ENCINO, CA—The Encino office market is tight for traditional office users. Law firm Pearlman, Borska & Wax has just expanded and extended its headquarters office lease in the Encino Plaza, a 192,505-square-foot class-A office building. The lease expansion came after the tenant conducted an intensive market analysis of alternative locations, and determined that the Encino market was the best fit for their firm. It will now occupy 18,665 square feet in the penthouse and the 10^th floor of the building.

“Pearlman, Borska & Wax are a preeminent law firm with a rich history in the building, and they are well recognized and a leader in their industry,” Dan Sanchez, a broker at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “Because of that, they have been fortunate enough to grow, and they needed some additional space. They certainly looked at alternatives, and there were a few places that they were interested in; however, at the end of the day the path of least resistance is what prevailed. They are in a very nice location, and Encino is a very good fit for their firm and works well for most of their employees.” Sanchez represented the tenant in the transaction along with his JLL colleague Tony Acerra. The landlord, Douglas Emmett, represented itself through an in-house team of Kevin Housman and David Hitzel.

The law firm plans to take occupancy of the space in the next one-to-two months. During the interim, it will freshen its existing space and build out the new space to its standards. The new office lease has a 10-year term.

Although there are many smaller traditional tenants in the Encino market, making this law firm lease relatively significant for the area, the market is tight with an office vacancy rate of 11.5%, according to the latest JLL report. “It is a very tight market with generally a lot of smaller business-service types of tenants, like accounts and attorneys,” says Sanchez. “This firm is a sizeable player for the central valley.”

Douglas Emmett, the landlord of this property, also recently purchased the First Financial office building in Encino for $89 million from Hudson Pacific Properties, which sold off its legacy assets at the beginning of the year.