The powerhouse talent agency behind stars like Latin music icon Bad Bunny, influencer Alix Earle and fashion mogul Tory Burch is doubling down on its Los Angeles headquarters — a bold move as companies nationwide boost investment in office space.
United Talent Agency, or UTA, has renewed its long-term headquarters lease at UTA Plaza, a 192,000-square-foot, two-building office campus at 9336 Civic Center Drive in Beverly Hills. The campus houses operations for the agency’s filmed entertainment, music, creators and sports divisions.
The 30-year-old talent agency “has been a valued tenant since we acquired the building in 2018, and we’re pleased to continue this relationship,” said a statement from Costa Petrunoff, managing director of investments for San Francisco-based DivcoWest.
The deal is part of a recent wave of large-scale renewals across the country that signal a potential shift from the prevailing downsizing trend and may indicate early signs of market recovery.
Los Angeles tells a more complicated story. Despite isolated strength in upscale submarkets like Beverly Hills and Century City, the region overall faces record vacancies and deep downsizing, leaving renewals as a critical lifeline for stability, according to Catherine Yeh, Costar director of market analytics for Los Angeles.
“UTA’s decision to renew in place and not downsize really highlights the bifurcation of the Los Angeles office market,” Yeh said, adding that the bulk of LA’s positive leasing activity took place in Beverly Hills and Century City in the past year. “Tenants want safety, amenities, and prestige, which Beverly Hills and Century City can offer that other submarkets can’t.”
Office users recommit
Large renewals signed across the country in recent months have lent an increased sense of stability to an office market that, for the past five years, has been scrambling to find its post-pandemic footing. What's more, the deals have mirrored companies’ increasing willingness to not only invest in their real estate footprints but also commit to the space for the long term.
Over the past year, tenants throughout the United States have signed about 275 leases that span upward of 100,000 square feet, more than one-third of which have been renewals. From smaller firms to high-profile corporations, those deal extensions have buoyed markets such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta and Seattle that have struggled against a tidal wave of availabilities and rebuilding demand to fill that space.
Los Angeles, in particular, has been especially hard hit in the years following the pandemic’s outbreak. The regional office market is at its weakest position in decades, according to CoStar analysis.
Vacancy rates have hit historic highs, climbing to about 16% from the 10% reported in early 2020. Downtown Los Angeles is faring even worse as tenants continue to downsize or vacate their downtown spaces, collectively handing back about 2 million more square feet than they leased in the past year, according to CoStar data.
Only eight leases over 100,000 square feet have been signed in the Los Angeles area over the past year, the data shows. Five of those were renewals, underscoring the agreements’ increasing importance to both landlords and the market as a whole in providing a sense of stability and certainty at a point when there has been little of either.
Some of the largest recommitments inked throughout that period included payroll processing giant ADP, legal heavyweights Loeb & Loeb, the Wilshire Law Firm, Regal Medical Group and Bank of America.
Trophy properties
Beverly Hills is a popular neighborhood for firms seeking to burnish their reputations with proximity to wealth and exclusivity. Alo Yoga, Fashion Nova and Law Brothers have purchased properties in the upscale enclave recently.
The Beverly Hills office campus known as UTA Plaza began life in 1985 as the headquarters for Hilton Hotels.
In 2011 a New York-based firm, Tishman Speyer, bought and repositioned the property, then later sold it in 2014 to Rockefeller Group, which then sold it in 2018 to DivcoWest for about $218 million, according to CoStar data.
In November 2011, UTA set up shop at the angular, modernist campus and it was renamed UTA Plaza. The renewal is for the entirety of the building.
Influential talent agency
United Talent Agency got its start in 1991 when the Bauer-Benedek and Leading Artists agencies joined forces.
Initial success in film and television laid the foundation for a diversified business spanning film and TV, music, creators, sports, brands, news, publishing, speakers and theater.
Over the years UTA has grown into a global entertainment player with more than 2,000 employees and offices stretching from Beverly Hills to New York, London, Nashville in Tennessee and even Malmö, Sweden.
In October, UTA added another initiative beyond talent management, launching a business within its Klutch Sports Group division to help sports property owners and developers unlock new revenue streams in sports-anchored districts.
In the increasingly competitive talent representation market, UTA counts among its Los Angeles-based rivals the likes of Creative Artists Agency in Century City and William Morris Endeavor, also in Beverly Hills — both vying for top-tier talent and packaging power in the same neighborhood.