SANTA MONICA, Calif. – BLT Enterprises, a multi-faceted real estate investment company, has successfully secured the long-term, 10-year lease of its 16,500 square-foot creative office building in the Santa Monica submarket of Los Angeles County, and announces the completion of the building’s creative office conversion project. The tenant, Designworks—the design innovation studio for the BMW Group—has relocated its U.S. headquarters in response to the evolving demands of today’s work-life balance.
“To meet the steady call for creative-office space in the thriving Santa Monica market, BLT recognizes the importance of staying ahead of trends and anticipating the wants of current and future tenants—an approach that ensures our assets consistently provide long-term value,” says Rob Solomon, President and Chief Legal Officer at BLT Enterprises. “The property attracted healthy tenant interest based on its prime location, size, and adaptability to conversion for creative users. Our team worked closely with Designworks to successfully negotiate suitable lease terms to meet their changing needs and deliver value for years to come.”
As a global creative consultancy, Designworks brings imaginative inspiration to the BMW Group and works with clients from diverse industries to share its innovative perspectives and knowledge from the complex automotive sector. With locations in Los Angeles, Munich, and Shanghai, the firm worked with BLT to build out a new U.S. headquarters designed to reflect the smaller, highly digital footprint it needed to stay internationally connected while accommodating the hybrid office life dynamic.
According to Lisa Tamayo, Vice President of Development at BLT Enterprises, BLT specializes in acquiring, renovating, and transforming existing industrial, office, and flex buildings into assets that appeal to today’s tenants.
“We utilize our depth of experience to aid our tenant partners in strategically customizing environments that not only meet the highest level of industry standards, but also provide the opportunity to evolve and expand to meet future business requirements,” continues Tamayo.
Upon purchasing the property in June of 2019, BLT implemented a complete building shell renovation and seismic upgrade. The full interior and exterior shell improvements included baring the building down to its core and constructing all new upgrades including trendy exterior facade, windows and doors, PVC roof, 1200-amp electrical service, parking lot improvements and enhanced landscaping. The interior improvements included new structural beams, restrooms facilities, kitchen and conference rooms and upgraded fire sprinkler system.
“With the need for digital capabilities outweighing the need for space, we were thrilled to provide Designworks with the subject property, an ideal location for the tenant to downsize and focus on creating a functional, progressive office space,” explains Tamayo.
Following securing the lease terms, Designworks’ in-house team initiated a full-scale creative conversion on the property to accommodate a high-tech design facility. With collaborative oversight from BLT’s development team, the tenant implemented various enhancements to the shell improvements including significant additions to the core, a digital viewing room with remote connectivity, group tables and individual workstations to foster teamwork and support hybrid/remote work, an upgraded kitchen, and a discrete building entrance.
Situated on approximately 26,000 square feet of land, the building is ideally positioned within walking distance of the expo line and numerous well-known media and entertainment companies.
The property is located at 1601 Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. Brad McCoy and David Wilson of Lee and Associates represented BLT as the lessor in the transaction.
About BLT Enterprises
Headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., BLT Enterprises was founded in 1984 and is a multi-faceted real estate development and investment company with an exceptional track record of success in industrial and commercial real estate. The firm has developed or acquired more than $2 billion in assets to date. BLT Enterprises specializes in the acquisition, entitlement, development, operation, and property management of industrial, office, retail, mixed-use and special-use properties.
