Video Game Developer Renews HQ Lease in L.A.’s El Segundo

A video game developer has hit level two in El Segundo, Calif.

Nexon America, a subsidiary of South Korean game developer and publisher Nexon, has renewed its 49,307-square-foot creative office lease for the building at 621 Hawaii Street in the small coastal Southern California enclave immediately south of LAX. The deal extends Nexon’s lease through 2033 and is valued at about $15 million.

Landlord BLT Enterprises acquired the property in 2022 from Montana Avenue Capital for $27.3 million. Nexon has operated its American headquarters in El Segundo since 2009, though the company moved to its current digs in 2018. Colliers’ Steve Solomon and Kristen Bowman represented BLT Enterprises in the lease negotiations, while Cushman & Wakefield’s Greg Lovett represented Nexon.

“Despite broader market headwinds, creative office properties like 621 Hawaii continue to attract and retain top-tier tenants,” Solomon said in a statement. “El Segundo’s ‘low-rise creative product’ continues to produce strong results compared to several of our adjacent markets.”

While once dominated by the oil industry, and then the aerospace industry, El Segundo has become a melting pot for companies seeking coastal creative office space, particularly in the tech, media and entertainment fields.

Square Enix, for example, the company behind long-running gaming franchises such as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, operates its North American headquarters out of Kilroy Realty’s 999 North Pacific Coast Highway. Although its headquarters is in nearby Santa Monica, Activision Blizzard also operates an office out of Beacon Capital Partners’ 100 North Pacific Coast Highway in El Segundo. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.