Newmark Arranges Sale of Creative Office Property in Santa Monica, California

October 4, 2024 9:00 AM

Newmark[1] announces it has completed the sale of Arboretum Gateway, a headquarters creative office property spanning 225,773 square feet, located in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica submarket. The asset traded for an undisclosed amount.

Newmark Co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon, Executive Vice Chairman and Head of Newmark’s International Capital Markets group Alex Foshay, Vice Chairmen Ken White, Rob Hannan, Laura Stumm and Michael Moll represented the seller, Clarion Partners. The buyer was Drawbridge Realty, a San Francisco-based privately held real estate investment company partnered with KKR/Global Atlantic. Newmark Co-President, Global Debt & Structured Finance Jonathan Firestone and Director Henry Cassiday assisted on potential debt financing.

Arboretum Gateway is 100% leased to UMG Recordings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group N.V. (S&P: BBB), and serves as the company’s operational headquarters. Universal Music Group is the world’s leading and most diversified music company engaged in recording music, music publishing and audiovisual content.

“This strong utilization of this facility by UMG Recordings, Inc. was attractive to the core capital that pursued this opportunity,” said Shannon. “There was a deep bidder pool of both domestic and foreign buyers.”

Moll added, “The sale represents a shift in capital markets sentiment for office deals with credit and WALT in anticipation of continued lower interest rates.”

The property features 13-13.5’ ceiling heights with polished concrete floors, multiple high-end large conference rooms equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, an onsite food commissary and coffee bar lounge and outdoor usable decks. Additionally, the building is equipped with two onsite recording studios and immediate parking to office elevator access, which caters to the tenant’s security-conscious music clientele.

Located in the heart of the Santa Monica Media District, the property is in proximity to the I-10 freeway and the Metro Expo Line, with an overall walk score of 91. Santa Monica has the highest concentration of media, entertainment, and technology firms in Los Angeles given its rich amenities and proximity to executive housing.

[1] Dba Newmark Knight Frank in California

About Newmark
Newmark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), together with its subsidiaries (“Newmark”), is a world leader in commercial real estate, seamlessly powering every phase of the property life cycle. Newmark’s comprehensive suite of services and products is uniquely tailored to each client, from owners to occupiers, investors to founders, and startups to blue-chip companies. Combining the platform’s global reach with market intelligence in both established and emerging property markets, Newmark provides superior service to clients across the industry spectrum. For the year ended December 31, 2023, Newmark generated revenues of approximately $2.5 billion. As of June 30, 2024, Newmark’s company-owned offices, together with its business partners, operate from approximately 170 offices with 7,800 professionals around the world. To learn more, visit nmrk.com or follow @newmark.

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