Skanska broke ground on an office building project in Beverly Hills, its first ground-up commercial development in Los Angeles.
The 46,000-square-foot property at 9000 Wilshire Boulevard will replace a pair of retail buildings and a parking lot, according to Commercial Observer. The property will be three stories and will include an 11,000-square-foot roof deck and lounge space.
Skanska bought the shovel-ready site for $18.2 million a year ago from Taslimi Construction, according to the report.
The project was designed by L.A.-based architect Neil M. Denari and HLW International. The design includes floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The start of construction comes as the pandemic continues to do damage to the L.A. office market. Overall vacancy climbed to 15 percent in the third quarter, from 13.7 percent from the second quarter, according to CBRE. Across the city, office leasing was as bad as it’s been since 2009, the worst year of the Great Recession.
In August, Skanska purchased a 76,700-square-foot property on Sacramento Street in the Arts District for $18.9 million. The firm plans to develop a 13-story office building there with 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. [CO] — Dennis Lynch