Get your camera phones ready: Top social media platform TikTok is expanding in Los Angeles County and providing some much needed activity in a quieting office market.
ByteDance, the parent company of the mega-popular mobile app that allows users to create short videos, is adding more than 143,000 square feet of office space to its footprint with an expansion deal and a sublease agreement in Culver City, Calif., according to a market report released Monday by brokerage Savills.
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At C3 at Culver Pointe, a seven-story, 281,400-square-foot office at 5800 Bristol Parkway owned by IDS Real Estate, ByteDance added 53,202 square feet to its existing lease, bringing the total to 172,202 square feet. The Chinese technology company is also set to take over 90,049 square feet via sublease around the corner at 900 Corporate Pointe, which is owned by Northwood Investors and rented to Gen Digital (formerly Symantec and NortonLifeLock).
ByteDance’s sublease was the fourth-largest office signing in Los Angeles in the third quarter, and the expansion was the seventh, according to Savills’ report. The region reported just under 3 million square feet of office leasing in the quarter, which is higher than the 2.4 million the previous quarter but below the volume from the same period last year. It also fell below the five-year quarterly average “as discretionary deals are on the sidelines.”
“Leasing activity will remain lower than pre-pandemic levels due to increasing economic uncertainty and most occupiers focused on controlling costs,” Savills’ report read. “Available sublease space remains historically high but could be plateauing as more space is pulled off the market and existing lease terms expire.”
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
