Internet video-sharing giant YouTube LLC is in negotiations to lease office space at L.A. developer Ratkovich Co.’s Hercules Campus in Playa Vista, sources told the Business Journal.

The company, owned by Google Inc. of Mountain View, is expected to close in 30 to 90 days on a deal to lease an undisclosed amount of space at the soon-to-be opened campus, formerly Howard Hughes’ aircraft manufacturing facility and home to the Spruce Goose hangar.

Sources said the company is looking at leasing 41,000-square-foot Building 17 at the 11-building campus. YouTube only has a small presence in Los Angeles, sharing a 13,000-square-foot office at 331 Foothill Road in Beverly Hills with Google.

YouTube would represent the first official tenant at Ratkovich’s campus, which he has been renovating to attract tech and media companies, as well as the third high-profile Silicon Valley firm to open an office in the lower Westside area. Social network Facebook Inc. signed a deal nearby last year and gaming company Electronic Arts Inc. moved into space there several years ago.

The Westside is wildly popular with growing tech and media companies, and as Santa Monica office space fills up, growing companies are looking farther south to coastal neighborhoods like Playa Vista that still have ample amounts of room.

“If true, it would be a real stamp of approval on the Playa Vista marketplace if YouTube were to step up and make a deal there,” said David Toomey, a principal in the L.A. office of Boston-based brokerage CresaPartners, who brokers deals for tech tenants in the area but said he had no direct knowledge of the deal.

“The fact that there would be two high-profile Silicon Valley firms moving down there in the recent past might cause other local tech companies to give it more serious consideration for their own offices,” Toomey added.

Flexing Muscles

New York luxury gym chain Equinox Holdings Inc. has applied to open its first downtown L.A. health club at Citigroup Center in the financial district.

The company signed a 20-year lease for almost 33,000 square feet at the 444 S. Flower St. building last month with landlord Hines, a private real estate company in Houston. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Equinox has filed an application with the Department of City Planning to turn what used to be restaurant and office space on the third and fourth floors into a gym, complete with juice bar and spa. If approved, it would be the first luxury gym in downtown that doesn’t require membership to a private club, such as the Jonathan Club.

The company has 11 gyms with the Equinox name in Los Angeles and has been beefing up its presence here after buying West L.A.’s Sports Club Co. Inc. gyms last year. The company said it was opening a club downtown because of several requests from members who work there – and the promise it sees in the continued development of the area.

“We play the market and look to serve our members,” said John Klein, vice president of real estate for Equinox in Westwood. “And, if the (football) stadium can be built, it’ll bode very well for L.A. and we want to be part of it.”

The downtown location will have a higher ratio of cardiovascular and strength training equipment to its spa services than many of its other gyms. Klein said that was typical of its urban locations, because most of those members work in buildings nearby and want to fit in exercise during the day.

The gym has requested to be open from 5 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends.

The Planning Department is scheduled to consider the application Jan. 25.

Downtown Promotion

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. has named an L.A. executive as the new head of its southwest region.

The Chicago brokerage promoted Peter Belisle to market director for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orange County, Phoenix and San Diego. Belisle, who is based in the firm’s downtown L.A. office, most recently served as president of energy and sustainability services, and before that was president of project and development services.

Belisle has been with the company since 2000, after leaving his position as director of development and program management at Walt Disney Co. He replaced Jan Pope, who was promoted to head of corporate solutions for the company’s west region, earlier this month.

Belisle said that growing the firm’s business and clientele in Los Angeles is a top priority for him in his new position.

“There’s no reason we can’t grow significantly, twofold-plus, over a period of time, and it’s one of the things I’m looking to do,” he said.

Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.