Room & Board is the first retail tenant to sign onto thismixed-use project, which is being developed by Rush Pacifica, a SanDiego-based company. The home furnishing retailer, which willoccupy 17,000 sf on the ground floor and 23,000 sf on the secondfloor of the project, is slated to open in early 2010. MyronSokolsky of the West Los Angeles office of Grubb & Ellisrepresented Room & Board, with the property owner representedby Christine Deschaine, a principal with Lee & Associates-LANorth/Ventura.

According to Sokolsky, Room & Board is looking for locationssuch as Plaza at Culver Studios that are unique. Sokolsky and SergeVishmid, also with Grubb & Ellis in West Los Angeles, office,are working with Room & Board to identify locations for newstores in a handful of key markets across the US, includingWashington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, Austin,Miami, Ann Arbor and Atlanta.

The Plaza at Culver Studios is an 118,500-sf, three-storymixed-use retail and office building that is scheduled to commenceconstruction this summer as the last phase of a 10-year, 11.5-acreredevelopment program called the Town Plaza/Screenland. It is inthe heart of Culver City and adjacent to three landmarks such asthe Culver Studios Mansion that was used in the filming of "Gonewith the Wind", the Culver Hotel to the west and the newlyrenovated Kirk Douglas Theatre.