Westside Is Attracting New Businesses

Los Angeles - Two years ago, at the peak of the recession, the Westside was facing a 14 percent vacancy for commercial spaces. In recent months, that number has dropped to 9 percent.

Rafael Padilla, a principal partner in PAR Commercial who's worked the Westside for 25 years, says entrepreneurial spirit is fueling a new optimism.

Rafael Padilla
"This is a wonderful example of what is happening now in development on the Westside. There's some flair, there's some panache to this.

"Four years ago, as soon as this thing was framed out, we probably would've had it leased. Now it's taking a little bit of time, but we'll still get this leased.

"Thankfully, this Westside of town doesn't rely on just one industry. We've got Silicon Beach... we've got Yahoo... we've got Google. We don't take as much of a hit as someone else would."

"[In the past six months,] I'm seeing a more positive attitude from people. Before, everyone was saying how awful things were... the economy. Now I'm hearing, 'I think I can start a business. I think I can be successful. I think there's a need for this type of service.'

If we change the way we perceive things, we can make change from that. The entrepreneurs are an optimistic bunch. I haven't met anybody yet who says I've got a business that's gonna fail.

It's improving, still not there yet, but it is a lot better than it was a year ago."

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Rents are down 20 to 25 percent from pre-recession prices, so you can negotiate a good deal.

Spaces are being filled up by tech entrepreneurs, people using their nest eggs on a new business, companies expanding to new space and staying on Westside, green businesses, furniture, and so on.

The Westside always fared better than other parts of Los Angeles County. As a whole, the county had 30 percent vacancy during peak recession, whereas the Westside was only half of that.

That's still a lot of vacancies and it's still taking time to fill them. The vetting process taking a long time and concerns with financing are a big issue, but there's definitely been an uptick.