Beyond Meat inks 280K sf lease at Hackman’s 888 Douglas

In a work-from-home-world, Beyond Meat still thinks there’s no substitute for the office.

The maker of plant-based products like Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage has inked a long-term lease to occupy 280,000 square feet at Hackman Capital Partners’ creative office complex in El Segundo.

The 12-year lease at 888 Douglas Street is a major office expansion for Beyond Meat, which is headquartered in a far smaller space in the city, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the agreement.

The lease also marks one of the largest in Los Angeles in the past year, providing a shot in the arm to an office market that has been struggling mightily. There was just 10 million square feet of office space leased in L.A. in all of 2020, down from 18 million square feet in 2019, according to Savills fourth-quarter report. That 44 percent decline was evidence of the growing number of companies that either exited lease deals entirely or trimmed space. Inventory in 2020 also increased by 1 million square feet to 214.8 million square feet in L.A., and total availability increased to a 10-year high of 22.5 percent.

Last year, the largest office lease deal in L.A. County was a renewal, for 425,000 square feet by Walt Disney Company at 3800 West Alameda Avenue in Burbank. Netflix signed the largest new lease deal in 2020, for 171,000 square feet, also in Burbank.

To close the deal with Beyond Meat, Westside-based Hackman provided a year of free rent and will shell out $100 a square foot to improve its offices, the Times reported, citing filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A major player in the L.A. commercial market, Hackman closed on its first major East Coast property in the fall, when it partnered with Square Mile Capital to buy Silvercup Studios, the largest film studio in New York City. The deal was reportedly worth $500 million.

Despite a down third quarter, Beyond Meat has seen strong success since its founding more than a decade ago and recently partnered with McDonald’s on a plant-based patty to be called McPlant.

Hackman has been redeveloping the four-building, 390,000-square-foot complex it acquired in late 2016 for $81.5 million. The $100 million overhaul at the 20-acre site will include 45-foot ceilings, according to marketing materials.

The new headquarters for Beyond Meat will also include room for R&D and will allow it to bring in four times as many employees, Hackman Capital told the Times. The lease will begin in the fall; terms were not disclosed. Cosmetics company L’Oreal was expected to sign a lease at the new complex as well.

[LAT] — Alexi Friedman