How Bixby Brought Hello Kitty to El Segundo
With a number of new creative office conversions and skyrocketing prices on Silicon Beach, Bixby has landed Sanrio, the Japanese company behind Hello Kitty, to lease nearly 29k SF at Bixby's 2101 in El Segundo, more than doubling its office footprint in the relocation from Torrance.
Bixby finished the $25M project last summer, as the South Bay has continued to attract more tenants seeking creative space that get priced out of SaMo and Playa. With the move, Sanrio becomes the lead tenant at the 114k SF project, and Bixby says it's in lease negotiations with another user to take 13k SF at the project, which would bring it to nearly 90% occupancy. Lease terms were not disclosed, but we told you last month that the project was one of South Bay's priciest buildings, with an asking rate of $3.40/SF. Pictured: Bixby CEO Bill Halford.
The project features polished concrete floors and exposed ceilings, in addition to an outdoor deck. Bixby plans on bringing in a Peet's Coffee and small restaurant to make the building more attractive. Other tenants at the project include AMA Consulting Engineers and Exponential Interactive. Sanrio was repped by JLL's Tom Cherry and Nick Niemann; and Bixby was repped by CBRE's Bill Bloodgood and Casey Benson, and Madison Partners' Tony Ranger and Joe King.
