Tech firm Net2EZ to rent sizable space in downtown Los Angeles

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In one of the largest office leases of the year in Los Angeles County, technology company Net2EZ Managed Data Centers has agreed to rent 50,000 square feet in a downtown Los Angeles office building.

Net2EZ has agreed to pay $50 million for the space at Garland Center, the former processing center for First Interstate Bank, real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis said. The nine-story building at 1200 W. 7th St. owned by a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank has been converted to offices and a data center where businesses can store and operate their computer hardware.

Preparing rooms to store computer hardware can cost 10 times as much as it does to prepare cubicles and other traditional office space, said broker Jason Warner of CB Richard Ellis, who represented both parties in the lease transaction. It’s often less costly to move such equipment to a data center managed by a third party.

Demand for information technology storage centers is growing, Warner said, creating a tight market for data storage space. ‘It’s really the opposite of what we’re seeing in every other segment of commercial real estate right now,” he said.

-- Roger Vincent