Atar Capital Expanding, Moving to L.A.’s Most Expensive Office Building: Sources

A private investment firm in Los Angeles announced it’s expanding and moving its headquarters across the street in Century City to what is said to be the most expensive office building in Southern California.

Atar Capital signed for about 11,000 square feet at the 37-story building that’s nearly complete at 1950 Avenue of the Stars, sources told Commercial Observer. That’s more than three times the size of its current space at 1999 Avenue of the Stars.

Neither Atar nor the landlord, JMB Realty, disclosed the size or length of the new lease.

A lease of that size at $10 per square foot per month would cost about $1.3 million a year.

“Century City is not just where we work — this city has been the backdrop for every deal we have closed, every company we have reshaped, and every milestone we have celebrated over the past decade,” Cyrus Nikou, founder and managing partner of Atar Capital, said in a statement.

Atar’s M&A, business development and operations will begin to move in the first quarter of 2027 after its current lease expires in February. Jeffrey Pion, a vice chairman at CBRE, represented Atar but declined to comment.

Two years ago, Chicago-based JMB Realty secured a $575 million construction loan for the 730,00-square-foot development. Much of it is pre-leased to talent agency CAA, which is taking 400,000 square feet. Clearlake Capital Group also signed for 150,000 square feet, and global law firm Sidley Austin signed for 75,000 square feet at the same property.

Century City remains the top office market in Greater L.A., and by a significant margin. Average rents in the submarket were at $7.45 a square foot per month in the first quarter of the year, according to Savills. That’s more than $1 more a square foot than the next most expensive markets like Beverly Hills or Culver City, at $6.33 and $5.42 a square foot, respectively.

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