Institutional Investors Strike in Playa Vista Market

PLAYA VISTA, CA—The Playa Vista creative office market is fast becoming “the heart” of the Westside office market, according to the creative office specialists the Industry Partners, thanks to several recent lease transactions with mid- to large-sized tenants and the presence of institutional investors. The migration of media and tech companies is driving the surge in the market, boosting a total net absorption for the year of 295,281 square feet, according to the latest Westside office report from Industry Partners.

“Because of Santa Monica’s amenity wealth, it has caused the market of available high quality creative space to decrease as firms vie for a great SaMo location—as is seen in our report, Santa Monica still has the lowest vacancy (and highest rents),” Emmanuel Soriano, market and development partner at Industry Partners, tells GlobeSt.com. “Playa Vista is less expensive, while still being close to the ocean and close to the social hot spots of Venice and Santa Monica. Even with Google and Yahoo!’s move, there is still plenty of space to be filled. Playa Vista is the Westside’s heart in that, with moves by Google and Yahoo!, it is already attracting an increased level of interest by firms (big and small) that want to be close to Google and Yahoo!. This co-location of tech firms will continue as existing square footage is occupied and new space comes online. And this co-location will be an incredible concentration of innovation.”