Return-Path: Delivered-To: andrew@sterlingcal.com Received: from reseller401.webserversystems.com by reseller401.webserversystems.com with LMTP id mPxUOTy80GeXVgEAchKAPA (envelope-from ) for ; Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:42:04 -0500 Return-path: Envelope-to: andrew@sterlingcal.com Delivery-date: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:42:04 -0500 Received: from o15.sender.crmapp.com ([159.183.115.46]:52816) by reseller401.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLS1.2) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.98.1) (envelope-from ) id 1ts8IW-00000000Ol3-03oL for andrew@sterlingcal.com; Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:42:04 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=jefftaborgroup.com; h=content-type:from:mime-version:subject:to:cc:content-type:from: subject:to; s=s1; bh=jKo4H4tp+1YvNUdFOmCOuPIFJIOhpU7xexyp19if678=; b=t+iseAVqBeo+AOa/FfDxMWISPs2DQ50NLZcbUhsrYaC2SDh1sBEJZhYYIF0lR9XaRnGm CffEJ94gt8iajUvmJkEwyWk1zpNS+nKLBjt0xVVSstEryP+7d2q1/zUhxlqVeJyliGBrRI m/ScwT8aJqIHRgV8XBpd3EEkRK7YfQimLj9bQXNrH7f4YxN36qmfeb0zociKYhvDgjJN47 h4NELb1yG2WFgSGYv2yQ9oDXV2QMws7Hx5SKXlCrO09+YUzzzTIzEUHKWnLHei2BRmWtxY HdCTg7X9RNwhP8n/qqq+5bp+8HMYF1YKga5+fgXxqf5r0FIdPgFoiGqSq5fVYrUA== Received: by recvd-69fb75db69-4wwvv with SMTP id recvd-69fb75db69-4wwvv-1-67D0BC2E-6 2025-03-11 22:41:50.228287758 +0000 UTC m=+1742641.857805516 Received: from MjEzMTA1MDQ (unknown) by geopod-ismtpd-8 (SG) with HTTP id 6FAzUGioTICLBS8ePyrktA for ; Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:41:50.212 +0000 (UTC) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=04e7bc74a4e6b073a0c29b0562e514ccdb5d790cad0052622139c577c4ae Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:41:53 +0000 (UTC) From: Jeff Tabor Mime-Version: 1.0 Subject: 5 Years After Covid, Los Angeles' Return to Office Lags The Nation Message-ID: <6FAzUGioTICLBS8ePyrktA@geopod-ismtpd-8> X-SG-EID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2E6XgS+aMGExnB1bqZZrdrz9qzQEbZ7BEjpKh5guDijZ5HYu1dYAKq1tDEG?= =?us-ascii?Q?Tygo2l3bpRSrRRtQO=2FYwkK2RsxQ5Pu85kIMq1Zw?= =?us-ascii?Q?qsrobYlZHxECRStack=2Fg5zIcn2iyl+=2FRO68Jfak?= =?us-ascii?Q?z4AlJaAdL3dC4YxnlMm3q3XvhQle7AFDBdtpIOT?= =?us-ascii?Q?YO=2FYNFZzgjoL8G5d5cNmxV1ckwhqlpKkLjJLBuA?= =?us-ascii?Q?8Ujsmrsix4BkXtuGuHECuA04Q3pveXSoDroG+Hd?= =?us-ascii?Q?4kvF?= X-SG-ID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2ESdBcvi+Evd=2FbQef8eZF3BvfipbYPPE46IvPV6X4Cgi7MW5MfAuob3RFli?= =?us-ascii?Q?dwqlU5hpJ4fwJOtEYCeDA7rkJxBSNqB01dLannL?= =?us-ascii?Q?7evhZO9Rku7YT4QBkcZCK7kJRmbgByonTb0aa10?= =?us-ascii?Q?YgRVwWOIIkBvs4g=3D=3D?= To: Andrew Sterling X-Entity-ID: u001.hZHiB6kKM9UW5e2fAO4iNQ== X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.4 X-Spam-Score: -43 X-Spam-Bar: ---- X-Spam-Flag: NO --04e7bc74a4e6b073a0c29b0562e514ccdb5d790cad0052622139c577c4ae Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Mime-Version: 1.0

=20

Goo= d afternoon, Andrew.

The below was in yesterday’s edition of B= isnow. I, for one, do not share the rosy sentimen= ts expressed by the brokers quoted…probably because I only represent= tenants and they have to tow the line of the landlords out there.

I= am in and out of office buildings daily. I can attest to 20% or less full = parking lots, vacant common areas and bored looking lobby attendants.
Have a great rest of the week, Andrew. If there is anything I can do for = you (reviewing landlord operating expenses, sharing some insight as to what= is going on in your building, current market deals, etc.) please reach out= .

Sincerely,

Jeffrey = A. Tabor – Founder/CEO
Jeff@JeffTaborGroup= .com
JeffTaborGroup.com
(800) 507-6673
RE Lice= nse # 01015287

Connect with me on LinkedIn: Jeffrey A. Tabor

5 Years After Covid, Los Angeles' Return to Office Lags Th= e Nation

Los Angeles consi= stently lags the national average on postpandemic office attendance, with t= wo different usage metrics coming in at less than 50% of the city's pre= pandemic average.

Nationwide, the average is= closer to 60%.

Industry professional= s are quick to say that the numbers don’t tell the whole story, and t= here’s nuance to Los Angeles’ office landscape.

The sheer size of the city makes it hard to make swe= eping statements. Numbers and the realities on the street vary widely betwe= en neighborhoods like Downtown and Century City, for example.=

“I really do think something's happening= with return-to-office that's not being picked up by either Kastle or e= ven Placer.ai — that the return to office is much more robust than th= e statistics are showing,” said Michael Soto, Savills vice president = of research for the West region.

The = numbers are lackluster. Kastle Systems shows that Los Angeles’ office= attendance peaked in 2023, when office attendance reached 47.1% of prepand= emic levels. For 2024, the average dropped slightly to 46.1%, while the nat= ional average among the top 10 highest attended metros was 49.6%.

Kastle does not share details about the buildi= ngs where card swipes are tracked, which makes up the basis of the company&= #39;s data. That means it's impossible to tell whether they are concent= rated in a district that’s closer to Downtown’s attendance or C= entury City’s.

<= span style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">But Placer.ai, w= hich uses cell phone data to compile its totals, similarly shows a return-t= o-office “recovery rate” of 49% for the Los Angeles area across= all building types, while the national average is about 60%.=

Most industry professionals don’t dispute th= at Los Angeles is behind the curve on bringing people back to the office, w= hether it’s for three or five days a week. Explanations range from th= e sprawling nature of the city to the hangover of longer pandemic lockdowns= .

“We are a really, really big = geography and the physical constraints of the commute certainly has ranked = pretty heavily in why the return to office has been lagging,” Newmark= Executive Managing Director Suzanne Lee said.

&ldq= uo;But what we have seen consistently over the last 12 to 24 months is that= if the municipality — whatever municipality it may be — and pr= operty owners are working collaboratively to create clean, safe districts o= r environments … people are coming back, and they are coming back in= droves,” Lee said.

Lee held up Century City as an= example of the success of this approach, but beyond it, there aren’t= many other submarkets in the Los Angeles area that have been able to repli= cate the success of the Westside office hub.

Others also blamed the longer lockdown period that Los Angeles and many We= st Coast cities experienced during the pandemic. Those cities that were slo= wer to open up, they suggest, have been slower to return as well.

At least one sector that has been visibly slow= to return full-time to the office may be making a comeback, and its effect= , at least for Los Angeles’ Downtown, could be significant.

The city could be poised for a change as manda= tes for various government employees to come back into the office more regu= larly proliferate. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump order= ed federal workers to resume working in the office full-time, a change that= could mean 10,000 workers returning five days a week to Downtown, although= at least one major government worker union has pushed back against the mov= e.

On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom order= ed state agencies to call workers back into the office four days a week beg= inning July 1. City employees’ remote work, however, tends to vary ba= sed on department, The Real Deal reported.

The general revival of attention to bringing workers back to the off= ice for a majority of the time, like what’s happening with government= workers, is similar to what Soto sees in the private sector as responsible= for the boost in office attendance he has anecdotally seen in the first fe= w months of this year.

Employment num= bers, he said, haven’t risen significantly, but he knows brokers at h= is firm are handling more tour requests and generally seeing an uptick in i= nterest for office space.

“Ther= e's all this anecdotal evidence of things being busier today than a yea= r ago, and intuitively, you'd think it would be driven almost completel= y by job growth, but it's not, because job growth is pretty weak,&rdquo= ; Soto said. “It's that a lot of occupiers have really firmed up = their return-to-office plans.”

= As those plans take shape, employers are working to ensure that the return = is smooth. The first thing that Kerin Van Andel, executive vice president o= f workplace strategy at JLL, and her team do for any client is a location a= nalysis to determine where workers are all coming from and ensuring that th= e office is in a location that’s working for the majority of people.<= /span>

Gone are the days when office buildin= g owners were trying to provide all the amenities an employee could need, s= uch as a gym and a dry cleaner, Van Andel said.

People usually have their own preferred amenities — their = neighborhood dry cleaner or their favorite salad place — and they&rsq= uo;re going to go there, Van Andel said. Instead, technology, like WiFi tha= t is faster than what employees have at home, is critical.

Within offices, Van Andel is seeing a shift away from= larger communal spaces like conference rooms into smaller spaces that can = be used by a few people or a small team to meet and collaborate in private.= Small private spaces like phone booths are also quite popular in office sp= aces still.

“‘If you're going= to ask us to come into the office, have a plan,’” Van Andel sa= id, echoing employee requests she often hears.

Jeff Tabor Group=A0| 501 W. Broadway, Suite 800= =A0| San Diego=A0| CA | 92101

Unsubscr= ibe | =20

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=20

Jeffrey A. Tabor – Founder/CEO
<= a href=3D"mailto:Jeff@JeffTaborGroup.com" style=3D"color:blue; text-decorat= ion:none;">Jeff@JeffTaborGroup.com
JeffTaborGroup.com<= /a>
(800) 507-6673
RE License # 01015287

Connect with me o= n LinkedIn: Jeffrey = A. Tabor

5 Years After Covid, Los Angeles' Return to Office = Lags The Nation

Los Angeles consistently lags the national average on po= stpandemic office attendance, with two different usage metrics coming in at= less than 50% of the city's prepandemic average.

Nationwide, the average is closer to 60%.

Industry professionals are quick to say that the numbers don= ’t tell the whole story, and there’s nuance to Los Angeles&rsqu= o; office landscape.

<= span style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">The sheer size o= f the city makes it hard to make sweeping statements. Numbers and the reali= ties on the street vary widely between neighborhoods like Downtown and Cent= ury City, for example.

“I reall= y do think something's happening with return-to-office that's not b= eing picked up by either Kastle or even Placer.ai — that the return t= o office is much more robust than the statistics are showing,” said M= ichael Soto, Savills vice president of research for the West region.=

The numbers are lackluster. Kastle Systems = shows that Los Angeles’ office attendance peaked in 2023, when office= attendance reached 47.1% of prepandemic levels. For 2024, the average drop= ped slightly to 46.1%, while the national average among the top 10 highest = attended metros was 49.6%.

Kastle doe= s not share details about the buildings where card swipes are tracked, whic= h makes up the basis of the company's data. That means it's impossi= ble to tell whether they are concentrated in a district that’s closer= to Downtown’s attendance or Century City’s.

<= p>But Placer.ai, which uses cell phone data to compile it= s totals, similarly shows a return-to-office “recovery rate” of= 49% for the Los Angeles area across all building types, while the national= average is about 60%.
Most industry = professionals don’t dispute that Los Angeles is behind the curve on b= ringing people back to the office, whether it’s for three or five day= s a week. Explanations range from the sprawling nature of the city to the h= angover of longer pandemic lockdowns.
“We are a really, really big geography and the physical constraints = of the commute certainly has ranked pretty heavily in why the return to off= ice has been lagging,” Newmark Executive Managing Director Suzanne Le= e said.
“But what we have seen consistently o= ver the last 12 to 24 months is that if the municipality — whatever m= unicipality it may be — and property owners are working collaborative= ly to create clean, safe districts or environments … people are comi= ng back, and they are coming back in droves,” Lee said.

Lee held up Century City as an exa= mple of the success of this approach, but beyond it, there aren’t man= y other submarkets in the Los Angeles area that have been able to replicate= the success of the Westside office hub.
Oth= ers also blamed the longer lockdown period that Los Angeles and many West C= oast cities experienced during the pandemic. Those cities that were slower = to open up, they suggest, have been slower to return as well.=
At least one sector that has been visibly slow to = return full-time to the office may be making a comeback, and its effect, at= least for Los Angeles’ Downtown, could be significant.=
The city could be poised for a change as mandates = for various government employees to come back into the office more regularl= y proliferate. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ordered f= ederal workers to resume working in the office full-time, a change that cou= ld mean 10,000 workers returning five days a week to Downtown, although at = least one major government worker union has pushed back against the move.
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered s= tate agencies to call workers back into the office four days a week beginni= ng July 1. City employees’ remote work, however, tends to vary based = on department, The Real Deal reported.
Employment numbers,= he said, haven’t risen significantly, but he knows brokers at his fi= rm are handling more tour requests and generally seeing an uptick in intere= st for office space.
<= span style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman, Times, serif;">“There'= ;s all this anecdotal evidence of things being busier today than a year ago= , and intuitively, you'd think it would be driven almost completely by = job growth, but it's not, because job growth is pretty weak,” Sot= o said. “It's that a lot of occupiers have really firmed up their= return-to-office plans.”
As th= ose plans take shape, employers are working to ensure that the return is sm= ooth. The first thing that Kerin Van Andel, executive vice president of wor= kplace strategy at JLL, and her team do for any client is a location analys= is to determine where workers are all coming from and ensuring that the off= ice is in a location that’s working for the majority of people.
Gone are the days when office building own= ers were trying to provide all the amenities an employee could need, such a= s a gym and a dry cleaner, Van Andel said.
People usually have their own preferred amenities — their neig= hborhood dry cleaner or their favorite salad place — and they’r= e going to go there, Van Andel said. Instead, technology, like WiFi that is= faster than what employees have at home, is critical.
= Within offices, Van Andel is seeing a shift away from lar= ger communal spaces like conference rooms into smaller spaces that can be u= sed by a few people or a small team to meet and collaborate in private. Sma= ll private spaces like phone booths are also quite popular in office spaces= still.
“‘If you're going to = ask us to come into the office, have a plan,’” Van Andel said, = echoing employee requests she often hears.

Jeff Tabor Group=A0| 501 W. Broadway, Suite 800= =A0| San Diego=A0| CA | 92101

Unsubscribe= | =20

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