Hudson Pacific Lands Office Tenant in Los Angeles’ Arts District

The Maxwell at 1019 E. Fourth Place

Califia Farms has signed a lease with Hudson Pacific Properties for 29,440 square feet of office space at The Maxwell in Los Angeles’ Arts District. Newmark arranged the deal on behalf of the tenant, a plant-based beverage producer. The company will relocate its headquarters at 1019 E. Fourth Place, filling two floors vacated by former full-building tenant WeWork.

The 63,224-square-foot building offers floorplates averaging about 11,000 square feet. The property includes high-ceiling offices, outdoor sitting areas, a rooftop terrace and offers a parking ratio of roughly 2 spaces per 1,000 square feet.

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Newmark Senior Managing Director Craig Kish arranged the lease, which allowed the tenant to relocate from 1321 Palmetto St., just a few blocks away.

The company’s new address maintains proximity to the bars, coffee shops and international cuisine venues accessible before the firm’s move. Metro’s Division 20 Rail Yard is across the street.

Adaptive reuse in the Arts District

The Maxwell consists of two office buildings developed and owned by Hudson Pacific Properties, at 1003 and 1019 E. Fourth Place, going up eight and five stories high, respectively. The properties are connected by a single-floor structure and total 102,963 square feet.

Developed in 1924 and located in the Arts District, a former industrial area, the 1019 E. Fourth Place property originally served as a Maxwell House coffee production facility. The Maxwell has undergone an adaptive reuse transformation in 2018. The conversion preserved the building’s historic industrial architecture, including the bare-brick facade and oversized windows, according to Urbanize Los Angeles.

The Maxwell is close to another Hudson Pacific Properties conversion project, a former Coca-Cola warehouse at 963 E. Fourth St. that the company repurposed for creative office use in 2017.

Busy player in recovering market

Hudson Pacific has been keeping busy in the Greater L.A. area. Earlier this year, the landlord scored another lease, this time in Hollywood, for about 70,000 square feet. Hudson co-owns 2.2 million square feet of office and studio space in the area. Last year, when Blackstone bought a 49 percent stake into Hudson’s footprint, the portfolio was valued at $1.7 billion.

Same as most gateways office markets, L.A. had its share of downturn-induced turbulence. However, silver linings do seem to be on the horizon. In May, the metro’s vacancy rate dropped 40 basis points compared to the previous month, clocking in at 13.6 percent, below the 15.6 percent U.S. figure, CommercialEdge data shows. However, the recovery looks different for different submarkets. Case in point, West Hollywood had a 7.6 percent vacancy rate in May, while the nearby Hollywood submarket registered a 15.5 percent rate.