Movie network Starz is close to closing on an 11-year lease for a 60,000-square-foot building at Santa Monica Gateway, a new creative office complex by developer Colorado Creative Studios, The Real Deal has learned.
The deal is expected to close this month, said sources with knowledge of the advanced talks.
The move would place Starz across the street from its parent company, Lionsgate, which acquired the network for $4.4 billion in cash and stock last year.
While the Gateway project is still under construction, it is expected to open by September. The project consists of two, four-story buildings with a total of 200,000 square feet of office space and 640 parking stalls, according to the project’s website.
Carl Muhlstein and Tom Cherry of JLL are the listing brokers for Santa Monica Gateway, according to the project’s website, but could not be reached for comment. Jim Travers and Lawson Martin of Cresa are representing Starz in the lease negotiations, sources said, but the brokers did not respond to requests.
Starz currently occupies about 40,000 square feet of space at Tishman Speyer’s 9242 Beverly Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Its lease there ends this year. Lionsgate saw the expiration as an opportunity to move Starz closer to its office in Santa Monica, sources said. A representative of Tishman declined to comment. A representative of Lionsgate could not immediately be reached.