Wilshire Area Office Leasing Bounces Back

With areas to the east--downtown Los Angeles--and to the west--Beverly Hills and the Westside--facing an office space crunch, the Wilshire Corridor is seeing a resurgence in its fortunes, according to Rick Merritt of Merritt Real Estate Group.

The firm found 2,121,077 square feet vacant of an inventory of 12,620,905 square feet in 62 buildings, for a vacancy rate of 16.8%. This includes existing projects and those under construction from Alvarado Street on the east to San Vicente Boulevard on the west.

Among the advantages cited by Merritt for the Wilshire Corridor over both Downtown and the Westside are: Better parking, superior public transportation and rental rates of $12 to $24 a square foot, 20% to 35% below prime downtown space.

He cited the success of Wilshire Courtyard--90% leased three months after its completion--as an indication of the new look in the Wilshire Corridor: “The Courtyard is a modern, class A building, as is Paramount Plaza, the Ahmanson Building, the Equitable Building, Beneficial Plaza and the Chubb Building at 6500 Wilshire Blvd.”

He added that the corridor is improving in other areas as well: “If you drive down Wilshire, you’ll see a substantial change in the attractiveness of retail stores fronting the boulevard,” he said.