A developer has removed a popular 26-foot-tall sculpture by a renowned artist from a mostly vacant Los Angeles office property in another sign of how owners are responding to the recent drop in demand for physical workspace.
Edward J. Minskoff Equities, whose founder is New York art collector and developer Edward Minskoff, has uprooted the sculpture from the company's roughly 500,000-square-foot Bluffs at Playa Vista office property in Los Angeles. The sculpture, created by Brian Donnelly, who works as the artist Kaws, is among the most significant pieces of private artwork installed at a Los Angeles office property and has long drawn art fans to the campus.
The artwork's removal comes at a time when fewer people are working at an office complex where a majority of space is being marketed either for lease or sublease, according to CoStar data. The property is located in L.A.'s tech-heavy Marina del Rey-Venice market, which has seen office vacancy jump to more than 25% as employers react to hybrid work and economic uncertainty.
Minskoff and representatives for his company didn't respond to calls and emails requesting comment from CoStar News over multiple days. A Kaws representative didn't respond to an Instagram direct message from CoStar News. However, a real estate professional familiar with the property said the sculpture is being moved to somewhere else in the developer's portfolio where it will get more attention.
It's unclear how many people have noticed the missing statue. A visit on Monday to the site revealed mostly vacant floors across the property's two buildings. Roughly half the lights were off in the lobby of one of the buildings where a lone security guard was stationed.
The 26-foot-tall blue Kaws sculpture was erected around 2018 at the property, according to media reports. The art was aimed at elevating "the sense of place" at the office campus, according to Edward J. Minskoff Equities' website.
An entity related to Edward J. Minskoff Equities bought the two-building office property in October 2016 for $413 million, or about $770 per square foot, according to CoStar data, during the heady days of office property investment prior to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical workspace prices have since declined, with the average office building selling for roughly $571 per square foot in the Marina del Rey-Venice market.
Minskoff is among the world's top art collectors, owning pieces by Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Jeff Koons, according to a statement. Last year, Minskoff marketed for sale his Park Avenue home in New York that was equipped with temperature and humidity control systems to protect the art inside, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Edward J. Minskoff Equities owns roughly 12 office, residential and retail properties, according to the company's website.