Barings Buys Creative Office Campus for $151M

June 5, 2025

Investment Los Angeles News Office More West

Clarion Partners sold the asset after 11 years of ownership.

Barings has acquired i|o at Playa Vista, a 306,809-square-foot creative office campus in West Los Angeles, from longtime owner Clarion Partners for $150.7 million. Newmark arranged the transaction.

Exterior shot of i|o at Playa Vista, a two-building office campus in Los Angeles — Completed in 2010 and redesigned in 2016, i|o at Playa Vista comprises two office buildings totaling 306,809 square feet. *Image courtesy of Newmark*

The two-building property came online in 2010 and Clarion purchased it in July 2014 for $132.7 million, according to CommercialEdge. The East building rises six stories and has floorplates ranging from 18,814 to 40,000 square feet, while the five-story West building has floorplates averaging 17,784 square feet.

Completely redesigned by Gensler in 2016, the campus has maintained an average occupancy level of more than 90 percent since it was transformed into a collaborative indoor/outdoor workplace. The changes included adding exterior stairways, large amenitized decks and an interior landscaped courtyard. The LEED Gold-certified property includes a restaurant, fitness center with showers, EV charging stations, grilling areas, fire pits and hammocks.

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The campus has inked 78,000 square feet of new leases over the past two years at market-leading rates. One of the property’s longtime tenants is The Honest Co., a personal care product company that has had its headquarters there for the past 10 years and occupies 83,000 square feet, CommercialEdge also shows.

i|o at Playa Vista is at 12130 and 12180 Millennium Drive, providing immediate access to Interstate 405 and State Route 90. Downtown Los Angeles is some 17 miles away, while Los Angeles International Airport is 5 miles south.

Newmark Co-Head of U.S. Capital Markets Kevin Shannon, Vice Chairman Ken White, Rob Hannan, Laura Stumm and Michael Moll represented Clarion. In addition, Newmark Co-President, Global Debt & Structured Finance Jonathan Firestone, Vice Chairman Blake Thompson and Director Henry Cassiday provided support on debt strategy and financing considerations.

Shannon said, in prepared remarks, the managed bid process was highly competitive, adding the response from institutional investors is a sign that capital is re-engaging in the office sector.

L.A. office activity

Earlier this spring, Newmark brokered the sale of a 115,589-square-foot office building in Hollywood, for $105 million. The seller, J.H. Snyder Co., developed the eight-story, Class A property in 2017and extensively renovated it last year to serve as the headquarters for Skims Body Inc. The shapewear company leases the entire building.

In the largest leasing deal in two years, Spin Master, a multinational toy and educational company, leased 132,300 square feet across three buildings at another office campus in Playa Vista. The space at the Tishman Speyer-owned property was offered for sublease by Yahoo!

Even though first-quarter leasing activity was down year-over-year, Newmark’s research shows trophy buildings are outperforming other asset classes in the Los Angeles market as employers seek to lure workers back to the office. Some industries, such as legal services, are seeing stronger employment and leasing trends. However, Newmark reports tech and media leasing in the market will likely remain soft this year.

Barings has been busy

In February, Barings, a global asset management firm and MassMutual subsidiary, agreed to acquire Artemis Real Estate Partners, a Chevy Chase, Md.,-based real estate investment firm. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but the merger is expected to strengthen Baring’s position in the U.S. real estate market and accelerate the platform’s long-term growth.

Also in February, Barings and joint venture partner Trinity Capital started construction on Phase Two of Horizon 16 Industrial Park to add 1.5 million square feet to the 1.1 million-square-foot logistics campus in Savannah, Ga. The second phase will eventually have six more buildings but the firms began with three speculative assets at the campus.

More recently, Barings sold Weston Road Shopping Center, a 108,623-square-foot, open-air shopping center in Davie, Fla., to EDENS for a reported $51.3 million. Barings had acquired the 14.1-acre shopping center for $32.3 million in 2014.