LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by alki

Good article. I worry that DT will have trouble competing with Playa Vista for tech:

There, companies such as Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.19% YouTube division and advertising company 72andSunny inhabit the low-slung former headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Co.—founded by aviator Howard Hughes—and relax at picnic tables outside their offices, flanked by barbecue pits installed by landlord Ratkovich Co.

For now, many of the tech and media tenants Mr. Friedrich plans to target have been expanding elsewhere in the city, particularly at Playa Vista, an area just north of the airport where a series of landlords have transformed industrial buildings into hip offices for tech companies.

Carl Muhlstein, a veteran Los Angeles broker at Jones Lang LaSalle who handles leasing for a large development in Playa Vista, said once the adapted, former industrial buildings in Playa Vista fill up, tech companies will need to look elsewhere, and downtown is a likely candidate given the growth of hotels and apartments.

Well the good news is that Playa Vista is SMALL compared to downtown, and because of the environmental actions taken, it likely won't expand much more, if at all. There's a finite supply of office conversions available.