L.A.'s Office Delivery Is Not Up To Par Compared To Other Cities
There may be a lot of construction going up across L.A., but offerings for office development are smaller here compared to other cities, according to JLL.
L.A. is No. 18 when it comes to the number of office projects with 2.5M SF under construction and a total of 14 developments, GlobeSt. reports.
The majority of the projects are scheduled to deliver this year, according to JLL research.
Experts say the barriers to entry are high in L.A., particularly on the West side.
The primary barrier to development in L.A. is the entitlement process, according to JLL executive vice president Blake Searles.
"Gaining community support and project approval can be a challenging, lengthy and expensive process," Searles said. "Land costs are a factor as well as the timing of market demand."
More growth is expected in office this year.
In 2016, the market had only 660k SF under construction compared to 1.1M SF the previous year.
The office market vacancy rate in L.A. dropped below 14% last year for the first time since the recession.
