Based solely on square footage, over half of all Downtown Long Beach office space is either actively for sale, recently sold (within the last 6 months), or in a state of debt distress and primed for foreclosure.

What does this mean for the market? The good news is that most of the sales would be very positive; increased owner-user absorption, a renewed commitment to Downtown Long Beach, much needed improvement to the office base, and new blood to lead the charge on improving the Downtown Long Beach office market.

Change brings challenges however, and a large slate of sales in a compressed time period will surely create some upheaval and uncertainty.

For details on which buildings are likely to trade or investment opportunities in the Long Beach office market, please contact me.

The owners of 200 Pine have recently recapitalized their debt and are now able to do rock-bottom deals.  If you’re looking for the best value in Downtown Long Beach, this is it.

The building was recently renovated (both the exterior and interior common areas) and the quality will surprise you when you enter.  Offering some nice Downtown views along Pine and along the Promenade, and various office suites ranging from 1,000-5,500 sq. ft., this opportunity is sure to fill up pretty quickly.

For more information or to set up a tour, please don’t hesitate to contact Toliver.

Regus Executive Suites recently signed a long-term lease for nearly 20,000 sq. ft. (a full floor) within Landmark Square in downtown Long Beach.  This marks a strong commitment to Long Beach from an internationally recognized real estate provider.

The new Regus Executive Suite will provide smaller space for both local and national firms that require the very best that Long Beach has to offer in the office space arena.  The new center will be state of the art and will open in the 1st Quarter of 2012.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Toliver at 562-552-8874.

Toliver Morris

The Long Beach Office Market just completed the “summer doldrums”.  Commercial real estate activity typically decreases in the summer and heats back up again after Labor Day.

Currently the downtown office market remains at about 18-20% vacancy overall (lower in the class A sector and higher in the class B and C property types).  However, rental rates and concession seem to have stabilized and we could see an up-tick in rates in the Fall with news of some large transactions in downtown.  Potential purchases (as mentioned in previous posts) and some new deals on the horizon (we count upwards of 250,000 sq. ft. of new occupancy coming to Downtown), could turn the market quickly.

If you’ve not done so already, now would be the perfect time to address your leasing situation.  Give us a call to discuss.  We may be able to help you save money today and can help you plan to take advantage of the changing commercial market in Long Beach.

Ignify, Inc.,( www.ignify.com) an internet company currently located in Cerritos, has just leased a full floor (approximately 10,500 sq. ft.) at 200 Pine Avenue.  The space is in fairly raw condition, so they’ll have improvements to complete within the space, but Ignify could be in place by year end.

This is great news for a building that had been suffering from high vacancies in the 30-40% range.  It is also good news for all building owners in downtown Long Beach as any new insertion into Downtown is warmly received by landlords in this challenging market.

The LA Times has reported that the Port of Long Beach has closed on 5.6 acres of land behind World Trade Center for $8M. According to brokers representing the seller, the property spent a year on the market with another brokerage firm with no takers. The bank instructed its new brokerage firm to move the property off its books by the end of Q2, giving them 30 days to market the property and bring in offers. The final sale price has exceeded the original asking price by $2M.

Yet another example of the Port of Long Beach making inroads to purchase the World Trade Center – stay posted!

I know we sound like a broken record with respect to the Port of Long Beach, but the Port continues to be newsworthy.

The annual Chamber of Commerce Gala honored the Port of Long Beach on Thursday evening, and celebrated the Port’s history, while highlighting the Port’s future plans.  With the combined expansion of the Port and the replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge, thousands of new jobs will be created in Long Beach and throughout Southern California.

Among attendees at the event, there was a palpable buzz of optimism with respect to the future of Long Beach.  It seems that good things are popping up on the horizon.  Let’s hope so!

The Port of Long Beach is moving toward a purchase of the land behind the World Trade Center (the 6 acre parking lot behind the building in this picture and adjacent to Broadway).  This potential purchase is yet another indication that the Port is strongly considering a purchase of the World Trade Center building.  If the Port did purchase World Trade, it would likely backfill the majority of the 150,000 sq. ft. of vacant space within the building.

The office market in Downtown Long Beach remains fairly static in terms of rental rates and vacancy, no big change from last quarter.   Rental rates are still down and landlords are aggressively pursuing any active tenant in the market.

However, as reported last quarter, there are some big deals on the horizon that could fill some of the big holes and increase occupancy levels in downtown overnight – namely Molina’s potential purchase of Arco Center and the Port of Long Beach’s potential purchase of World Trade Center.

That said, we expect rates to remain fairly flat throughout 2011, as it remains a “tenant’s market” and is a great time to explore an early lease renewal, or to be negotiating an office relocation.  Multiple months of free rent and low rental rates are easily achievable if you know where to look and how to push – we can help you with that.

If you have an office lease in Long Beach, give us a call.  Even if your lease expiration is a few years out, we may be able to help you save money sooner than you think!

Contact us today, you’ll be glad that you did.

The Port of Long Beach is investigating a potential purchase of World Trade Center.  The Port had originally planned to build a new 200,000 sq. ft. building down in the actual Port, but those plans were scrapped for alternative space outside of the harbor.

If the Port of Long Beach were to buy World Trade Center, they would backfill most of the vacant space there with the Port’s administrative offices.  It could be a real game-changer for downtown Long Beach.

The Port is still considering it’s options, but the World Trade Center appears to be high on the list.