Renewals Dominate LA’s Top Office Leases for 2024

Tenants largely stayed put in 2024, with few looking to take the leap into new offices.

That’s reflected in this year’s list of the largest leases in Los Angeles County, with the roundup dominated by renewals and only two new deals. Snap, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Universal Music Group held the top three spots with their mega renewals.

The strength of the Westside’s office submarkets was clear, with the area averaging asking rental rates up 3.5 percent year-over-year to $5.09 per square foot per month in the third quarter, according to a Colliers report. Meanwhile, Downtown limped along as some suggested its struggles have bottomed out, buoyed in particular by Southern California Gas Company’s 200,000-square-foot lease. Class A office space Downtown stayed at $4.47 in average asking rents in the third quarter compared to the year-ago period, according to Colliers.

The list of Los Angeles’ largest office leases comes from a combination of publicly reported data and submissions from Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers and Savills.

1. Snap | BXP’s Santa Monica Business Park | 467,000 sf

Snap, the company behind Snapchat, plans on cutting its footprint at Santa Monica Business Park were put to rest when it inked a 10-year renewal at the start of the year.

A report surfaced at the end of 2023 suggesting the social media company planned to downsize its Santa Monica space in a bid to trim costs. Weeks later, Boston Properties revealed Snap’s 10-year, 467,000-square-foot deal at the office campus located at 3420 Ocean Park.

The renewal helped drive momentum on Los Angeles’ Westside in a first quarter marked by mega leases.

For Snap, it keeps its headcount at BXP’s office park, near Santa Monica Airport, where the company has operated since 2016 when it absorbed 300,000 square feet. Five years after that initial deal, Snap added another 140,000 square feet as the company sought to consolidate its employees from multiple Venice offices to a workforce under one roof.

2. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment | Douglas Emmett’s 9601 Wilshire Boulevard | 248,000 sf

Talent agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment had the second-largest lease in west L.A. during the first quarter and for the year when it decided to stay at its 247,768-square-foot office in Beverly Hills.

The agency’s client roster spans television, movies, fashion, sports, music and digital, with offices in Nashville, New York, London, Chicago, Miami,Sydney and Washington, D.C.

The work with high-profile clients makes Douglas Emmett’s Wilshire Boulevard office in Beverly Hills’ Golden Triangle just the right place. William Morris and the building’s other tenants are within walking distance of Rodeo Drive. Building amenities include an on-site art gallery and an Equinox gym.

3. Universal Music Group | Drawbridge Realty’s Arboretum Gateway | 226,000 sf

Universal Music Group’s 225,800-square-foot lease renewal in the Arboretum Gateway was the largest lease in the second quarter and once again underscored the strength of Los Angeles’ Westside.

Universal takes up the entire building at 2220 Colorado Avenue, an address it ha’s called home since 1999. That’s when the company decided to consolidate its headquarters and record labels in West Hollywood and Los Angeles into a single building.

In the fall, the building’s former owner Clarion Partners sold the Arboretum Gateway to Drawbridge Realty for $182.5 million in what was L.A. County’s second-largest office sale of 2024.

4. SoCalGas | CIM Group’s Two California Plaza | 199,000 sf

CIM Group landed what turned out to be the County’s largest new lease when Southern California Gas Company inked a deal to take 198,553 square feet in Downtown’s Bunker Hill neighborhood. The deal was also the largest for Downtown in 2024.

SoCal Gas is moving just steps from its namesake Gas Company Tower. It’s a big change for the utility which had been in the building since its 1991 opening.

The deal is another record-setter for CIM’s City National 2Cal property, which sealed the largest new office lease in 2023 when law firm Shepard Mullin absorbed 119,217 square feet.

JLL’s Peter Hajimihalis and Hayley Blockley, along with CIM brokered the deal for the property owner. CBRE’s Clay Hammerstein and Danny Rees represented SoCal Gas.

5. Herbalife | Rexford Industrial’s Herbalife Plaza | 189,000 sf

Dietary supplement maker Herbalife found a buyer for the Herbalife Plaza, while also securing its offices for another couple years. In doing so, Herbalife’s deal became the South Bay’s largest office lease this year and the second largest in the third quarter after Southern California Gas Company’s Downtown Los Angeles relocation.

Its renewal for 188,545 square feet at 950 West 190th Street in Torrance was part of a sale-leaseback.

Rexford Industrial Realty paid $41.3 million for the office building in July after the nutritional company hired CBRE to market the property. Rexford’s interest comes in the real estate being zoned for a nearly 200,000-square-foot industrial building.

As part of the sale-leaseback, Herbalife struck a two-year lease that comes with two six-month options to extend.

6. City of Hope | MetLife’s Campus at SGV | 171,000 sf

City of Hope’s 170,512-square-foot lease renewal managed to nab the title of the San Gabriel Valley’s largest lease in 2024. It also ranked third for all of Los Angeles County in the third quarter.

Savills’ David Gordon represented the tenant in the deal for its administrative campus at 4920 Rivergrade Road in Irwindale. CBRE represented the property owner.

The office is part of the Campus at SGV, a three-building, gated complex built by Home Savings of America in 1989 as its corporate headquarters. The office park totals nearly 705,000 square feet and has a cafeteria, putting green, game room, outdoor seating and racquetball courts.

7. JPMorgan | JPMorgan Chase and Hines’ Century Plaza Towers | 163,000 sf

When JPMorgan inked its lease renewal and expansion for 162,713 square feet at the Century Plaza Towers, the move was seen as yet another win for the Westside’s office market.

The twin towers, built in the 1970s, dominate the Century City skyline and span 2.4 million square feet located at 2029 and 2049 Century Park East.

JPMorgan Asset Management’s Strategic Property Fund and Hines Management Holdings nabbed $1.2 billion in refinancing from Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley in 2019 after buying the buildings about five years prior for a reported $1.6 billion.

8. Lionsgate | 2600-2800 Colorado Avenue | 161,000 sf

Lionsgate’s Santa Monica lease renewal kept the company in its nearly 161,000-square-foot campus in close proximity to several other entertainment firms.

“The Hunger Games” and “La La Land” movie studio’s offices at 2700 Colorado Avenue are located in a corridor that’s also home to Amazon Studios, Hulu and Roku. Other companies in the area include Snap and Activision Publishing.

Lionsgate signed a two-year extension on its 192,000-square-foot lease at the Santa Monica office in 2022. Months after that deal, TRD reported the entertainment company was shopping about 40,000 square feet for sublease.

9. Latham & Watkins | JMB Realty Corp.’s Constellation Place | 99,000 sf

Law firm Latham & Watkins’ renewal in Century City was one of two renewal and expansions to make this year’s top 10.

The firm’s deal for 98,761 square feet at 10250 Constellation Boulevard was Los Angeles’ second-largest office lease in the second quarter.

The three-month period was a particularly busy one for law firms in Century City. Other legal services companies to strike deals during that time included Sheppard Mullin’s over 76,000-square-foot Century City renewal, Paul Hastings renewal and expansion into more than 66,000 square feet at 1999 Avenue of the Stars and Paul Weiss’ 49,400-square-foot renewal and expansion at 2029 Century Park East.

10. FPM Development | Luzzatto’s 3101 West Exposition Boulevard | 94,000 sf

FPM’s sublease of Sweetgreen’s former headquarters rounds out the top 10 and is only one of two new leases in this year’s ranking.

The renewable energy company took on more than 94,000 square feet in the West Adams neighborhood office building after the salad chain began marketing the sublease space in 2022. CoStar estimated FPM paid $42 million on the sublease, which runs through February 2023.

Building owner Luzzatto bought the property in 2019, pre-leasing it to Sweetgreen later that same year. The building was previously used by grocery wholesaler Unified Grocers for dairy products and then was converted into a creative office campus by Luzzatto.