Puma Makes Hollywood Deal With David Simon’s Bardas

Puma is going Hollywood.

To expand its presence and grow in the United States, the German apparel brand announced a plan to open the Puma Studio in Los Angeles in early 2025. The company secured a deal to lease about 23,000 square feet at 6345 Fountain Avenue with Bardas Investment Group

“Opening our Puma Studio in L.A. is an important strategic move for us, as we seek to elevate our business in the United States,” Arne Freundt, CEO at Puma, said in a statement.

Puma said it will use the space for its product, design and marketing teams, as well as bespoke space for VIP clients. The company also wants to more easily collaborate with the content creators and celebrities based in Greater L.A.

“High-end brands are creating content, too,” David Simon, founder of Bardas, told Commercial Observer. “They’re creating new products with influencers and celebrities, and having an environment to collaborate and be inspired for those kinds of projects is what Puma was looking for. And there are a lot of other brands out there doing the same.”

The company also said it has started recruiting talent for a temporary office space.

Bardas and Bain Capital Real Estate, a unit of the Boston-based private equity giant, formed their joint venture in 2019 to acquire, develop and operate creative offices and production space. Separately, the L.A. City Council last month approved the plan for the 510,621-square-foot Echelon Studios in Hollywood. The joint venture is also working on a $600 million, 620,000-square-foot studio campus at the historic former Television Center about a mile away from the project on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated Puma planned to move into Echelon Studios, which is a different development on Santa Monica Boulevard by Bardas. The correct address is 6345 Fountain Avenue in Hollywood.