JLL to lease NSB’s Gehry-designed creative office in El Segundo

NSB Associates has tapped JLL to lease Ascend, its $50 million Frank Gehry-designed creative office development in El Segundo, the brokerage said.

The 80,000-square-foot project, which is the sixth building in a campus surrounded by former Xerox facilities, is slated for completion by the end of the year.

JLL’s Mike McRoskey, Blake Searles, Evan Moran and Jason Fine are heading the leasing effort.

Asking rents are not public, but new creative buildings in El Segundo average about $3.25 per square foot a month, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A rendering of Ascend’s interior (Gehry Partners, Kilograph via JLL)

Unlike Gehry’s more dramatic endeavors, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, the design of Ascend is consistent with other creative offices in the area — and its unassuming nature is intentional, the Times said.

“It’s not architectural in the sense that you are making an architectural statement,” Gehry said in a video on the project’s website. “It is really creating an environment that energizes and promotes interactivity in a less formal way.”

The building will have one differentiating design feature, however. It will effectively be raised up on stilts, allowing for 280 parking spaces at ground level underneath the building. The development also includes 16,000 square feet of outdoor patios.

Ascend is the first project Gehry has designed for his longtime friend Larry Field, the founder of Beverly Hills-based NSB.

The architect has been on a hot streak in recent months. He’s also designing the controversial Grand Avenue Project Downtown and 8150 Sunset in Hollywood.