Turner Broadcasting Systems has been playing hot potato with brokerage houses and Westside office space over the last several months, but it appears that the AOL Time Warner Inc. unit has dropped that russet altogether in favor of new digs in the San Fernando Valley.
Westside real estate sources said the Atlanta-based cable network had planned to take its sales operations and creative divisions from 1888 Century Park East to Santa Monica when its lease expired this fall. But new chairman Jamie Kellner wanted the network closer to Warner Bros. That makes Burbank a logical place for a move.
The move might not have been made at all. TBS went nearly all the way on lease renewal negotiations with landlord Bentall Corp. of Canada, but the deal fell out at the last minute.
Turner, then represented by Julien J. Studley Inc., turned its attention to Santa Monica, which is the trendy place for the entertainment industry, and worked out a deal for 85,175 square feet at the Water Garden I. Turner signed that reported 11-year, $41 million lease late last year and was planning to move in in the fall, only to decide in recent weeks it would not need that much space.
Meanwhile, Turner’s deal with Studley has expired and the network signed up with Staubach Co. for its new search. Robert Chavez, Staubach president, and Turner officials were available for comment.
Turner is on the hook for the Water Garden space, and even if its indecision leaves 85,000 square feet of sublease space on the market in Santa Monica, it is not tough space to fill.
“I think they’re in really good shape,” said one Westside broker. “It’s not dot-com space. It’s law firm space,” which is in greater demand these days.
The space came available as part of the Westside’s game of musical chairs it’s the former home of law firm Haight, Brown & Bonesteel, which signed a 10-year, $27 million lease at the Howard Hughes Center and has already moved into its new digs.
No word yet on where in Burbank Turner has turned its attention.
While the parties sort out Turner’s space questions, a few other leases have been inked in Santa Monica.
TheBrain Technologies Corp., an information management software company, signed a five-year lease for 19,000 square feet at 2644 30th St. for a reported $4.6 million. The space was the former home of defunct Dunk.net, which was partly owned by Shaquille O’Neal.
TheBrain has outgrown its current 6,500 square feet of space at 16th Street and Colorado Avenue, according to co-founder Catherine Lefebvre. “We cannot stay any longer in our space,” Lefebvre said. “We are a bit on top of each other.”
Although the miscalculations of tech companies factored into the huge volume
of Westside sublease space, estimated at about 2 million square feet, Lefebvre said TheBrain is not overshooting. “We are expanding according to our needs for the next six months,” she said. “We have been prudent.”
Developer and landlord Jeff Palmer represented himself in the deal. Matthew Miller, a principal at Cresa Partners LLC, represented TheBrain.
Infogrames, the French maker of CD-ROMs and console game software, leased 17,400 square feet at 2230 Broadway. The space, reportedly leased for five years at $3.2 million, was abandoned by Digital Entertainment.
Randy Starr, vice president at Tenzer Commercial Brokerage, represented landlord Stu Weinstein. Cresa’s Miller represented Infogrames.
In another Santa Monica deal, Gold Circle Entertainment Inc., which owns Gold Circle Records, has signed a lease for 8,735 square feet at 520 Broadway in Santa Monica. The five-year lease is worth a reported $1.5 million. The space, vacated by fire protection business Master Protection Corp., is owned by Santa Monica Broadway Corp. and had been vacant for two months.
In a little celebrity space news, J.Lo has taken down some Westside space on the down-low.
Westside folks are saying Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions Inc. will occupy about 3,000 square feet across from The Industry Standard’s L.A. bureau on the ninth floor of Westwood Center on Glendon Avenue in Westwood.
Officials at Arden Realty Inc. refused to discuss the Latina pop star’s lease, but the placard outside the space gives it away. No one knows what she’s paying for the space, but crews have been building it out for five months or so.
“It’s really cool space,” said one source. “There’s glass everywhere and cool stone on the floor.”
Staff reporter Christopher Keough can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 235 or at [email protected].
