Plans call for several buildings in a campus setting that will include open courtyards with waterscapes, an on-site commissary and on-site parking. Jerry Snyder, the founder and senior partner of J.H. Snyder Co., says the new project will be designed with "entertainment-related and other creative arts industry companies" in mind. Snyder expects to begin construction in the second half of 2007 and to complete the project in 2009.

The Seward Street property, besides being across from Hollywood Center Studios, is close to RenMar Studios, Raleigh Studios, Paramount Studios, Sunset Gower Studios, Tribune Broadcasting and the CBS Sunset Campus. Snyder cites an office vacancy rate of 5% in the Hollywood submarket, where a host of new retail, multifamily and mixed-use projects have been developed in recent years.

The Hollywood office market has tightened because of increased demand and also because of the conversion of office buildings into residential units, Snyder notes. He says the tight market has created "an opportunity to build the first class A office campus from the ground up in Hollywood in decades."

The Snyder office development will be designed by the Jerde Partnership of Venice, which has collaborated with the J.H. Snyder Co. on other projects including retail and mixed-use developments. Among these are the River in Rancho Mirage, West Hollywood Gateway in West Hollywood and NoHo Commons in North Hollywood.