Small Media Leases Pack Powerful Punch

REDONDO BEACH, CA-The deal is small in comparison to some of the gargantuan office leases that have been inked in Southern California this year, but Shelter Digital’s commitment to 12,000 sf in the Redondo Beach submarket illustrates that some niches of the office market are marching to their own tune, so to speak. This is especially true of office space occupied by entertainment and media-related companies like Shelter Digital, the local division of an Italian film, digital production and post-production services’ company for the movie and television industries.

Juan Apitz, senior associate with locally based Goodglick Co., says that the Shelter Digital lease is the latest example of a trend in which production and media companies are moving to the South Bay submarkets of Los Angeles from their traditional Hollywood and Westside roots. The unit that is taking the 12,000 sf is Shelter Digital USA, a joint venture between Rome-based Shelter Digital and South Bay Sound Co. of Manhattan Beach, CA, a post-production and sound effects dubbing company.

Shelter Digital signed a five-year lease with two five-year renewal options for a 178,000-sf building in the West Bay Business Park along Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The local unit of the Italian firm joins a growing list of media and entertainment-related companies in South Bay submarkets, including film production company New Masters from nearby El.Segundo, Pointe Studios in Hawthorne and Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach.