Santa Monica : Office Agreement Formed

IBM Corp. and a Santa Monica-based commercial developer, Maguire Thomas Partners, have formed a joint-venture partnership to take over the sprawling Colorado Place office complex at 26th Street and Colorado Avenue.

Maguire Thomas, which owns numerous commercial properties in downtown Los Angeles, bought the first and second phases of Colorado Place--a total of 1.01 million square feet--from the developer, the Dallas-based Southmark Corp., for an undisclosed price last week.

IBM announced this week that it will occupy 210,000 square feet of office space at Colorado Place, becoming a major tenant and transporting 700 IBM employees to Santa Monica.

The first two phases of the complex, some of which is still under construction, include offices, restaurants and a day-care center for children. A 4-screen movie theater is also planned.