Look both ways before crossing, Pasadena.
GM Cruise, a driverless car company, signed a lease earlier this month to occupy more than 47,000 square feet at 465 N. Halstead Street. The San Francisco-based company will pay $11.4 million for the space in the two-story office building.
Recently renovated, the complex is also home to tenants OE Waves, PNC Bank, Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, and 24-Hour Fitness. CBRE represented the landlord, Everwest Real Estate Investors, and announced the deal.
LA Realty Partners, which represented GM Cruise, said the lease was for seven years.
The real estate market is bracing for the effects autonomous vehicles will bring once they’re available for consumers on a mass scale. The technology could shift the traditional rules that govern real estate values, particularly concerning mass transit and the need for on-site parking.
A 2018 report by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimated that driverless vehicles could reduce the need for parking nationwide by 61 billion square feet.
Tech and media companies dominated the office real estate market in Los Angeles for much of 2018, contributing to 2.4 million square feet of positive net absorption, according to CBRE. Companies like Netflix and Amazon Studios leased upwards of 1.7 million square feet in the fourth quarter.
In Pasadena, 18.4 percent of office inventory traded in 2018, the highest percentage over the past six years. Last month, Co-working firm Space signed an 11-year lease for 49,000 square feet, and Compass signed for 22,250 square feet, both at Playhouse Plaza in Pasadena.