Amazon signs LA’s largest office lease of year

Takes 207K sf at Water Garden in Santa Monica

Jeff Bezos and Water Garden at 2450 Colorado Avenue (Getty, Google Maps)
Jeff Bezos and Water Garden at 2450 Colorado Avenue (Getty, Google Maps)

Amazon.com Inc. signed the largest office lease of the year so far in the Los Angeles market, taking more than 200,000 square feet in Santa Monica.

The e-commerce company signed a deal at the Water Garden at 2450 Colorado Avenue, according to a report from Savills. Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Amazon already leases four suites at the property, according to public documents filed with Los Angeles County in 2019, with its studio and production firm occupying the space.

In May, Amazon said it would employ more than 1,000 people at its new Santa Monica offices, with move-in slated for mid-2023. The company is also opening new offices in Irvine, at Irvine Company’s Spectrum Terrace complex, and in San Diego.

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An investment fund advised by JPMorgan owns the 1.2 million-square-foot Water Garden complex, having paid $240 million for about half of the project in 2001. Colony Capital, JH Snyder and TransAction Financial built the four-building property in the 1990s.

Since then, the property has become a hub for technology and entertainment tenants, including Oracle, Sony and AMC Networks.

Amazon’s deal eclipsed Forever 21 for the biggest office lease of the year so far. The fast-fashion retailer took 162,000 square feet at the Brookfield’s California Market Center in Downtown Los Angeles in January.

The California Market Center––13-story wholesale hub at 110 East 9th Street—also leased 107,000 square feet to Adidas earlier this year.