Office Construction Ramping Up This Year

Bradley J. Feld is a Vice Chairman at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

LOS ANGELES—The office market vacancy rate fell slightly at the end of the year, according to the fourth quarter office report from Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. The report shows a stronger office market performance than an earlier office report from Savills Studley, which showed the office market taking a pause at the end of the year. This year, the NGKF report forecasts more activity and new development in the office market. To get a look at the year ahead and the office performance in 2016, we sat down with Bradley J. Feld, Vice Chairman at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, for an exclusive interview.

GlobeSt.com: What industries are responsible for the end-of-the year activity? Bradley J. Feld: Leasing momentum for Class A office product remained strong throughout 2016. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the vacancy rate reduced slightly when compared to the previous quarter. I believe this improvement was due to companies that were anxious to finalize leases before year-end. While we can’t attribute the leasing activity to any one industry, the good news is that Los Angeles is not dominated by a single industry. The diversity of tenants is a significant factor in the ongoing strength of the market as entertainment, media, technology, law, and start-ups are all expanding.