A developer is turning the former site of the Hughes Aircraft Company--adjacent to the huge new Playa Vista mixed-use development--into an office complex catering to the technology and creative industries.
The article features an interview with the developer, Wayne Ratkovich, and a speech given by the former president of Hughes Aircraft Company, Ken Richardson.
"We like looking for something that is not evident to others or something that is in a state of chaos that we can do something about. In this case, we had eleven buildings and 28 acres of land on the Westside of Los Angeles, with an opportunity to buy them at a very attractive price. We believe we can convert these buildings into the kind of facilities that are in demand today by the creative industries, using what is called creative space (for lack of a better term)."
"We are particularly fortunate that we are on the Westside of Los Angeles, a city in which a very strong part of the economy includes entertainment and entertainment-related industries. As best we can determine (and we put in a lot of effort toward this determination), creative office space, the kind of office space that is available to the industries we appeal to, is relatively modest. Modest, by today's standards, means a ten percent vacancy factor. There is not a surplus of space, and there is growth in the categories of media, entertainment, and technology. That is our target."
Thanks to James Brasuell
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