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Editor’s note: Our tech addiction
Is the Los Angeles market as dependent on Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google [FAANG] as I am? Doubtful, but it’s a question I considered while editing this edition’s cover story, in which TRD L.A.’s managing editor, Alexei Barrionuevo, examines the degree to which the county’s office developers and landlords have aligned their fates with those of the tech companies gobbling up their spaces.
In just the last four months alone, the FAANG firms collectively inked deals for 1.6 million square feet of space locally. But at least one property owner is worried about a repeat of the dot-com boom and bust. “I wake up every morning thinking this is the day that everything falls apart,” said Hackman Capital Partners executive Michael Hackman, who, in addition to opining on his tech tenants, sat for our Closing feature.
Co-working companies, too, have benefited from the number of tech firms coming into the region. As millennial workers seek out shared office spaces close to home, the top operators on our ranking are opening more, smaller spaces in order to meet their demand.
Meanwhile, demand is something L.A.’s highest-end luxury brokers would certainly like to see more of, but that pesky new tax law and broader uncertainties in the stock market and abroad have scared off many foreign buyers and locals alike. To assess just how much the market for super-pricey homes is cooling, we analyzed luxury sales neighborhood by neighborhood. To quote a familiar pitch: The results may surprise you. Click here for the full story.
Other highlights in this issue include reporter Natalie Hoberman’s look at how architects are restructuring the way they work with developers in order to improve their bottom lines. And staffer Dennis Lynch investigates how things may change Downtown now that beleaguered Council member Jose Huizar is under investigation by the FBI. Finally, on a (much) lighter note, we talked to brokers about the impact of a property’s celebrity ties — however tenuous — when it comes down to sale price.