El Segundo Claims Year's Largest Office Lease

The Federal Aviation Administration leased 154,000 square feet at 777 Aviation Blvd.

LOS ANGELES—The Federal Aviation Administration has signed a 15-year 154,000-square-foot lease with for an office space in El Segundo owned by a joint venture between Embarcadero Capital Partners and Westbrook Partners . According to Madison Partners , which represented the landlord in the transaction, the lease is the largest in L.A. County. Madison Partners would not disclose the value of the lease, however, industry sources unrelated to the deal tell GlobeSt.com that it is valued at more than $120 million. “We sold the project to Embarcadero and West Brook, and through the process on the last year of ownership, we leased up half of the building to FAA,” Bob Safai , founding partner and president of Madison Partners, tells GlobeSt.com. “FAA was already in the South Bay market. They moved from a Lawndale address, which was only a mile away, to a building in El Segundo that is closer to the airport and is a newer building. This is the largest lease done in L.A. County.” In addition to Safai, Tony Ranger and Joe King also represented the landlord, along with Kent Stout of Colliers International . The office space is located at 777 Aviation Blvd. in El Segundo, a 309,000-square-foot building that was previously occupied by Xerox . Safai sold the building to the owners last year as a vacant space, and is working to fill up the property. “777 Aviation is a big floor plate building that was occupied by Xerox for several years,” says Safai. “We are looking at several other tenants to lease the remainder of the property.” Simultaneously, the firm also closed a lease transaction with JustFab for a 54,000-square-foot office space at 2221 Park Place in El Segundo. “JustFab signed a lease last year for 117,000 square feet at Apollo, and they needed more space,” King tells GlobeSt.com. “This building is across the street from their headquarters.” Safai adds that the entire process took only 60 days all in, showing the increasing demand for space in the market.  The JustFab lease has a 13-year term, and the value of the lease was also not disclosed. King represented JustFab in the transaction, while Bob Pearson of Madison Partners represented the landlord, Sandstone . These two leases are a perfect example of the evolving El Segundo market. “El Segundo was previously known as the aerospace market. It has proven to be much more than that with a diversity of tenants ranging from ecommerce to aerospace to biotech,” says Safai, while King adds, “It has really come into its own and will continue to do so.”