DirecTV wants to sublease 500K sf of its El Segundo HQ

Represents 80% of space satellite TV giant leases from Swift, Kilroy

Kilroy Realty CEO John Kilroy, DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow and Swift Real Estate Partners founder Christopher Peatross (LoopNet, Kilroy, DirecTV, Swift)
Kilroy Realty CEO John Kilroy, DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow and Swift Real Estate Partners founder Christopher Peatross (LoopNet, Kilroy, DirecTV, Swift)

Satellite TV giant DirecTV is dramatically downsizing its presence in El Segundo.

The company wants to sublease over 500,000 square feet of office space at its headquarters there, The Real Deal has learned.

That would represent about 80 percent of the space DirecTV leases across three buildings — 2200, 2230 and 2250 East Imperial Highway, sources said. The lease for 2250 East Imperial Highway was signed with landlord Kilroy Realty in 2011, and is set to expire in 2027. Swift owns the other two buildings.

The properties have asking rents of $2.95 per square foot per month, according to CBRE marketing materials obtained. DirecTV “will continue to have a presence” in El Segundo, a spokesperson said in a statement. It was not clear whether the headquarters would shift.

At Swift’s buildings, DirecTV leases the seventh through 11th floors at 2200 East Imperial Highway and all of 2230 East Imperial Highway, property records show. It signed its original lease on the buildings in 2006.

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In April, DirecTV’s former parent company AT&T sued Kilroy to reduce DirecTV’s space at 2250 East Imperial Highway, according to court records. AT&T said it wanted to vacate five full floors of the building by the end of this year, as well as portions of the second and third floors.

AT&T spun DirecTV off into its own company in August, selling a 30 percent stake to TPG Partners and keeping a 70 percent interest.

In court documents, Kilroy argued that AT&T could not vacate the space before the end of the year. The parties will enter mediation on the matter in 2022, documents show. Neither Kilroy nor AT&T responded to a request for comment.

On an earnings call earlier this year, Kilroy said AT&T was asking to vacate around 150,000 square feet of space at the building.

According to court filings, AT&T said it was paying base rents of $3.39 per square foot at 2250 East Imperial Highway — significantly more than what the sublease will be asking. Average asking rents for office space in El Segundo last month were $4.04 a foot, according to a recent Savills report.

Across Los Angeles County, around 8.8 million square feet of space was up for sublease in the third quarter, down from 9.2 million square feet in the second quarter. Office availability also hit a 10-year high.