Executive Summary:
From the Westside to the San Gabriel Valley, construction activity keeps chugging along in L.A. County. The 25 largest commercial developers report a combined total of 22.7 million square feet of commercial space under construction, compared with 17.2 million last year.
A shortage of both office and industrial space in many submarkets has made speculative development economically feasible again. Major projects include Glendale Plaza, a 24-floor, 550,000-square-foot office tower in Glendale being built by PacTen Partners; the 600,000-square-foot Water Garden II in Santa Monica being built by J.H. Snyder; and a variety of industrial business parks in the City of Industry being built by Catellus Development Corp. and Koll Real Estate Group.
The building boom won’t likely end soon. The developers on the list have a combined 28.1 million square feet of entitlements between them, for which ground has not broken yet. “1999 will be a building year,” said Koll Senior Vice President Keith Ross. “The only constraint on our development activity is a lack of available land.”
The Pacesetter:
Majestic Realty Co. is a dominant force on the local commercial real estate scene. The privately held company has developed large tracts of industrial space in the San Gabriel Valley in the past and, in more recent years, has focused its attention on the Inland Empire.
Just across the county border, Majestic is developing new industrial facilities. In September, for example, the company signed Mattel Inc. to a lease for an 800,000-square-foot built-to-suit distribution facility in Chino.
But Majestic is probably best known for a project in downtown Los Angeles: Staples Center, the new sports arena at 11th and Figueroa streets. The arena, which will house the Clippers, Lakers, and Kings, is expected to cost $350 million. Majestic is one of the partners that formed the L.A. Arena Co. LLC, the group that will own and operate Staples Center. The other partners are Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who is the co-owner of the L.A. Kings, Majestic’s President Ed Roski Jr., and the Fox Group, which bought a 40 percent stake in the arena.
Staples Center is slated for completion in early October, in time for the start of the NBA and NHL seasons.
