LOS ANGELES-Kilroy Realty's $380 million Columbia Square office development in Hollywood has officially broken ground. The massive 680,000-square-foot mixed-use property sits on the historic CBS Broadcast Facility and will house 350,000-square-feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of retail space and 200 luxury long-term and furnished short-term apartment rentals. The property is Kilroy's third development site in the Hollywood market. With development in the downtown market stealing the spotlight, we sat down with Kilroy Realty EVP David Simon to talk about the developer's keen interest in the Hollywood market, the economic benefits of the project and why Hollywood is the next big place for creative office.

GlobeSt.com: Why is the Hollywood market so attractive to you?

David Simon: Hollywood has been gentrifying for the last 15 years, and has all of the foundation and base ingredients for a recovery and a resurgence of office, mixed-use and retail. It has all of the components to have a vibrant market. It is one of the few areas in L.A. where you can create the kind of creative office environments and sense of place within an environment that has access to public transportation, freeways, studios, executive housing, worker housing, amenities, nightlife and all of the things you want in a vibrant market. That with the need for new quality office space—because the market hasn't seen a new office building in 40 years—led us to believe that this was a desirable and a great investment opportunity.