LOS ANGELES-The Los Angeles office sector is trending toward new creative workspaces, largely due to growth in the entertainment and technology industries. “It is a simple formula today: workplace environments that create a community environment,” says Judy Caruthers, EVP of product development services for Jones Lang LaSalle. Caruthers was one of five executives from the firm to speak about office sector trends for a recent JLL video series.

“It is important to create a workplace environment where people want to come to exchange and to innovate,” says Caruthers, who notes that office spaces that offer social amenities, like restaurants and shopping, “lease up the quickest with the highest rates.”

Companies are beginning to see that creative workspace provides a collaborative environment that has a direct impact on the bottom line. “Having a workplace strategy is as important as having a business or marketing strategy. It gives an organization a tool on how to extract the highest and best use out of their real estate,” says Caruthers. Creative office spaces transition traditional window environments to open floor plans that augment mixed use and meeting spaces. Managing director Anthony Gatti explains, “There is going to be a tremendous amount of pressure to bring down square foot requirements; to try to make the space more efficient and try to use technology to make that space more efficient; and to make more open work space and also larger meeting rooms where people can congregate; and to bring a social element into the office where collaboration is very important and where team building is very important.”