Vivendi Universal Games

Los Angeles, CA
252,000 SF
CresaPartners Los Angeles

 

Client Objectives

In recent years, Vivendi Universal Games (VUG) Los Angeles operations had grown rapidly, both internally as well as through acquisition. As a result, VUG found themselves having nearly 1,000 employees in three large facilities; two in Torrance and one in Glendale. The facilities were functionally inefficient and the distance between them was problematic.

In consolidating the operations, VUG needed to maintain separate identities and create distinct work environments to support the cultural differences between the corporate functions and the software developers. Both rent and capital costs were also key factors. In order to meet the stated objectives, VUG was resigned to the fact that they would have to split their operations into two separate locations and accept the inefficiencies associated with the distance between them.


Result

After analyzing the scattergram of employee residences, CresaPartners established the geographic parameters for both the corporate operations and the software developers. The initial search identified Howard Hughes Center as the optimal location. While the campus offered the ideal solution for both operations in terms of environment, amenities, location and proximity to one another, there was only one building available.

As CresaPartners began negotiating a lease at Howard Hughes Center for the corporate operations, VUG focused on properties in El Segundo and Torrance for the software developers. Well into negotiations for a costly warehouse conversion in Torrance, CresaPartners presented an opportunity at Howard Hughes Center that would provide an extremely creative work environment and separate identity from the corporate operations in a building immediately adjacent to the building where corporate had just signed a 75,000 square foot, 10-year lease. The deal involved four floors that iXL had built-out, cabled, and fully furnished a few months earlier. iXL was in the process of terminating their lease and vacating the premises. Though well-suited for VUG, the four floors provided no room for VUG’s planned expansion over the next five years. CresaPartners immediately contacted the tenant who had recently leased two adjacent floors. Within a week, CresaPartners then negotiated an assignment of their lease to VUG with a sublease back of a portion of the space to the original tenant, who agreed to downsize and ultimately vacate the premises at intervals over a 3-year period. This arrangement provided the ideal expansion plan for VUG.

Within 35 days following CresaPartners’ first discussion with VUG about the iXL opportunity, VUG signed a lease for 145,000 square feet, comprising the four iXL floors plus the two adjacent floors.


Client Benefits

  • All operations located in two adjacent buildings on one campus
  • Two distinct work environments for the two operations
  • Separate identities for the two operating units
  • Building-top and monument signage on both buildings
  • Freeway signage for both operations
  • The buildings connected via dedicated 4-inch conduit allowing a fiber optic connection between the operations
  • Extensive amenities (health club, 17 restaurants, park with jogging track and volleyball courts) means happier employees and more efficient work routines
  • Flexible lease terms--providing for growth, contraction and early termination
  • $20 million of improvements, furniture and equipment involved in the transaction
  • Over-standard parking (5 per 1,000)
  • Flexible HVAC hours at very attractive rates