LOS ANGELES-Tenants today are more likely to downsize than expand when they renew, but guitar manufacturer Line 6 has bucked the trend as one of two Southland companies to expand its headquarters space recently. The company renewed and expanded its headquarters lease at 26580 Agoura Rd. in Calabasas, according to Studley managing director Andrew Lustgarten, who represented the guitar maker in its lease with Hines.

Lustgarten, who is based in Studley's Downtown L.A. office, reports that Line 6 now occupies the entire 57,155-square-foot building at 26580 Agoura, a single-story office building that is part of the Calabasas Tech Center and has been the home of Line 6 since 2006.

Previously, Line 6 was housed in 45,143 square feet. The company signed a six-year lease is valued at approximately $8 million. “The early restructure and extension of Line 6’s existing lease allowed us to reduce the firm’s existing rental obligation and fix future costs at the bottom of the market,” Lustgarten says. The guitar maker also manufactures amplifiers, effects, effect processors, recording interfaces, and digital wireless systems. Hines, was represented in the transaction by Matt Heyn, David Solomon and Troy Pollet of CB Richard Ellis.

Another company expanding its headquarters is the accounting firm of Nasif Hicks Harris & Co. in Santa Barbara, which has leased 10,507 sf of office space in the La Torre building at 104 W. Anapamu St. For the past 30 years, the company has been located at 1111 Garden St. in a 4,500-square-foot building owned by the firm, according to Francois DeJohn of Hayes Commercial Group, who represented the accounting firm in its new lease along with Greg Bartholomew of Hayes Commercial. The building ownership was represented by Paul Gamberdella and Bob Tuler of Radius Group.

The Nasif, Hicks, Harris & Co. lease came about after the firm approached DeJohn to begin looking for a new location. It was looking for 7,000 to 10,000 square feet of office space with better parking for employees and better access for clients, all in a downtown location. However, spaces meeting that requirement rarely come on the market in Downtown Santa Barbara, DeJohn points out. In the past five years, only 14 office spaces larger than 7,000 square feet have been leased in Downtown Santa Barbara, none of which were a good fit for Nasif Hicks Harris & Co.

Early this year, conditions in the market finally created an opportunity for the accounting firm. First, the recession brought lease rates down, which made moving into a larger space more cost-effective. Second, the consolidation in the financial services industry caused a shuffling of larger office spaces downtown.

When Wachovia Securities vacated its 10,507-square-foot space at 104 W. Anapamu St., Hayes Commercial negotiated the deal for the new space for the accountants. The new location offers Nasif Hicks Harris & Co. room to expand through client referrals and acquisitions, more ability to attract and retain talented CPAs, ample parking and access for clients, and better proximity to State Street, according to the brokerage firm.

In another deal negotiated by Hayes Commercial in Santa Barbara, restaurateurs Tom and Adam White have leased 5,368 square feet at 330 State St. to launch their fourth restaurant, slated to open in the spring of 2011. The space, formerly occupied by One World Imports, is adjacent to a building just leased by Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) for its Santa Barbara store, also slated to open in 2011.

Both the Whites and the building ownership were represented by Michael Martz, Kristopher Roth and Steve Hayes of Hayes Commercial Group. The Whites also own and operate Santa Barbara Shellfish Co., the Santa Barbara FisHouse and the Boat House.

In another Southland lease, this one in Beverly Hills, Tishman Speyer signed Miller-DM Inc., which operates as Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills, to a 15-year lease renewal for 60,894 square feet of office, showroom and other space at Beverly Mercedes Place in Beverly Hills. The lease transaction retains the Mercedes-Benz dealer at the same location where it has been since 1990.

The tenant was represented by Jonathan Larsen of Transwestern and the building ownership by Mark Laderman and Paul DeMartini. Beverly Mercedes Place is a three-story office building totaling 130,000 square feet on Beverly Boulevard that was completed in 1990. The property is managed by Tishman Speyer on behalf of the Australia-based Tishman Speyer Office Fund.