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!

A Downtown Diamond in the Rough Very Rough Like many of the best finds in downtown Los Angeles real estate, there is a gem hiding in plain sight. You wouldn't know it from looking at the exterior of the building located at 229-241 East 7th Street, but upstairs there are four amazing spaces that can be combined in a variety of ways. Many hopeful tenants who want to lease in Downtown Los Angeles covet 20-foot ceilings, central HVAC, 24/7 access and an adjacent parking lot; this property has it all! [caption id="attachment_689" align="aligncenter" width="571"] Warehouse space in Downtown Los Angeles[/caption] Situated on a transitional block of 7th street, you can see the grit turn glint. It is across the street from Santee Court, home to over 200 hundred downtown LA residential lofts. There is nothing sweeter to an Angelino than a one-block commute. Standing on the front sidewalk of the building, looking a few blocks West, you can watch the new Korean Air skyscraper making its way to the high point of the LA City skyline. Fortunately, this building will be getting a paint job soon, as it desperately needs it!  Hopefully the colors will be consistent with the creative interiors.  We'd like to do dark gray with a neon green accent, but we will have to see what the owners say!  This building was actually purchased not long ago.  Having sold recently, the building also has a new property management company!  Everyone seems to be on board with upgrading this commercial building in DTLA! [caption id="attachment_688" align="aligncenter" width="599"] Creative DTLA Office Space[/caption] Last but not least, this building also has to ground floor retail spaces for lease!  Being that this building is situated at the border of the Fashion District and the Toy District, and walking distance from the Historic Core, pretty much any type of tenant you can think of could potentially be a good fit!  The building also has a private parking lot situated next to it, and the spaces include parking!  This could be the great deal you are looking for. For questions about this space or any other real estate opportunity, contact Donegan McCuaig at the number above. A Downtown Diamond in the Rough Very Rough A Downtown Diamond in the Rough Very Rough

Creative Office Space at the Pershing Square Building Ask DTLA brokers the names of four creative office buildings in Downtown LA and on that list will surely be, The Pershing Square Building. The management recently raised the rates from $1.90 per square foot to $2.10. This building, which is usually close to full occupancy, offers a lot of what you come to expect when you see creative office buildings: polished cement flooring, exposed ceilings, cement, beams, and lots of natural light. The raw quality of this type of space is usually what draws the desirability in office tenants. I've had people walk into traditional office buildings in Downtown Los Angeles and they see the blue commercial carpeting, low dropped ceilings, fluorescent lighting with tray and plastic panels, and bland contours of design and they respond, "I hate this." Well, that's kind of good news to me because I specialize in creative office. But as luck would have it, this type of space is being quickly absorbed in Downtown LA. For instance, the Spring Arts Tower is nearly at 100% occupancy. Buildings with the smaller spaces are positioned the best to absorb the demand of tenants. Because tenants seeking space under $1000 monthly rent rate are much more numerous than those seeking space under $2000 monthly. Even more so, tenants looking to pay $500 or less lead the pack. With all this said, the Pershing Square has some striking advantages which have come to be the reason people love it. First and foremost, probably, the restaurant/bar on the roof of the building dazzles spectators that make their first steps onto its floors. With stunning skyline views and a design that seems to reflect the glorious days of the 1920's mixed with a modern quality create an experience that epitomizes Downtown Los Angeles night life. So if you are a happy hour lover, you couldn't be more happy than you would be here at the Pershing Square Building. Though I cannot speak to the drink prices, only the ambiance. What else. This building is unique out of a lot of DTLA creative buildings because the units have central heating and air conditioning. The tenants enjoy 24 hour access to the space. There is a security guard in the lobby 24/7 and they have video surveillance in the common areas. On the up-side, the management is willing to improve the space to meet your needs by designing and building innovative-looking partitions along with other things you might want to do to make the space meet your needs. On the down-side, to do this, they require a two year lease if you want them to pay for improvements. To me, this isn't even a down-side, because tenants should be committed to their business' success and that they will push on despite whatever circumstances their business encounters through its operations in the long or short term. Also, I think rent rates will go up in the future so it wouldn't be a bad thing to secure the rate they have now for the long term. Last but not least, the ground floor has a prime space for lease. This location, being on the border of Bunker Hill and the Historic Core, is a sweet spot for retail commerce. I believe you could actually rent/lease the retail space for a restaurant of bar, provided you are able to get the necessary permits and negotiate a build out. Tenants on the ground floor right now include Subway, and I can't remember the others at the moment. One other thing I need to mention is that the office spaces upstairs share a common bathroom on each floor. And tenants have full access to a game room they have on the third floor. The spaces also have all utilities included in the rent rate. The building does not have on-site parking but there's lots where you can park for a daily or monthly fee very close by. Thanks for reading! For more leasing/rent info on this building and other buildings in Downtown LA, call me at (213) 304-4727 and visit www.dtlarealestate.com All DTLA Condos For Sale DTLA Live/Work Lofts for Sale

This is truly a unique building! I call it the DTLA Mall. But it's not really a mall it's just laid out like a mall. Located in Downtown LA's garment district, this building was originally built to be show-rooms for the fabric wholesale and retail industries. Most of the tenants are actually still fabric whole-sellers who use second, third, and fourth floor show-rooms as office space. Since I've been working with the building for over a year now, we have filled this building with a unique collection of tenants. Most of them are in the Fashion Industry and use this space for fashion purposes. 305 E. 9th is located in the fabric area of the Fashion District, where available ground floor retail space is scarce at this time. As such, the ground floor of this building has been 100% occupied the entire time I've known about it. In my mind, the best part about the building is that it's real estate location is in what I believe to be the best part of the Fashion District. The building is actually laid out like a mall and though it's only four stories the second and fourth floors are open space in the middle of the building. Check out the photos, and you'll see what I mean. Another cool part about this building is that the fourth floor ceiling has a mural painted on it to look like the night sky with planets and celestial things. The second floor roof is a mural of clouds, along with additional art in the central area. Building is open every day from 8am to 8pm. There is on-site security guard, maintenance, and manager. There's also 24 hour video surveillance in the common areas. What also separates this building from other spaces used as creative office in the area is that all the units are AIR CONDITIONED. Last but not least, all your utilities are included in the rent rate. If you're looking for creative office in Downtown LA's Fashion District to rent or lease, 305 E. 9th should definitely be on your list of places to see. I left out the best part, the rent rate is pretty cheap and goes for around $1 a square foot, which also includes portion of the common area. This rent rate is pretty crazy when there's other creative office buildings in Downtown LA that aren't far from this building that charge $1.85 per square foot. Fill out the form to the left if you'd like more information or to schedule a tour.