Commercial Real Estate for Lease

For me, it has been an interesting ride in commercial real estate from when I first came to DTLA in 2008 to now. It was the lowest point of the recession. I was homeless at that time, and then I found myself staying with a friend who was living in a warehouse in the Fashion District. I connected with his landlord and started renting warehouse space for artists to do the same. Because I was so successful at it, I wasn't surprised when the residential market exploded with growth. And equally, I wasn't surprised that the industrial style or warehouse-look became increasingly popular. I quickly found my services more in demand for smaller commercial real estate space than residential space. Also, I liked commercial better, and legally converting commercial space to live/work was and still is far too onerous, costly, and time consuming of a task. And it just was not worth dealing with how over-regulated, and quite frankly, bullshit-oriented the Los Angeles bureaucracy machine made it to make living in commercial space legal. So I quickly focused on office, warehouse, showroom, & retail uses only. At the time, space having an industrial look in Los Angeles office space was a unique thing. And not to disparage it, because it is still as awesome as ever, after 12 years, the warehouse space look in office space is now basically the status quo. So as you probably know the Downtown LA renaissance burgeoned into full flowering mode. Other things happened too. Ecommerce took flight. The face of retail has been changed forever. The type of commercial tenants in DTLA began to change from lawyer offices & sewing factory tenants to artists & "creative" tenants. And guess who specialized in artists and creative tenants? :) Also companies became more ecommerce focused in their use. Manufactures steadily moved overseas and continue to do so with California's over-regulation and increases in minimum wage. As ecommerce flourishes, ground floor space in the Fashion District have seen showroom tenants dropping like flies, and dropping rent prices. This fact, and all the new development that has occurred has created a surplus of cheap cool ground floor space. And this surplus, has also amplified the surplus that has been created in the office market as well, because at the end of the day renters are going to compare pricing, location, style, and amenities and an increase in ground floor space also affects the overall creative office market. Countless abandoned buildings or buildings that were once all sewing factories sold and were converted to live/work lofts. Many also converted into creative office buildings. Brokers sold developers/buyers on the idea that "You can get $3psf if you convert to creative office" and well, buyers bought it. Well, right now, it is pretty damn hard to achieve $3psf for office space in most of DTLA. Another factor has been that, with the conversion of types of uses of space, there was once a far less supply of small office spaces in Downtown LA. As a result, more co-working spaces businesses have popped up, effectively increasing the completion of attaining tenants looking for space for 2000sf or less. So basically, after such a long development and redevelopment run, now everyone and their mother is trying to lease out their commercial space to artists, and smaller commercial spaces are more abundant, and well the DTLA office market is more competitive overall, a lot more competitive. There is a surplus but it is a manageable surplus. It is not a huge, and not sure if I want to say big, but there is definitely strong competition out there. Since everyone is largely doing the same style, the name of the game has largely been who can offer the best price-per-square foot. And renters now a days, care a lot more about price per square foot than they use to. I do not see these trends in the DTLA office space market ending soon. Depending on the economy goes, we could be looking at a continued slight surplus for at least a year. But the good news is there are things that can help landlords be more competitive, aside from price. Amenities are a nice thing, like a roof lounge, an on-site cafe or market, a shared common area of any kind like a game room, kitchen space, meeting/conference room, gym, and et cetera. And of course, we here at dtlarealestate.com are an incredible resource for landlords and tenants of all kinds looking for office space in Los Angeles, not to mention warehouse, showroom, and retail space as well!

If you walk through any neighborhood in Los Angeles you're likely to come across one of nearly 1500 concrete buildings that were constructed before 1976. Full concrete buildings became popular throughout Los Angeles around the turn of the Century due to their durability. In 1976 the city determined that while sturdy these building were very vulnerable to the side to side motions of earthquakes. Over the next twenty five years the city began the process of having these retrofitted with steel beams. Today these buildings are perfectly safe and are a testament to an architectural rage of the past. People might guess that the first concrete structure was built in Downtown Los Angeles but it actually sits in the MacArthur Park area at 601 S Rampart Blvd. It was constructed in 1910 and today exists as the Rampart Arms Apartments. Recently multiple retail spaces have opened up in the building and offer an exciting opportunity to launch a business in a rapidly emerging area. It is the feeling of many stakeholders that MacArthur Park/Westlake will soon become a de facto suburb of downtown. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity you can find more details on our main page.

Are you looking for office space for lease in Little Tokyo? Well, since Little Tokyo is a comparatively small district, there's not so many buildings to choose from. There is one creative office building but the rest are all class-b style office space. That's fine, if you like the traditional sort of office. Of course, you don't have to be a Japanese company to rent office space in Jtown. Though there are many companies related to Japan or Japanese-American commerce in one way or another other non-related companies proudly occupy space there. If you want a list of what's currently available in Little Tokyo Downtown Los Angeles, give us a call at (213) 304-4727 now! A commercial real estate broker is standing by to help you!

The South Park District is an exciting area to be involved in, in Downtown Los Angeles, because like other areas it is an area bubbling with change and growth. I recently have been attending the South Park BID (business improvement district) meetings to get more involved in the community, activities, and improvements occurring in the neighborhood. South Park is an interesting beast because it has such contrasting street types. For instance, on Grand Avenue with Evo, Luma, and condo buildings are there and other active streets such as Figueroa, Flower Street, and Hope Street the retail has lots of residential foot traffic and members of the greater Downtown LA community visiting amenities there. The retail is already there and existing. The thing is that there are more streets than just these popular ones, and like everywhere else in Downtown right now, there's a good amount of retail space available for lease in non-A+ locations. The challenge for tenants that the owners of these currently sub-par locations want high rates because they have been able to command those rates via their commercial and industrial tenants that have been historically prevalent. But tenants who are more retail oriented do not want to be the first to jump in the proverbial cold water. Many potential tenants will say, regarding commercial property for rent in South Park's Downtown Los Angeles, that in three years or so, they'd love to rent space there. The problem is finding those first pioneers on these otherwise non-retail ground floor commercial buildings. Also, a lot of the upstairs office space for lease is under-utilized as well. However, there is hope. With the efforts of commercial real estate brokers like me, the state and local governments, and the South Park District BID; we are sure to see the slow rise of the new age of retail and commercial space in Downtown Los Angeles' South Park which will eventually increase in a snowball like effect. If you want help finding commercial space in DTLA's South Park, give us a call! (213) 304-4727

Are you looking for medical office space for rent in Downtown LA? We are happy to assist you with finding a doctor's office for lease, psychiatric office, chiropractic, and any business related to the medical field that would be appropriately related to any hospital activity. Also, dentist's office or dental offices is something we could potentially help you with as well. Visit our contact page above or just call (213) 304-4727 now. If we do not answer leave a message with your monthly rental budget, what kind of medical business you have, if you have a particular medical office building you'd like more information on, and when you are looking to move.

DTLA Real Estate offers commercial real estate services to lessors, lessees, buyers, and sellers. We are a unique real estate firm in Downtown LA because we specialize in servicing creative clientele. We know that no client is the same, but everyone would prefer an inspirational work space. We try to see your goal and make that our goal. Of course, your goals need to be realistic, and we help you with that too by virtue of informing you about the current market. We are happy to give free information out to anyone who calls us. We strive to find a win-win in every agreement we make. Building and keeping long term business relationships is extremely important to us, so you can be confident what we say to you is not anything to make a quick buck. We know that you will eventually need commercial real estate services again, and we want you to think of us when you do. If you're looking for a commercial real estate broker/agent in Downtown Los Angeles, you have come to the right place. We service all of Downtown including the Historic Core/Old Bank District/Jewelry District, Fashion District, Toy District, Bunker Hill, Civic Center, Arts District, and South Park. If you would like help making an intelligent decision when it comes to renting/leasing or buying/selling a space you can come to us. Thanks for reading our blog. Call us at (213) 304-4727 now! Lic#01753250

Creative Office Space Rent Rates Will Rise in Downtown LA One of the most important things to think about when renting or leasing a commercial space anywhere, not just in Downtown LA, is to have a prediction of what rent rates will do in the future. This prediction should be based on true information taken from a wide base/sample to ensure that the depiction it creates is generally representative of the market overall. This prediction should be used to forecast whether rent rates for the potential space for one's business will go down or up in the future. With this information, one is able to plan and minimize one's business' future over-head cost with the hope and intention to earn overall greater profits in the long run through rent savings. How can someone today do exactly this effectively? When it comes to Downtown LA commercial real estate rates, three things to keep in mind are the growing numbers in the residential population in Downtown, the conversion of industrial buildings with sewing tenants into residential lofts in Downtown, and the growing popularity of creative space. For the Downtown LA commercial rental market, one special piece of information is very influential, and that's what the residential movement is doing. The residential bubble burst in 2006/2007 and the economy was in steep decline. At this time the residential market was rich with bank owned foreclosures and short-sale listings. Commercial building owners were basically killing themselves from stress over their financial losses as they saw their equity plummet. But surprisingly, at the same time, overall demand for residential housing in Downtown Los Angeles was beginning to snowball. And it's still growing. The effect of this growth is that the real estate market overall is benefiting. Growing residential life means a growing business economy. Products and services offered to the residential population are experiencing the benefits. The growing business economy results in stimulating the commercial real estate market in Downtown. With more people living in Downtown comes more people working in Downtown. Also, recently, public perception of the general economy is improving, which is a nice change from the economic pessimism that has been so ubiquitous in the last few years. Downtown has become the "popular" and "new cool place" to be in Los Angeles. With growing popularity comes increased demand, with increased demand for a particular location, property rent rates in that locations go up. The second phenomena occurring that one should consider when predicting future commercial rent rates in Downtown relates to the first. With the increase in residential demand, commercial & industrial buildings are kicking out all their tenants to be converted into residential lofts. For instance, many owners of industrial buildings with sewing tenants have kicked all their sewing tenants out in order to renovate their buildings and convert them into residential lofts. All these kicked-out commercial tenants have been absorbing the previously large vacancy in raw commercial and industrial space. As a result, sewing space rent rates have reached a new high and it's harder than before to get sewing space and industrial space in Downtown in general. This scarcity is creating increased commercial rent rates. And since raw commercial and creative space that sewing tenants use makes some of the best creative office space, these sewing tenants have to compete with the influx of artists, photographers, designers, and other creative types to get into this space. This increased scarcity of creative space creates increased rent rates. A third reason creative office rent rates will rise is that traditional office space is becoming less and less popular with regard to aesthetic look as well as layout & orientation. Traditional office space is perceived as constrained by an antiquated style and a less collaborative platform from which to work. As a result, the perception of value of traditional office space is becoming diminished. The overall rigidity of what the traditional dropped ceilings and commercial carpeting represents to many people is exactly what they do not want: a stigma of constraint and inability to allow for the new and random that out-lies traditional expectation of the past. It's important to note that I may be biased because most of my clients are creative types and not lawyers or accountants. But I have rented creative office space to some lawyers and accountants. A growing trend is a more open, collaborative, and engaging layout. Many tenants are seeking not only a place to work but a social mechanism for improving their business through networking and sharing. The age of the cubicle isn't nor will be extinct, but there are becoming less members of that species as creative and historic buildings are made available to today's tenants. This rise of popularity of creative collaborative space and decline of traditional office space indeed indicates that rent rates of creative office space will continue to increase. So yes, the growth in residential population in Downtown, the fact that raw commercial and industrial buildings are being converted into residential space, and the diminishing popularity of traditional office style and orientation are very crucial elements of predicting what the future holds for creative office and commercial real estate in Downtown Los Angeles. All of this indicates that rent rates will increase, so get into a long term lease now while the moment is right. Creative Office Space Rent Rates Will Rise in Downtown LA Creative Office Space Rent Rates Will Rise in Downtown LA All DTLA Condos For Sale DTLA Live/Work Lofts for Sale

DTLA Real Estate does it all. But out of all of it, our favorite is probably creative office. Executive office is great, and we enjoy it as well, but creative office just seems more natural to us. Helping people find creative space in Downtown Los Angeles is our passion. We know that our clients want to be inspired, and are not motivated by all the same things that most class-a office seekers find important. One of the many things that are important for a lot of class-a office building seekers, is to have an impressive and high class vibe to be viewed by their clients as successful and reputable. Being able to afford a really expensive space can be a sign of authenticity, being the real deal, and everyone can appreciate that. Artists, care about presentation as well, but for different mix of reasons and motivations. Freedom, innovation, and character are probably the things that are most important to them. You don't see a lot of artists driving around in Lexus's. I say that not because a lot of artists out there comply with the "starving artist" stereotype of not having enough money to afford executive office rents in Downtown Los Angeles at around $3-$4 per square foot, but because artists want to feel and be unrestrained. To some, driving a Lexus is sign of success and reputability. That may be true, but to some, a Lexus is the result of a corporate engine designed to be what most people will find impressive. Artists want to create and display their own value. Freedom is required for creative energy to flow, and there's just something about being made look expensive that diminishes that. Raw space engenders that unrestrained feeling. Impressiveness is great, but artists would much have a space that allows them to display their impressive work rather than have a space that does it for them. It's easier to do that in raw space. Also, there's something about dropped ceilings, commercial carpeting, and bland hallways that feels imprisoning. It's too corporate. Artists want something unexpected. Something created from an individual's mind and experience that wasn't intended to demonstrate impressiveness for the sake of impressiveness, but to allow them to innovate and demonstrate their work, and to some artists, their work is themselves. If artists want anything from the creation of a space, it is to be set free to create and express themselves. This is not to say Lexus's aren't awesome, it's just to give an analogy. Awesomeness can be the result of many causes. To play with the same analogy, it's interesting to note that historical buildings seem to automatically have a more genuine character to them, especially if they boast the original design. A brand new Lexus is sweet but there's a unique flavor that comes with a classic car. Not only this but creative people also like raw space (creative office style) for unique practical reasons, that class-a office space users do not. In a creative building, typically the ceilings are higher which allows artists to make bigger art pieces. Also, cement flooring, which is really popular, allows one to create things without having to worry about damaging it. What's ironic about all this is that creative office rates are being raised in Downtown Los Angeles while traditional office space rates are being lowered. So creative office is now kind of becoming like a Lexus. But that's okay, reality is ironic. Creative space is suppose to inspire, the occupant is suppose to create. Those creations are what remain eternally genuine, hopefully. You can get creative office space for rent like this in Downtown LA. And what wouldn't be a better place for your work space to be located here in the center of the universe, Downtown Los Angeles. You can do it all with DTLA Real Estate, unless of course, someone else rents it first. And for the record, I wouldn't mind driving a Lexus.