Round 1 to Take 19,000 Square Feet at The Now in WeHo

A multi-restaurant Asian concept will open the doors to its first Los Angeles location this year, with the inking of a lease at The Now mixed-use property in West Hollywood.

Round 1 Delicious has taken 19,300 square feet at The Now, which sits at 8497 West Sunset Boulevard. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The restaurant concept is expected to open this year, but a CBRE spokesperson was unable to specify more precise timing. Round 1 calls its “dining collection” concept Sora, which will consist of eight upscale restaurants selling Japanese and Chinese dishes, according to a marketing video.

Parent company Round One, which is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has built a business on arcade and bowling centers.

Sora, once open, will occupy the entire first and second floors of The Now. That leaves the building’s third level available, with a roughly 3,000-square-foot patio and about 5,000 square feet of interior space that could potentially be absorbed by another restaurant tenant or serve as a showroom for a brand, according to Industry Partners’ Aram Pogosian.

Pogosian, along with Elan Kermani of City Street Commercial, represented landlord United El Segundo in the lease.

CBRE’s Greg Briest, Houman Mahboubi, Marisa Renfro and Kenji Sakai represented Round 1 Delicious.

“It’s going to be a massive addition to the Sunset Strip,” Pogosian said of the lease.

Sora is a big get for the corner of Sunset and La Cienega boulevards. Following the closure of Los Angeles boutique retailer Fred Segal’s 22,000-square foot flagship last year, which is across the street from The Now, the area has landed some big-name tenants.

Most recently was last week’s opening of a store for Kim Kardashian’s Skims line, which is about a five-minute walk from The Now. Last August saw the addition of the Keys Nightclub, which is about half a mile away from where Round 1 signed its lease.

The Now was completed last May and totals 28,930 square feet across three stories.