$100-Million Office park Is Planned for Hollywood
Moving to take advantage of Hollywood’s growing office shortage, Los Angeles developer Jerry Snyder announced plans Tuesday to build a $100-million office park across from Hollywood Center Studios that is intended to cater to entertainment industry tenants.
Several entertainment-related businesses are searching for offices in Hollywood, real estate brokers said, attracted by its central location, improving street life and nightclub scene.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Oct. 26, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday October 26, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
Hollywood office park: An article in Wednesday’s Business section about a proposed office complex in Hollywood said the development site at 959 Seward St. formerly housed the headquarters of Technicolor. Consolidated Film Industries, which was acquired by Technicolor in 2000, was based there.
But office space has become increasingly sparse because at least five Hollywood office buildings have been converted in recent years into apartments and condominiums.
If approved by the city, the 225,000-square-foot complex would rise on a 3.8-acre lot at 959 Seward St. that formerly housed the headquarters of Technicolor, said Snyder, senior partner of J.H. Snyder Co. He hopes to complete the project by 2009.
To woo entertainment industry tenants, Snyder intends to evoke a studio vibe by building two- and three-story buildings around a central courtyard with a communal commissary.
Industry tenants tend to avoid corporate-style high-rises, said Hollywood real estate broker John Tronson of Ramsey-Shilling Co.
“They don’t like lobbies with security guards and they don’t like riding up the elevator in their jeans with an accountant wearing a tie,” Tronson said.
Entertainment tenants prefer to work around others in the business “because feature films and TV shows take about a year, so everyone is one year away from being unemployed,” Tronson said. “In a studio-type environment, they feed off each other and find somebody to help get the next job.”
The industry’s tenants have helped drive Hollywood vacancy rates below 10% in all types of office and industrial properties, brokers said, and rents are expected to rise quickly as competition for space heats up.
Snyder’s building was designed by Jerde Partnership, which also designed the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, Horton Plaza in San Diego and Snyder’s West Hollywood Gateway shopping center.
Other office developments by Snyder include the Water Garden in Santa Monica and the Wilshire Courtyard in Los Angeles.
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