The totally-not-just-for-sexting-but-we-don't-really-know-why-because-we're-old app Snapchat has grown rapidly over the last couple years. In 2013, the company got to be too large for the little yellow house/former pot shop they were renting on the Venice Boardwalk and moved their base of operations into some undoubtedly high-ceilinged, industrial-chic space on Market Street, still not too far from the beach. Now, the LA Times reports, they're expanding again, taking up about 40,000 square feet at Abbot Kinney and Venice Boulevard, plus spreading into more Market Street storefronts, and into Thornton Lofts on Ocean Front Walk.
Office space has become incredibly desirable and expensive in Venice, in part because of the success of tech companies like Snapchat (Silicon Beach is a thing, somehow!). Offices in the neighborhood now cost twice what they did in 2011—it's now $5.82 a square foot per month, on average—while the vacancy rate has fallen from 20 percent to just 10 percent. That's great news for landlords, but it's squeezing down on other, smaller companies who lease space in the area.
In this single wave of growth, Snapchat will displace about three dozen renters in the multiple buildings they're moving into. It's not clear which addresses and suite numbers exactly Snapchat is going to occupy, but at the complex on Abbot Kinney, they're snatching up about 40,000 square feet, leaving roughly 6,700 square feet of the space alone. Who will be mercifully passed over? We've compiled a semi-complete list of tenants now in the buildings that Snapchat is taking over. Some of them might be spared; others are definitely on the chopping block or have already had to leave.
At Abbot Kinney and Venice:
—an IT consultancy
—An interior design studio
—CNTRL Me Robotics
—A State Farm Insurance agent's office
—Hyperspots, a digital ad agency
—A law office
—Clever Creative, a branding and design agency
Snapchat's HQ and surrounding shops
Near their 63 Market Street headquarters:
—a youth shelter/space for AA meetings
—an art studio
—"by next year, probably a tavern" (likely Nikki's)
25,000 square feet of Thornton Lofts at 619 Ocean Front Walk:
—An ice cream shop called N'ice Cream
—Swing Studios LA photo studio
—Red Line clothing shop
· Is Snapchat's rapid growth changing Venice's funky vibe?[LAT]
· Rent Snapchat's HQ/Former Pot Shop On The Venice Boardwalk [Curbed LA]
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