West Los Angeles is booming with tech companies as major corporations continue to take up space throughout Silicon Beach. Most recently, Google leased 52,782 square feet of space in Los Angeles’ Playa Vista neighborhood, according to a first quarter Los Angeles office market report from Savills.
The report showed that the Menlo, Calif.-based tech company has leased space in Playa Vista’s The Bluff, an office campus located at 12181 Bluff Creek Drive. Built in 2009, the office campus totals 501,371 square feet and is currently owned by Edward J. Minskoff Equities (EJME), a real estate investment and development firm based in New York City. Other tenants at the property include Fox Network Group, Aftershock Studios, Griddy and Core Digital Media, along with several others.
The new lease would add to Google’s growing presence in one of Los Angeles’ primary tech hubs, with nearby companies including Sony, Facebook, Youtube, Microsoft, Univision and more. Google also leases two nearby properties, at 12412 and 12475 Bluff Creek Drive.
For several months, Google has been expanding its presence in the area. In February, Hudson Pacific Properties also announced Google’s intent to lease the entirety of the company’s planned One Westside office development, which is located at 10800 Pico Boulevard. According to Hudson Pacific, the property would total 584,000 square feet upon its expected completion this year.
In general, the tech industry has been taking up a lot of West Los Angeles’ real estate. In November, Apple also announced its intent to occupy a 536,000 square foot campus, which is being planned by Trammell Crow Company at 8829 W. National Boulevard in Culver City. n December, Hines announced that video game developer and esports tournament organizer, Riot Games, had signed a 10-year lease for the entirety of its 200,000 square-foot West Edge Campus at 12101 W. Olympic Boulevard.
Overall, leasing activity throughout Los Angeles is expected to pick up throughout the rest of 2022, with tech and media companies making up the bulk of transactions. According to the report from Savills, first-quarter leasing activity of 3.5 million square feet increased by nearly 72 percent year-over-year. Throughout Los Angeles, the availability rate still remains relatively high at 25.3 percent. However, rental rates have increased slightly year-over-year from $3.85 per square foot to $3.88 per square foot.
