee developer for a 165,000-square-foot office project in the West Valley called the Terraces at Parkway Calabasas.
New Hollywood Denizen
A new Internet incubator is coming to Hollywood.
Fusient Media Ventures has leased 12,500 square feet of creative space at 940 N. Mansfield Ave. in Hollywood. The five-year deal is valued at $1.6 million.
The founders of Classic Sports Network, Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg, formed Fusient in New York earlier this year. The new company is an incubator for entrepreneurs developing content for the Internet.
“It’s content-driven, so it makes sense to have a major presence here,” said Christopher Bonbright, CEO of Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services.
Funded with $30 million by such investors as Allen & Co., Fusient plans to invest in 15 to 20 startups per year, housing them in its incubator spaces in New York and L.A.
The Hollywood space has been occupied for several years by Propaganda Films, which is moving. The space is already outfitted with several T-1 lines and will require minimal improvements for the new tenant.
“This is one of the first spaces where the tenant went in and took a high-ceilinged warehouse and built a fabulous, dramatic creative interior,” Bonbright said. “It’s the best single-tenant space in Hollywood.”
Bonbright and Randy Starr, principal of Tenzer Commercial, represented Fusient. Julie Kleinick represented landlord Albert Sweet Development in-house. Sweet owns more than two dozen converted warehouse buildings in Hollywood which have collectively become a hub of entertainment and new-media firms, including Ifilm.com, which recently inked a lease.
El Segundo Project
A partnership that includes developer Ron Flesch plans to build a $180 million office and studio project on the former Rockwell International property in El Segundo.
El Segundo Media Center LLC is in escrow to buy the 46-acre site south of LAX from Federal Express, which bought the property three years ago. FedEx’s proposal for an operations center stirred a storm of controversy.
Flesch said the partnership has been working with the city and plans to develop 1.5 million square feet of space, including a “probable studio, high-rise and campus development.”
“The South Bay seems to be a very attractive area for high-tech office and entertainment production. We see a need and we’re trying to meet it,” said Flesch, who also developed the highly successful Raleigh Studios Manhattan Beach.
Tower Gets Telecom Tenants
The new owners of 611 W. Sixth St. lost their anchor tenant when AT & T; bought out of its lease.
But that wasn’t as dire a circumstance as it might seem. The first five floors have been committed to new tenants of the telecom ilk, while the upper floors remain offices. And those deals alone were enough to service the entire debt and purchase of the tower.
William Atha and Timothy Macker Jr. of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Adelphia Business Solutions is its 15-year, $13 million lease of 32,000 square feet.
Eric Moore of Millennium Advisors represented the landlord.
Staff Reporter Elizabeth Hayes can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 229, or at [email protected].
