Glendale is becoming one of L.A.'s coveted creative office markets. In L.A., the words creative office make you think of 24/7 live-work-play markets like Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles and Playa Vista. Now, Glendale is slowly joining the ranks with great walkability and amenities. In fact, a joint venture between Lincoln Property Company and Morgan Stanley sold a creative office property in Glendale to Credit Suisse for $59 million. NFK's west coast president Kevin Shannon represented the seller in the deal, along with senior managing director Rob Hannan, and managing director Michael Moll. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with Shannon about the burgeoning creative office market in Glendale, and where it is heading.

GlobeSt.com: Creative office is known to dominate in Westside markets and Hollywood, but what is the prevalence of creative office in Glendale?

Kevin Shannon: Hollywood and Downtown LA are markets that have a rapid influx of 24/7 mixed-use, retail, office and multifamily developments occurring and continuing to occur. Glendale is a city that also continues to evolve into an increasingly vibrant and more popular 24/7 city. You don't hear about Glendale as much, and its development scale isn't as massive, but the city's evolution is occurring and it's clearly becoming much cooler.

Overall, these 24/7 markets are seeing a demand not just from tech and entertainment industries for the creative format office, but from all industries including financial, law, accounting and brokerage companies like NKF. These industries of course also want to remain competitive and attract the best young talent. So, from a leasing standpoint, tenants moving into a new location frequently demand a creative format in renovated buildings and many tenants who are up for renewal want that new format too, which is also typically more efficient as well. Glendale is seeing an increased amount of investment in delivering creative space, especially with all the new landlords in the market. I see this trend continuing for several more years.

GlobeSt.com: What is driving demand for creative office in Glendale?

Shannon: You could put a creative office anywhere in Los Angeles, but tenants still want to be in a cool market with a strong location and great walkability. Glendale is increasingly on that shopping list. There is now creative office in all markets including more commodity markets. Glendale is no longer a commodity market and investment capital has recognized this transformation over the last few years. The influx of retail and housing amenities really garnered momentum after Caruso's Americana project opened. Glendale has a vibe that continues to improve and become more attractive to tenants.

GlobeSt.com: What is the availability of creative office in Glendale, and are you seeing a growing supply either through new development or redevelopment?

Shannon: There hasn't been new speculative office construction in Glendale for a while. The supply of creative office is essentially coming from redevelopment or repositioning of existing office buildings. A recent example of this is the redevelopment of the historic Masonic Temple by Caruso last year. It is ideally located across the street from Americana at Brand, which offers the office tenants that coveted easy access to a diversity of some of the area's best dining and retail experiences.

GlobeSt.com: Do you think that creative office has become ubiquitous in all markets at this point?

Shannon: Creative office is in demand and commands the highest rents in every market compared to traditional office formats. It does the best from a leasing and rental rate growth perspective in markets with access to amenities that offer a cooler vibe. Think Playa Vista, Culver City, El Segundo, Hollywood, Arts District, etc. Glendale is experiencing slower rent growth than these other high beta markets, but its momentum is building and the market is clearly much more popular for investment capital that believes this momentum will accelerate. We used to say if you had owned office in Glendale that you wouldn't buy again in Glendale. That has now completely reversed with investment capital sources.