Office Space

That empty feeling is growing in Glendale office buildings, as the vacancy rate in commercial office space rose in the last three months. Nearly 83,000 square feet of office space was vacated in Glendale in the second quarter of the year, according to Grubb & Ellis Research Services. That brings the city's vacancy rate to 21.8%, with nearly 1.4 million square feet of space empty in a city with 6.3 million square feet of premium and moderate office space. The rate was 17.2% a year ago and 20.5% at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

With businesses moving out and leaving a near-record glut of vacant office space in the city, commercial brokers and Glendale officials are trying to find ways to attract new tenants to the city. About 880,000 square feet of Glendale's 6.1 million square feet of office space was empty as of the end of June, said Bill Boyd, executive vice president of Grubb & Ellis Co., a commercial real estate advisory firm. "It has been announced that other companies are vacating their space at the end of this year, including The Disney Stores Inc. on North Brand Boulevard and Warner Bros."

Claudia Peschiutta GLENDALE -- The city continues to be the belle of the business ball. Glendale's premium office space became an ever rarer commodity in 2000 and is expected to attract even more takers this year. The total vacancy rate fell from 16.5% in the fourth quarter of 1999 to 14% during the same period in 2000, according to a report released by Colliers Seeley. "It's a very desirable market," said Shaun Stiles, the real estate brokerage's senior vice president.

DOWNTOWN — Glendale and Burbank were the only two Los Angeles County cities to make gains in office rentals in the first quarter of 2009, a stark contrast to the dramatic increase in emptying office buildings across the region. During the first three months of the year, an additional 2.5 million square feet of office space went on the market countywide. That figure grew from 1 million square feet of vacancies from the last quarter of 2008, and just 626,895 square feet last April, according to a new report from real estate firm Grubb & Ellis.

The industry publication Variety is reporting that Marvel Studios is leaving Manhattan Beach for office space near the Walt Disney Creative Campus in Glendale -- bringing Spider-Man and Thor closer to their Mickey Mouse counterparts. Marvel Animation Studios, which is already located in Glendale, has reportedly been beefing up as the two studios begin work on new television projects. As many as 150 staffers will be affected by the company's move to Glendale, which is near some of its other division offices, according to Variety.

The former site of the controversial Montrose Collection, which has sat vacant since 2010, will become home to a new restaurant - Chandelier - after the owner addressed concerns about inadequate parking and gave assurances that the business will not operate as a banquet hall. It will be open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 p.m. the rest of the week. Alfred Teichert has owned the property in the 2800 block of Honolulu Avenue for several years, including the period of time during which Montrose Collection ran into trouble for operating as a banquet hall and wreaked havoc in the surrounding neighborhood because of a lack of parking.

CITY HALL TO STAY OPEN FRIDAYS WHAT HAPPENED The council approved an agreement between the city and the city's employees unions to remain open every Friday. WHAT IT MEANS The city will no longer close on alternate Fridays, which means the public will no longer have to guess if City Hall is open on a Friday. But City Hall will only be half-staffed on Fridays, so appointments are advisable in most cases. The new schedule goes into effect this week.

Roughly 280 Bank of America employees in Glendale will either be transferred or laid off in the wake of the company's decision to close its corporate offices on North Brand Boulevard by the end of the year. The 281 employees who work at 611 N. Brand Blvd. received the notices last month, according to the California Employment Development Department. The departure of the bank, which occupies four floors in the high-rise building, will only add to an abundance of Class A office space available in Glendale.

DOWNTOWN ? While dwindling office space is being snatched up all over the Southland, Glendale's office towers are still struggling to find tenants, according to statistics released last week. Office vacancy rates in Los Angeles County dropped to 11.5% in the first quarter of 2006, compared to 14.1% in the first quarter of 2005, based on figures from real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield. But in Glendale the opposite happened, with vacancies going up to 15.5% this year from 14.3% during the same time last year.

The L.A. Mart, a 12-story complex in downtown Los Angeles, has been purchased for about $55 million by Glendale investors. The 784,000-square-foot property at 1933 S. Broadway is a combination design center, office and showroom, real estate brokerage Madison Partners said. It serves the interior design, gift and home furnishing industries. Los Angeles County also leases more than 140,000 square feet of office space at the L.A. Mart. Continue reading > > -- Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

AIR Commercial Real Estate Assn., one of the country's largest commercial real estate broker organizations, is moving its headquarters to Glendale, leasing a 6,400 square feet of office space in the high-rise building at 500 N. Brand Blvd. AIR, a nonprofit formed in 1960, was previously in downtown Los Angeles, but moved to Glendale for cost-saving reasons as well as the fact that many of its 22 employees live in and around the Glendale-Pasadena area. “Our intention was to stay in downtown L.A,” said  executive director Tim Hayes in a statement.

Roughly 280 Bank of America employees in Glendale will either be transferred or laid off in the wake of the company's decision to close its corporate offices on North Brand Boulevard by the end of the year. The 281 employees who work at 611 N. Brand Blvd. received the notices last month, according to the California Employment Development Department. The departure of the bank, which occupies four floors in the high-rise building, will only add to an abundance of Class A office space available in Glendale.

I'm very worried at the prospect of the Glendale News-Press being moved from downtown Glendale to Los Angeles. I don't understand how the News-Press staff can be expected to cover the city of Glendale as efficiently or thoroughly as they do now if they also have to shuttle between downtown L.A. and Glendale. It is a short-sighted decision that will inevitably affect the quality of coverage. We need a close eye on our local government and the News-Press has been in the best location to provide that essential service.

The industry publication Variety is reporting that Marvel Studios is leaving Manhattan Beach for office space near the Walt Disney Creative Campus in Glendale -- bringing Spider-Man and Thor closer to their Mickey Mouse counterparts. Marvel Animation Studios, which is already located in Glendale, has reportedly been beefing up as the two studios begin work on new television projects. As many as 150 staffers will be affected by the company's move to Glendale, which is near some of its other division offices, according to Variety.

The former site of the controversial Montrose Collection, which has sat vacant since 2010, will become home to a new restaurant - Chandelier - after the owner addressed concerns about inadequate parking and gave assurances that the business will not operate as a banquet hall. It will be open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 11 p.m. the rest of the week. Alfred Teichert has owned the property in the 2800 block of Honolulu Avenue for several years, including the period of time during which Montrose Collection ran into trouble for operating as a banquet hall and wreaked havoc in the surrounding neighborhood because of a lack of parking.

The L.A. Mart, a 12-story complex in downtown Los Angeles, has been purchased for about $55 million by Glendale investors. The 784,000-square-foot property at 1933 S. Broadway is a combination design center, office and showroom, real estate brokerage Madison Partners said. It serves the interior design, gift and home furnishing industries. Los Angeles County also leases more than 140,000 square feet of office space at the L.A. Mart. Continue reading > > -- Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

The red carpet homage to beautiful actresses bedecked with dazzling diamonds and fabulous gowns ended last Sunday night with a commercial celebrating the genius of German engineering, the evolution over decades of the “best of the best,” the magnificent Mercedes-Benz SL Roadster, a jewel of a car with a $150,000 price tag. Cut to the opening of the 84th annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater - oops, that American corporate icon is bankrupt...

A law firm recognized for its work on patent and trademark issues plans to move into Glendale by mid-December, according to city officials. Christie, Parker & Hale has signed a lease at 655 Central Ave.  and will move its 120 employees -- 45 of whom are attorneys -- from its offices in Pasadena, the city announced Tuesday. Zecco, an online stocks and equity trading company, also recently brought 100 employees from Pasadena to 500 N. Brand Blvd. The firm represents some of the world's largest companies, including Verizon, Raytheon Co., Guess, the Neiman Marcus Group and Samsung.

More than a year after it was completed, the gleaming and still empty Glendale office building known as 207 Goode has changed hands. The Los Angeles-based property developer MPG Office Trust gave rights to the empty building back to the bank at a steep discount last month. MPG received $22.8 million from the deal, $21.6 million of which was used to "partially repay" the $38.2 million construction loan on the 188,000-square-foot property, according to company documents. The lender, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria of Spain, agreed to walk away without receiving the remaining $16.6 million.

That empty feeling is growing in Glendale office buildings, as the vacancy rate in commercial office space rose in the last three months. Nearly 83,000 square feet of office space was vacated in Glendale in the second quarter of the year, according to Grubb & Ellis Research Services. That brings the city's vacancy rate to 21.8%, with nearly 1.4 million square feet of space empty in a city with 6.3 million square feet of premium and moderate office space. The rate was 17.2% a year ago and 20.5% at the end of the first quarter of 2010.