— By Sean Fulp, Vice Chair & Head of Office Capital Markets, U.S. Southwest, Colliers — Office sales, leasing and development activity are at historic lows for Los Angeles County. With interest rates rapidly increasing, few active developments, and office vacancy and availability at an all-time high, the office market is in discovery mode. One of the major trends in development is creative, state-of-the-art studio/office campuses. These developments have broken ground in West Hollywood, Burbank, Santa Monica and Culver City. Developers in this space have the mindset of “if you build it, they will come.” Office sales activity is down more than 50 percent in the past year due to a high interest rate environment and a divide between buyer and seller pricing expectations. As loans become due, landlords will have decisions to make, and distress will occur in the market. Office availability is at an all-time high in Los Angeles at nearly 30 percent — likely the new norm going forward. Companies have figured out that employees like to have the flexibility of where and even when they work. With that said, companies are downsizing their office space by 25 percent to 50 percent and, in some cases, by …
