Weighing the impact of Silicon Beach on the rest of LA was among the topics discussed at The Workplace of the Future panel at Bisnow's The Future of Silicon Beach event held last week in Santa Monica.
The speakers talked about their own office spaces and gave updates about some of their projects.
Hughes Marino associate Sean Spear (left, a Bisnow alum) moderated the panel, asking the speakers about trends they are seeing in the marketplace and the future of Silicon Beach.
Cross Campus CEO Ronen Olshansky (pictured far right with Randy Starr, Rob Kane, Jeff Brown and Sean) said his company is very bullish on shared office, and the demand they're seeing is very broad, much broader than startup and tech. "I think it reflects the changing nature of how people are working," he said. Cross Campus is headquartered in Santa Monica and had its first location there.
The firm is opening its first downtown location May 1. Cross Campus also is working on a South Bay location and possible locations in Hollywood and Glendale, Ronen said.
Lincoln Property Group SVP Rob Kane said LA is beginning to benefit from being a "relatively low-cost option" for other markets, especially when compared to Northern California (with its high housing costs).
Rob updated the audience on Pen Factory, a 220k SF creative office project that Lincoln Property is developing at 26th and Olympic Boulevard across from the Bergamot Metro stop.
220k SF of creative office space across from the Bergamot Metro stop when it’s finished early next year.Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/los-angeles/news/commercial-real-estate/exclusive-qa-lincoln-property-co-svp-on-the-popularity-of-silicon-beach-57521?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser
IMAX executive director Jeff Brown (pictured left with Sean and Ronen) told the more than 300 gathered about IMAX's “extremely unique" 62k SF headquarters in Playa Vista. It houses two IMAX theaters, a 24/7 production factory and event space. He said the HQ has everything from creative office space to collaborative space to open office to IMAX to production rooms.
Jeff encouraged everyone in attendance to watch the movie Batman v. Superman in IMAX since it came out of the facility.
Avison Young principal Randy Starr said Silicon Beach definitely started in Santa Monica but is expanding now. It extends all the way to El Segundo and even farther, according to Randy. He expects the current trend to continue in the future.
