The Century City office market has shrinking vacancy rates and rapidly rising rents, thanks to overflow demand from surrounding markets. The class-A high-rise market has been able to attract a mix of both traditional and creative tenants, and has seen rental rate increases upwards of 20% as a result. Century City, however, wasn't always a thriving office market. It was the beneficiary of rising demand in the Santa Monica and Beverly Hills markets and a dearth of quality office supply.

“In Century City, a rising tide has lifted all boats,” Steve Bay, vice chairman at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “Two years, ago Century City was a very different place. Santa Monica and Beverly Hills lifted that market. Century City is the Downtown of the Westside. When Santa Monica rents spiked and space availability become very limited, Century City really took advantage of that. It did a great deal of leasing and attracted a lot of interest from creative tenants.”

In addition to capturing the soaring demand from surrounding submarkets, Century City also saw growth of the law firms in its existing tenant base. As the “downtown of the Westside,” as Bay says, Century City became a submarket where law firms wanted to expand. “I think a byproduct of that in Century City is that you see a number of law firms that have expanded,” he explains. “National and regional law firms have elected to have two offices. We have seen firms expand into the Century City markets; that is part of the growth that we are seeing.”