5 Companies Sign $30 Million in Century City Office Leases

Five companies have signed office leases totaling nearly $30 million at 1900 and 1901 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, according to Dana Perel, a member of a CB Richard Ellis brokerage team including Jeff Pion and Deron White that represented landlord DivcoWest Group in the transactions.

At 1901 Avenue of the Stars, Bain & Co., a consulting group, signed a 10-year, $9.5-million lease for 26,000 square feet, and KPMG LLP signed a 10-year, $7.5-million lease for 22,000 square feet. At 1900 Avenue of the Stars, public relations firm Bohle Co. signed a 10-year, $8-million lease for 22,438 square feet, Cypress Communications signed a seven-year, $2.6-million deal for 11,260 square feet and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. signed a five-year, $2-million lease for 10,500 square feet.

Bain & Co. and Bohle Co. were represented by Jim Travers and Lawson Martin of Travers Realty. KPMG was represented by Bob Zelken and Bruce Rutherford of Jones Lang LaSalle. Metropolitan Life was represented by Marty Barkan of Grubb & Ellis, and Cypress Communications represented itself.

DivcoWest acquired 1900 and 1901 Avenue of the Stars, two high-rises comprising more than 1 million square feet of space, for about $200 million in April 1999. Divco-West is remodeling both buildings extensively, according to John Gleason, regional vice president of the San Jose-based company, who said the renovations include a major upgrade of each building’s ground-floor lobbies and plazas, and upgrades to telecommunications and air conditioning systems.