From the Los Angeles website: Grindr is classing it up and expanding.
The gay dating app is moving from a 3,400-square-foot office in Hollywood to a 18,000-square-foot office in West Hollywood. It signed a long-term lease to move its headquarters into the 14th floor of developer Charles S. Cohen’s RedBuilding at Pacific Design Center at 8687 Melrose Avenue. Terms of the lease were not disclosed but asking rates at The Redbuilding Place its value at roughly $1.1 million a year.
The company will leave its office at 6725 West Sunset Boulevard behind in favor of the classier (and historically LGBT friendly) WeHo address.
Ryan Harding of Newmark Knight Grubb Frank, who represented Grindr in the lease deal, said the move comes as Grindr plans to expand beyond its dating app functions to become more of a lifestyle brand.
“It will always be a dating app but they are hoping to do more of what Playboy did…and expanding into other elements of pop culture that matter to the LGBT community,” Harding said.
Grindr could not be reached for comment. The firm recently acquired the means to expand. Chinese firm Beijing Kunlun Tech bought a controlling stake in the startup for $93 million in a deal announced last week.
“We are pleased to welcome Grindr to the RedBuilding where they join a prestigious roster of creative tenants,” Cohen said in a statement. “Our West Hollywood location puts Grindr at the center of the LA region’s thriving and creative epicenter.”
The RedBuilding is becoming a media hub. Cohen recently signed Clique Media and Whalerock Industries, which makes Kim Kardashian’s app.
Marc Horowitz of Cohen Brothers Realty represented Cohen in the lease deal, along will JLL’s team led by Josh Wrobel.