Riot Games to lease all of West Edge offices

Video game publisher and developer Riot Games is leasing the entirety of the West Edge office complex under construction in Sawtelle.

The company signed a 10-year lease for the complex, according to Urbanize. Developers Hines, Philena Properties, and USAA Real Estate are behind the project.

It’s Riot Games’ second big lease of the year. In September, the company subleased Beachbody Company’s 131,000-square-foot space at Starwood Capital Group’s Lantana Entertainment Media Campus in Santa Monica.

The company has also leased 284,000 square feet at Hudson Pacific Properties’ Element LA complex–next door to West Edge–since 2013.
The West Edge complex will also include 700 apartments and 90,000 square feet of retail space. The project is rising on a 4.6-acre site formerly home to a Cadillac dealer owned by the Martin family, which also owns Philena Properties.

Hines joined the project as a partner in 2017 in a $200 million deal. Martin had shopped a 49 percent stake in the project, although it’s unclear what stake Hines ultimately bought. Gensler designed the project.

In June, Gelson’s Market signed a lease for 36,000 square feet of retail space at the complex. The space is at the base of the seven-story apartment building.

Riot Games’ biggest hit is the e-sports staple “League of Legends,” which is one of the most popular competitive computer titles in the world.
Other video game developers and publishers have been making moves in West Los Angeles as well. Activision Blizzard announced it would leave its headquarters at Santa Monica Business Park earlier this year, and in September announced it was subleasing 90,000 square feet at Santa Monica’s Pen Factory complex.

Tencent, a China-based umbrella company that owns a stake in Riot Games, is consolidating its L.A. footprint with a 53,000-square-foot lease at Playa Jefferson in Playa Vista.

[Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch