Making Strides In 'Business-Friendly' El Segundo
El Segundo has become a more popular place in recent years with the growth of Fortune 500 companies and new creative office spaces.
Developers gathered earlier this month to talk about the new urban work environment as part of Bisnow’s The Future of El Segundo.
They included SSV Properties president David Jordon, Tishman Speyer senior managing director John Miller, SteelWave managing director Gregg Hall, Continental Development SVP Alex Rose, Embarcadero Realty Services principal Sam Hooker, Live Oak Properties managing partner Jan Holtze and JLL managing director Gary Horwitz, who moderated the panel.
More than 380 people heard about some of the latest projects in El Segundo, the growth in the area and how business-friendly it has become.
Gary mentioned there is a lot of excitement in El Segundo with it being an attractive place for businesses, and the LA Kings are in town, the LA Rams will soon be nearby and the new LA Lakers facility.
Alex said his company is concentrating most of its efforts on Continental Park 3.0. On the subject of the firm's Elevon creative office campus, he said he wouldn't refer to it as a "trend," but its partner saw a small niche opportunity there that couldn’t be met on the Westside.
John said in El Segundo and other parts of town it is difficult to develop from the ground up these days for a variety of reasons, including zoning, the price of land and construction financing.
Sam agreed construction financing can be an issue when it comes to new development.
With the amount of space being converted in El Segundo right now, he said he doesn't think there's been this much new space in the market in probably 25 years. His company aims to find "unique spaces."
When it comes to looking at the attributes of buildings, "authenticity is key," according to Gregg. He said all the tenants they are trying to attract don't want their spaces to look the same and do not want to look like their neighbors.
Jan talked about Trisonic El Segundo, which will consist of a five-building, 72k SF creative office property. He said it was an infill deal, and Live Oak Properties bought the land and built the property from the ground up.
David said it came down to organic growth at the Apollo at Rosecrans, which SSV Properties, along with its partner Invesco Real Estate, just sold to Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.
SSV Properties had purchased the 545k SF creative office campus in 2013.
