Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP has decided to stay in its Century City headquarters in one of the biggest office deals so far this year in Los Angeles.
The law firm has signed on for 15 more years at 1900 Avenue of the Stars for $61.6 million after considering and ultimately rejecting an offer to move.
The firm took a hard look at one undisclosed Class A building and despite repeated offers that made the deal more attractive, Greenberg Glusker is staying put, said attorney Dennis Ellman, who heads the firm’s real estate practice.
“They were very aggressive and in fact really to a point where they were negotiating against themselves when we didn’t respond to an offer,” Ellman said of the pitch that was eventually turned down. “They saw what was happening in the market, and the opportunity to have a well-known firm in Los Angeles occupying three floors of their building was very attractive to them.”
The 61,806-square-foot renewal lease, which will begin in November, is with landlord Topa Equities Ltd., billionaire John Anderson’s holding company. The lease is for floors 20, 21 and 22. Greenberg Glusker is giving back a fourth floor it no longer needs, and Ellman said the firm worked with a space planner to use the remaining three floors more efficiently.
The lease starts at about $4 per square foot per month. Gary Weiss of Madison Partners, who represented Glusker Fields, said that rents at 1900 Avenue of the Stars are still about 20 percent less than those at “trophy” buildings such as 2000 Avenue of the Stars and the MGM Tower.
The company’s space is undergoing a $3.7 million remodel that should be completed by October. The renewal leaves the 605,000-square-foot building 95 percent leased.
Clay Hammerstein of CB Richard Ellis Group also represented the tenant; Darren Bell of TOPA represented the landlord in-house.
French Touch
Legendary dealmaker Robert F. Maguire is a bit of a “foodie” and a self-proclaimed Francophile. Now, he’s going to get a French restaurant of his own footsteps from his office.
Chef Jean Francois Meteigner, owner of West L.A.’s La Cachette, will be opening a casual bistro in one of Maguire’s office properties.
Meteigner has signed a 4,191-square-foot lease valued at nearly $1.9 million for ground-floor space at Maguire Partners’ headquarters office building at 1733 Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. The lease is for 10 years with two five-year options. The space is already under construction, and the new eatery, La Cachette Bistro, is slated to open this summer.
Brian Luft of NAI Capital said that Meteigner and his wife and business partner, Allie Ko, began looking for space for a second restaurant in 2006. At first, they looked at two adaptive reuse buildings in downtown Los Angeles, but they didn’t pan out. “My client was looking for the right landlord one that would appreciate what they wanted to do,” Luft said.
Maguire said he became a Francophile after attending boarding school in Paris for two years. Whenever Maguire and Meteigner have gotten together to discuss the deal, they inevitably wind up talking about food, wine and the great restaurants of Paris.
“We’ve really had a great time. He’s a terrific chef,” said Maguire, who heads Maguire Partners, a private investment company.
Maguire said has one request for Meteigner: “I wanted a truly authentic bouillabaisse from the south of France, which he’s promised to me.”
Lynda Boyer of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. represented Maguire.
Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
