Tim Lee

Pershing Square is adding another shining new creative office space to its collection. Olive Hill Group has officially unveiled its creative office redevelopment of 631 S. Olive in Downtown Los Angeles, and it may push the block—which also houses Rising Realty Partner's PacMutual Building—to become the creative office haven that Downtown has been wanting. Olive Hill's project, rebranded as The Olive, brings a mid-size creative office option to the area, and offers a discount to the surrounding properties and the Westside.

“This gives us a chance to provide a different than our neighbors,” Tim Lee, Tim Lee, VP of Corporate Development and Legal Affairs at Olive Hill Group, tells GlobeSt.com. “We are offering a creative build out in downtown with all of the amenities that you would get in a skyscraper at a bit of a discount.”

The location has grown tremendously as a result of the downtown renaissance. The growth in the area and the other ongoing projects attracted Olive Hill to the project. “We were really focused on the location. Being across the street from Pershing Square is a huge plus, and it checked off a lot of the boxes that we wanted,” says Lee. “It is within close proximity to great restaurants, and it is next door to the Nomad Hotel, which is opening in January.”

Olive Hill has just started the marketing process on the property, and has seen a strong response. Fueling interest, rental rates on the property are a significant discount to the Westside, ranging between $2.50 and $3 per foot compared to $5 to $6 per foot in Santa Monica “We are actively marketing toward the tech and media firms,” says Lee. “We just started marketing the property, but the feedback has been very positive. Despite the higher vacancy in Downtown L.A., there is a strong demand for smaller spaces in smaller buildings.”

Because the property is on the edge of the Jewelry District, The Olive already houses a mix of high-end jewelers. While Olive Hill is targeting creative tenants, they aren't opposed to the jewelers. “As long as the economics work, we will keep those long-term tenants. It also adds an interesting flavor to the tenant mix as well,” says Lee. “It adds an authenticity to the experience and it is something that you can get in Downtown L.A. that you can't get on the Westside.”

With the office renovations and trendy restaurants in the market, Lee says that it is a great spot for a creative office hub in Downtown Los Angeles because it provides the atmosphere that creative tenants want. “Pershing Square is a great gathering place, and it has weekly food trucks and concerts in the summer. Once they finish the renovation, it is going to be a great hub that will bring people together,” says Lee. “That is also what people want in an office space. They want places where they can congregate and where they can extend their workplace beyond the four walls of the office. Around Pershing Square, a lot of great restaurants and cool places have popped up. That is also helping attract people there and create an interesting place for people to work.”

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.