Restoration Hardware Provide Public Rooftop Park on top of its new West Hollywood Flagship Store

Restoration Hardware Rooftop Public Park in West Hollywood

Restoration Hardware Rooftop Public Park in West Hollywood

Cities are exchanging entitlements for public benefits.  The City of West Hollywood got Restoration Hardware to offer free valet parking and provide a public park on it rooftop at its flagship West Hollywood store at 8564 Melrose Avenue directly across the Urth Cafe.  It is open daily to the public and has party space, a outdoor pool table, and ping pong.  The park looks more like the rooftop of a W hotel or the Standard Club.  Bring your lunch.  This is an example of the public benefits cities are extracting from property owners and developers for zoning rights, in this case a conversion of an office to a retail store.

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PMI Properties and Bisnow to Host Summit on the Future of Culver City, LA’s Next Big Submarket

future of Culver City

PMI Properties and Bisnow is hosting on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 a summit on the Future of Culver City:  LA’s Next Big Submarket.  The event shall take place at PMI Property’s Eastham Station at 3525 Eastham at 5pm.

Many are saying that Culver City could be LA’s next big neighborhood—connecting the Westside to the Eastside, capitalizing on its central location and historic character.  The summit will dive into topics such as new developments under way and on the horizon, challenges and opportunities in the market, and what the City is doing to promote growth!

Other issues include What’s pushing Culver City’s growth? Is it its good stock of larger creative former industrial buildings and better housing options for employees?  How will the Expo Transit affect Culver City and how will the City capitalize on it?  What would the impact of City sponsored super fiber be on business? What is happening to bring amenities to the Hayden Tract and Jefferson corridor? What business are moving to and are attracted to Culver City? What is the new media cluster all about? How will Culver City compete against Playa Vista and Downtown L.A.? What new projects are being built?

Panelists include Michael Hackman, CEO of Hackman Capital, Thomas Wulf, Senior Vice President of Lowe Enterprise Real Estate Group, Andrew Weissman,  Councilman & former Mayor, Brad Gross, Executive Vice President of DTZ Brokers, Damon Juha, Partner with Freeman, Freeman, & Smiley, and Jeffrey Palmer, Partner with PMI Properties.

For more information and tickets, see below:

Future of Culver City – Event Information | Online Registration by Cvent.

Millennial Kitchens are For Looking and Not Cooking

1920s Small Duplex Kitchen Hollywood

1920s Small Duplex Kitchen, Hollywood

Kitchens, even in apartments, were an important room in the old days.  Prior to the 1950s, apartments had large kitchen with space for a breakfast table (see above picture).

After 1940s and on, kitchen were relegated to galleys with maybe a pass thru eating bar.  But the kitchen was still large enough to prepare the Thanksgiving dinner (see pictures below).

1960 Galley Kitchen

1960 Galley Kitchen

 

1960s Apartment Kitchen With Pass Thru

1960s Apartment Kitchen With Pass Thru

Now developers are again shrinking the apartment kitchen further. Kitchens are are no longer hidden in a separate room or a galley but front and center in the great room.  Many millennials no longer cook meals but bring home takeout, throw something into the microwave or toaster over, or eat out.  The kitchen’s have been reduced to grand coffee bars.  Kitchens must look better than before.  Kitchen are showpieces with contemporary cabinets, quartz countertops, and stainless steel appliances (see pictures below).

 

2013 Renovated Kitchen of the Above 1920 Duplex Kitchen

2013 PMI/Adaptive Kitchen in the  1920 renovated Hollywood Duplex above

2014 Renovated Apartment Kitchen

2014 PMI/Adaptive Renovated Apartment Kitchen, Echo Park

2013-04-03 19.14.37Kitchen In New Stella Apartments, Marina Del Rey

New Icis Apartments Glendale

New Icis Apartments Glendale

New Eleve Lofts Glendale

New Eleve Lofts Glendale

Bellevue Lofts Echo Park

Bellevue Lofts Echo Park

New Wilshire Vermont Apartments, Koreatown

New Wilshire Vermont Apartments, Koreatown

Kitchen in the hallway at Luxe on 4th Street, Santa Monica

Kitchen in the hallway at Luxe on 4th Street, Santa Monica

 

7950 Sunset, West Hollywood

7950 Sunset, West Hollywood

Station House  San Francisco

Station House
San Francisco

Avalon Apartments, San Francisco

Avalon Apartments, San Francisco

HatchBeauty Leases 10,300 SF at Westside Creative Office Building

Hatch Beauty has leased the upper third and fourth floor at a creative office building located at 10951 Pico Boulevard.  The five year lease is for 10,300 square feet.  The Hatch Beauty Agency is a marketing and design company that focuses on the beauty care industry.  Hatch Beauty Agency was formerly located in Santa Monica and shows how creative companies are leaving Santa Monica for more affordable creative offices on other parts of the Westside.

In 2000, PMI Properties, the landlord, converted 10951 Pico Boulevard to a creative office building.  Former tenants included California Assemblyman and Chicago 7 activist, Tom Hayden and web video gaming jaggernaut, Machinima.  Machinima was founded by Allen DeBevoise, who founded the company in 185 foot suite at 10951 Pico.  Current tenants include online social site Bebo and social E-commerce website Little Black Bag.

During the pre-leasing process, PMI Properties was represented by Dave Wilson and James Wilson from Lee & Associates.  Hatch Beauty was represented by Travis Landrum from Industry Partners.

New Hatch Beauty Agency Offices

New Hatch Beauty Agency Offices

Single Family Home Rentals on the Rise

Read about the changing trend that Premier Property Management Group has discovered:

Single family home tenants are 18 percent more likely than apartment tenants to stay in their current homes five years or longer, suggesting that demand for single family homes, the fastest growing rental category, will be more stable than multifamily demand.

Check out the entire article from Real Estate Economy Watch here: Single Family Renters More Likely to Stay in Place | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com

Selling Creative Office in Downtown LA to Westsiders

Michael White

Michael White, Principal of Gensler Architects

On February 21st, 2013, Michael White, a principal at the architectural firm of Gensler, participated on a panel about creative office in Los Angeles.  He discussed Gensler’s move from the Westside of Los Angeles to Downtown Los Angeles.  According to White, when Gensler announced that they were moving their offices downtown, employees expressed shock and disappointment.

The senior executives noticed that many of the associates rent housing, instead of owning.  Gensler sold the downtown location by stressing that it would be much more affordable for the associates to one day buy in the neighborhoods near downtown than those on the Westside.  According to White, the housing affordability argument helped turn the tide of opinion to a positive one about the move to downtown Los Angeles.

Transit and Parking is Coming Near 10951 Pico Creative Offices at Sepulveda/Pico Expo Line, But Will Employees Walk?

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Photo courtesy of Curbed Los Angeles

New and exciting things are happening in the 10951 Pico neighborhood! The Expo line will connect the area around 10951 Pico with transit to Downtown and Santa Monica, as well as providing 1,795 new parking spaces.  It will also feature a 250 space free Caltran commuter lot.  The Expo Station will be less than a half mile from the 10951 Pico Creative Offices (at Veteran Avenue and Pico Boulevard), making the walk just under ten minutes.  Compared to other cities, where a ten minute walk is nothing, LA Westsiders consider this trek an inconvenience.  Even a short five-minute walk borders as unbearable.  Los Angelenos just don’t walk from parking or transit to work.

Even now, there is plentiful free parking along the Expo line that is a five-minute walk from the 10951 Pico Creative Offices.  However, some tenants do not recognize such parking as convenient.

In Beverly Hills for example, some office deals hinge on parking spaces next to the elevator.  It can get that competitive.  More transit and parking is coming, but the big question is if employees will get used to walking back and forth from the parking located 5-10 minutes away from their respective work locations.  As office densities continue to increase beyond five per 1000 square feet, tenants and employees alike will need find locations near parking and transit, and learn to walk longer to work.  A University of Michigan survey found that teenagers in 2010 were much less likely to drive than teenagers in 1983, so maybe times are changing.

The mixed-use project proposed at the Sepulveda/Pico site includes on-site bike and car sharing facilities, bicycle parking, and will even offer transit incentives and free or discounted Metro Passes to residents and employees by the developer.  Once this project is finished, time will tell if those enticing amenities and incentives will encourage more people to use transit to get to work.To learn more, read about the proposed parking in this article.

“Not Your Father’s Pico”: New Amenities Surround 10951 Pico Building

Several new amenities have opened that are situated close to our 10951 Pico Boulevard building in West Los Angeles.  Some of them include the Landmark Theatres and restaurants and bars such as the Westside Tavern, The Wellesbourne, and Bossa Nova.  The Landmark, located inside the Westside Pavilion mall, is one of America’s largest chains dedicated to independent films.  It endorses a diverse group of foreign, indie, and, of course, Hollywood films.  Like other theaters, you can reserve tickets and seats online prior to the movie showing.

Just next to the Landmark, Westside Tavern is a modern, trendy American restaurant and bar.  Westside Tavern is the creation of Chef Warren Schwartz who is also the creator of the Saddle Peak Lodge, Patina, and Whist.

books wellesbourne

Interior of The Wellesbourne

The Wellesbourne is an old-English style lounge known for its hip, energetic atmosphere with inventive cocktails, cool furniture, and shelves of books.  Wellesbourne is packed on Friday and Saturday nights with Gen Ys, and if you’re lucky, you may even catch a live band performing at night.

Originally from the Sunset Blvd Hollywood area, Bossa Nova is now available on Pico for Westside hipsters.  It is the place to go for authentic Brazilian cuisine.  Start off with popular appetizers like cheese bread or plaintains, indulge in a hearty entree of fish or steak, and end with the Passion Fruit Mousse.

In addition to all of these newer amenities, the Westside Pavilion still includes many dining and shopping options just down the block, within walking distance of our 10951 Pico building.  With all the new and exciting amenities so close to the building, it is sure not to disappoint.  This is “not your Father’s Pico” anymore!

For more information, please check out our website.

10951 Pico Creative Offices Home to New and Old Tech Startups

10951 Penthouse

10951 Pico Penthouse Space

The 10951 Pico building was the birthplace of one of YouTube’s most successful content providers, Machinima.  In 2006, Machinima was founded by Allen DeBevoise in a 150 square foot suite in the Penthouse.  By July 2012, they already had 191 million unique users who viewed an excess of 2.1 billion videos on their YouTube channel and website and occupied 30,000 square feet in Hollywood.

10951 Pico also serves as the corporate headquarters for Bebo, a social networking site that was at one time a contender with Myspace and Friendster.  Little Black Bag, a social e-commerce company backed by David Tisch and Mark Suster, recently moved into the ground floor suite.

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New Penthouse Cafe Kitchen

With it’s open and collaborative Penthouse space, and upgraded cafe style kitchen, 10951 Pico will continue to house creative offices to inspire the new tech startups joining the ranks, as well as continuing to go above and beyond to accommodate and maintain close ties to older tech startups.