Western Real Estate Business magazine covers the multifamily, retail, office, healthcare, industrial and hospitality sectors in the Western United States.
Issue link: https://westernrealestatebusiness.epubxp.com/i/818922
70 • May 2017 • Western Real Estate Business www.REBusinessOnline.com Moving Out Statistics like these have led CBRE to focus on its own employees and the spaces they occupy in both San Diego and beyond. The company is, after all, famous for creating the Workplace 360 design, which emphasizes flexibility, mobility and productivity through technology-enabled, 100 percent free- address and paperless offices. This concept debuted at the firm's global headquarters in Downtown Los An- geles in 2013 before a larger national rollout. "Our greatest assets are our profes- sionals," says John Frager, managing director of CBRE in the San Diego region. "Elevating the workplace ex- perience is very important to us and CBRE is the definitive market leader in workplace strategies." The company's latest initiative in- volves the relocation of its Central San Diego office to a 32,336-square-foot space at Westfield's newly expanded UTC (University Towne Center) shop- ping center in La Jolla. The Workplace 360 office will be situated on the third floor of a building that will serve as a primary entrance for the center. It will include a concierge staff and valet ser- vice for CBRE employees and clients. The retail destination offers access to its indoor/outdoor event space for larger business meetings and several outdoor seating areas that provide a sunny, tranquil environment for em- ployees, which complements CBRE's indoor workspace design. The Central San Diego office is one of CBRE's three regional offices. At 160 employees, it is also the firm's largest in the region. The office will be relocat- ing from the Plaza at La Jolla Village. "In the fall of 2017, we will be relo- cating our Central San Diego office to Westfield's expanded UTC shopping center — giving our employees a tru- ly amenity-rich office environment," Frager continues. "We designed our offices to promote flexibility, mobility and wellness. Additionally, we have incorporated leading-edge technolo- gies to enrich the experience for our professionals and their clients." Westfield has spent about $585 million on the current expansion of its UTC project. The expansion will add about 251,000 square feet of re- tail, dining and entertainment space, a high-end residential tower, an 18,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor events space, a bimodal transit center for buses and the planned mid-county trolley extension. Both companies represented them- selves in the transaction, with Cic- ily Dostalek, program manager for CBRE's Workplace360 initiative, not- ing that locations and office designs chosen for employees should also in- volve employees if they are to be suc- cessful. "We created employee-led commit- tees to help design a workplace that reflects the concept, 'think globally, act locally,'" she says. "We wanted to embrace the Southern California life- style in our design with an indoor/ outdoor feel that brings in natural light and takes advantage of the tre- mendous San Diego weather. The in- clusion of four sets of operable sliding doors was one of the key way were able to do that." Moving Up While one commercial real estate firm opts for a more horizontally in- clined project, another is choosing the vertical life. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank announced it would relocate its San Diego regional office to the new 15-story One La Jolla Center in the UTC area. The firm is expanding to the Irvine Company's new tower to better accommodate its rapid growth over the past year, which saw its bro- kerage team more than double in San Diego. The firm believes the new space will provide an opportunity to create a collaborative work environment for the team while supporting its further recruitment efforts. One La Jolla of- fers modern workspaces with 10 feet of floor-to-ceiling glass for maximum daylight. It also includes on-site ame- nities like fast-casual restaurant Bistro 24, state-of-the-art fitness and confer- ence centers, a Wi-Fi enabled outdoor "living room" with resort-style seat- ing for more than 100 people that can foster employee collaboration, cov- ered bicycle storage, electric vehicle charging stations, private showers, lockers and wetsuit drying racks. Like CBRE, NGKF can also enjoy the shopping and dining options at nearby Westfield UTC, along with the Costa Verde shopping center. "It's an exciting move for our San Diego team," says Greg May, NGKF's regional managing director. "This highly efficient, quality environment is the perfect base for us to create a new work space that reflects our coastal location and encourages our teams to excel." One La Jolla is now more than 65 percent leased. John Turner, regional vice president of Irvine Company Of- fice Properties, notes that NGKF and its employees were the exact demo- graphic his firm was hoping to target when the building design was initial- ly conceived. "We're pleased that customers rang- ing from world-renowned law firms to newer, energetic tech companies, such as Webroot and Neustar, to na- tionally renowned real estate firms such as NGKF consider One La Jolla the perfect workplace environment to thrive, grow and recruit and retain tal- ent," he says. The building was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Moving Forward JLL has also brought its vision of the office place of the future to life within La Jolla. The company recently leased 18,000 square feet at the Aventine mixed-use campus, located at nearby 8910 University Center Lane in the Golden Triangle neighborhood. The new space features fully ergo- nomic workspaces designed to ac- commodate each individual, "quiet" zones, outdoor patios, and respite areas for differing work styles and needs. Other features include a mov- able wall/accordion door for full access to the patio, a bi-fold door in the main boardroom to expand the front-of-house area for large events and a client-focused Pitch Room with a large state-of-the-art touchscreen monitor. The Rockpoint Group's new project also allowed JLL to showcase its fu- ture workplace model, which marries the traditional business model with new office needs, to tenant and land- lord clients alike. "Our goal was to create open envi- ronment that promotes the well-being of our team and fosters collaboration, team work and transparency," says Peter Belisle, JLL's Southwest market director. "The Aventine is the perfect place where we can focus on deliver- ing the best service to our clients." JLL partnered with general contrac- tor Commercial Builders and architect ID Studios on the project. The campus also includes the 419-room Hyatt Re- gency La Jolla, as well as numerous on-site dining amenities like Flem- ing's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Truluck's, Café Japengo, the Melting Pot and Michael's Lounge. Aventine is situated within walking distance of La Jolla Village Square, a regional retail center with additional shops, services and restaurants. Companies are turning to a range of services and amenities to motivate on- site employees, CBRE's study notes. About 64 percent of the survey's re- spondents said amenities are most im- portant to their labor force, with food offerings being the most prevalent and hospitality services on the cut- ting edge. Employers are also increas- ingly placing importance on develop- ing a workplace culture that enhances employees' health, with 76 percent of survey respondents reporting that they run an employee wellness program. Centralized locations, inspired of- fices, and having the people, places and things on-hand that make em- ployees happy has allowed La Jolla's newest office supply to gain increas- ing demand from even the pickiest of tenants — commercial real estate firms. n SAN DIEGO CRE FIRMS EMBRACE THE CREATIVE OFFICE CONCEPT The Workplace 360 office will be situated on the third floor of a building that will serve as a primary entrance for the newly expanded Westfield UTC shopping center. SAN DIEGO from page 1 JLL's new space in La Jolla features a movable wall/accordion door for full access to the patio, a bi-fold door in the main boardroom to expand the front-of-house area for large events and a client-focused Pitch Room with a large state-of-the-art touchscreen monitor, among other things.