The animation studio behind "The Lego Movie" and "Happy Feet" has signed a lease for half of a still-under-construction building in developer Westbank’s Main Alley tech campus in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant district.
It'll find itself in good company in a city that is home to the largest cluster of visual effects and animation studios in the world and in a neighborhood that has become an established creative hub.
Australia-based studio Animal Logic has preleased 110,000 square feet at the M4 building at 110 E. Fifth Ave., according to CBRE, which represented Westbank in the deal.
Animal Logic said in a news release it will house as many as 300 new employees in the new space.
The rest of the property is still unleased, CBRE confirmed Thursday, with opening set for 2025.
“Designed to meet the needs of creative industry firms, this project brings together art, innovation, technology, district energy and mass timber below-market rental housing, within a net zero carbon lifecycle campus,” said Emilie Lok, who oversaw the lease at Westbank, according to a statement by Animal Logic when the lease was announced May 17.
Westbank's Main Alley campus comprises 500,000 square feet of flex space — including M4 — and 60,000 square feet of what Westbank calls “industrial/retail” space.
Westbank isn't the only developer in the area building off the success of Mount Pleasant as a creative hub.
Strand Development has a project in the permitting stage at 360 W. Second Ave., which the developer described as specifically aimed at the tech and creative industry with office space over two floors of light-industrial space.
Vancouver has become one of North America's major movie-making metros, the workshop for both live-action and animated productions. Mount Pleasant is where many of those in the industry begin and develop their careers.
The same neighborhood is home to the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, 3D studio Gener8, social media management firm Hootsuite and the animation studios for WildBrain, which owns the rights to the "Peanuts" characters, comics and cartoons.