Drawbridge Realty Pays $185M for Universal Music HQ

In a $185 million deal, Drawbridge Realty has purchased a Class A office building in Santa Monica, Calif. Clarion Partners was the seller of the property, which is 100 percent triple-net leased to Universal Music Group.

Dubbed Arboretum Gateway, the 225,773-square-foot building was developed in 1999. The six-story asset is situated in the city’s media district at 2220 Colorado Ave., at the epicenter of Silicon Beach.

This part of Southern California is renowned for being home to media companies. Netherlands-based UMG N.V. is a world leader in music-based entertainment.

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The property has two UMG-operated recording studios, several state-of-the-art conference facilities with cutting-edge AV, secure parking with direct elevator access, an onsite food commissary and coffee bar, collaboration areas and outdoor decks.

Newmark represented Clarion Partners in the sale. The team included Kevin Shannon, co-head of U.S. capital markets; Alex Foshay, executive vice chairman & head of international capital markets; as well as Vice Chairmen Ken White, Rob Hannan, Laura Stumm and Michael Moll.

Long-term commitments

UMG holds a long-term lease at Arboretum Gateway, the third-largest signed in the market since 2021, after Snap and Hulu.

Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has extended its stay there in January when it signed a 10-year lease extension for more than 467,000 square feet across eight office buildings at the Santa Monica Business Park, a 21-building, 1.2 million-square-foot creative office campus owned by BXP. It is less than 2 miles from the UMG’s headquarters.

Other major tenants in the vicinity include Starz, AMC Networks, Amazon, Roku and Sony.

It is now part of a Drawbridge Realty national portfolio that includes more than a dozen Southern California properties, including buildings occupied by tenants in Westlake Village, Orange County and San Diego County.

Last month, RBC Wealth Management signed a seven-year lease within Uplands Corporate Center, a two-building Class A office campus in Austin’s Southwest submarket. Drawbridge Realty owns the 291,448-square-foot property.