Knotel Coworking Site to Open in Malibu

Knotel, the proptech and coworking firm owned by Newmark, has signed Malibu’s largest office lease in more than a decade, The Real Deal has learned.

The firm has leased a 34,300-square-foot office building at 22761 Pacific Coast Highway and will use it as coworking space, according to two sources familiar with the deal. Knotel did not respond to a request for comment.

CBRE’s Stan Gerlach and Jeff Gerlach brokered the deal, but declined to comment on the tenant.

Ask Associates, a limited liability company linked to Beverly Hills-based developer Kambiz Hakim, has owned the office property since 2007, when it purchased it from Malibu Vista Partners for $17.5 million, according to property records and reports at the time.

Only one other office deal in Malibu larger than 18,000 square feet has been signed in the last 12 years, according to CBRE. Given the lack of office properties in the coastal city, tenants on average occupy about 2,500 square feet.

In 2016, The Crypto Company signed a lease to take a roughly 18,600-square-foot building at 22809 Pacific Coast Highway, a building that is currently available for lease according to a listing on LoopNet.

The Knotel lease comes about a month after the coworking firm signed a deal to take an entire warehouse in the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood, signaling a revival for the firm after a tumultuous couple of years.

In February of last year, the coworking firm filed for bankruptcy, after numerous lawsuits from landlords claiming the startup stopped paying rent at the start of the pandemic.

Newmark then acquired Knotel through bankruptcy proceedings for around $90 million, after the startup exited some of its locations.