Plans include a Southern California indoor/outdoor work experience and a first-of-its-kind partnership with Industrious to offer alternatives to traditional leasing and a hospitality environment campus wide
LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2018 — EQ OfficeSM, the U.S. office portfolio company wholly-owned by Blackstone’s real estate funds, today announced its repositioning plans for the Howard Hughes Center, a six building office campus located in the West Los Angeles office sub-market.
Located in one of the most desirable submarkets of Los Angeles, the six-building campus encompasses 1.4 million square feet of office and retail space. The Howard Hughes Center’s large campus setting allows for the development of both indoor and outdoor work environments, creating a Southern California lifestyle experience that inspires employees, fosters collaboration and helps companies secure the best talent.
To further activate and energize the Howard Hughes Center, EQ is partnering with Industrious, a national premium workplace operator, to create a host of collaboration, conferencing and amenity experiences across the campus available to all tenants and visitors. In addition, Industrious will provide flexible-term workplace options for teams of 1-200 people. Unlike other flex operating agreements, Industrious will directly manage 100,000-140,000 square feet of flexible office suites in the Howard Hughes Center and activate the ground floor spaces across the entire campus – a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a flex operator and an owner of real estate.
“The new Howard Hughes Center is designed to meet the unique needs of businesses operating in the ‘Silicon Beach’ area, providing more innovative experiences and flexible work options, for businesses that experience a lot of change,” said Spencer Rose, Managing Director of the Western Region for EQ. “Our partnership with Industrious enables us to creatively deliver another office product in our market for those that seek space on more flexible terms with low customization. This ultimately allows us to meet the needs of a variety of customers.”
The partnership with Industrious is the result of a comprehensive request for proposals (RFP) process that EQ initiated late last year, to identify flexible operators for a unique opportunity at the Howard Hughes Center. Industrious was selected from several operators given its shared vision for the project, its flexibility to work with constraints, its synergies with EQ’s leadership, its sophisticated customer acquisition models and the ability to scale the relationship at the property and others like it. Although this agreement with Industrious is the first of its kind for EQ, EQ has many other flexible workspace providers who have leased space in its U.S portfolio including Regus, WeWork, Convene and Mindspace. EQ is eager to continue working with all the best in class providers as each brings a unique offering to the marketplace.
“What we’re doing with EQ at the Howard Hughes Center is unique in our industry. But it’s exciting for one reason above all others: the partnership enables us and EQ to be big enough and bold enough to materially increase the engagement, happiness and productivity of the employees who walk into work there every day. To Industrious and EQ, that positive impact on the day of our tenants and guests is the core of what we’re doing here and why we’re doing it,” said Jamie Hodari, CEO of Industrious. “This is going to be a true campus environment where different personality types, work styles and industries can all come to thrive.”
In addition to office space, the Howard Hughes Center designs feature new business and lifestyle amenities that enhance the work experience, including health-centric initiatives and programmed fitness, a robust farmers market, a dog-friendly campus, a conference and entertainment center and outdoor rooms and venues. EQ is also amplifying customer experiences at the Howard Hughes Center with a host of desired programmatic activities and amenities, such as a pickle ball court, outdoor events and local food, beverage and retail offerings.
The Howard Hughes Center will be home to 120-150 businesses and is expected to draw nearly 6,000 people to work and visit the campus daily; a 50 percent increase in the current daily foot traffic. The new work experience at the campus will provide tremendous value to companies seeking the energy and benefits associated with being in Playa Vista.
EQ’s vision for the Howard Hughes Center, which is inspired by the coastal Southern California lifestyle, is being brought to life by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, a Los Angeles-based design firm. On-site work to transform the property commenced earlier this year and is scheduled to be completed by February 2019.
About EQ
We are EQ Office. While other real estate owners talk about square footage and floor plans, we focus on the experience; how space feels, activates and performs. At EQ, we partner with business leaders to find, design and manage balanced workspaces with the intention of helping to inspire talent. We’re proud to work hand-in-hand with customers of all sizes from Fortune 100 companies to emerging startups to bring humanity back to the work place. Our diverse team of over 200 professionals is responsible for creating inspired office environments in cities across the country including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston. What began as Equity Office Properties 42 years ago, now reflects a new intelligence necessary to address the evolving workplace needs of our customers, as EQ Office. As a U.S. office portfolio company wholly owned by Blackstone’s real estate funds, we have the resources to lead the changes happening in work space. Explore your space for greatness at www.eqoffice.com.
About Industrious
Industrious is a leading premium workplace platform and coworking solution, with over 40 locations across 28 cities in the United States. Founded in 2013 by Jamie Hodari and Justin Stewart, Industrious provides established companies and enterprises with stunning offices, five-star service, inviting hospitality and productivity-driven design that makes people excited and proud to come to work. By transforming coworking and office space management into a welcoming, elegant and premium experience, Industrious has reshaped the concept of coworking into a scalable platform for businesses of every size and stage. For more information, visit www.industriousoffice.com.
