Culver City—which has been hailed as one of L.A.'s top emerging markets for the last few years—is officially hitting its stride. While new development is bringing apartments and retail—as well as a boutique hotel—to the market, the investment focus remains on office. Watt Investment Partners has made a major investment in the market to redevelop 3000 South Robertson, a four-story, 109,184-square-foot office building. With NKF handling leasing at the property, Watt has already signed three new tenants and expects the market to outperform other L.A. office markets. To find out more about why this market is so attractive to office investors, we sat down with Jennifer McElyea, managing director at Watt Investment Properties, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What is your investment strategy in Culver City?

Jennifer McElyea: Our investment strategy is predicated on both proximity to transit and providing a lower cost option to tenants seeking a central and amenitized location, but who are not willing or able to pay the asking rents at most of the other offerings in the market. Specifically, we were attracted to the fact that 3000 S. Robertson is a nine- minute walk to the Culver City Metro Expo station, which provides equidistant connections to Downtown LA and Santa Monica. Additionally, the property has easy access to the 10 and 405 Freeways, allowing tenants to recruit from an employee base across LA county.

GlobeSt.com: How have you adapted this strategy as the market has evolved?

McElyea: Culver City has seen such rapid growth that we ultimately decided to take the improvements to a higher level of finish than originally anticipated in order to better meet the market. Nevertheless, we still intend to price at a material discount to our competition, which is afforded us by a lower overall basis.

GlobeSt.com: Why are you attracted to the Culver City? Are you looking at opportunities in surrounding markets as well?

McElyea: In addition to access to transit, we were attracted to the depth of both creative and technology tenants who have located there. Recent announcements by HBO, Apple and Amazon looking to locate at nearby projects have validated this thesis and we believe Culver City will continue to be a premier destination for the creative economy. We are looking at opportunities in surrounding markets and are currently working on projects in Santa Monica and just east of Culver City in locations that are also directly adjacent to the Expo line.

GlobeSt.com: What do you think the best opportunities are in this market?

McElyea: We clearly place a premium on access to transit and believe that the heart of downtown Culver City will shift further East with the completion of Ivy Station and the area already anchored by the Expo Station, Platform, Helms Bakery and Hayden Tract. We believe there are still attractive opportunities to buy in this submarket in advance of the delivery of a more pedestrian friendly destination with a greater variety of entertainment and housing options.

GlobeSt.com: How do investment opportunities in this market compare to other L.A. submarkets?

McElyea: We believe Culver City will ultimately outperform other submarkets given demand for this location from a diverse tenant base driven by its centralized location and access to transit.

GlobeSt.com: What is your outlook for the Culver City market over the next five years?

Instant Insights /

Culver City Expected to Outperform Other Markets

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