The frenetic pace of our daily lives often makes us long for simpler times. The debate about how to sustain or even improve our quality of life is ongoing. Many times, the search focuses on our personal lifestyle choices yet, neglects perhaps an equally important element our business environment. Given that most of us spend the majority of our waking hours working, what could be more important than providing a workplace that is enjoyable, builds company loyalty, attracts qualified employees, enhances the corporate image and increases productivity?

In order to accomplish these objectives, many smaller, Southern California entrepreneurial companies are taking a hard look at the nature of their working environments. They are discovering that large high-rise office towers are not always the answer when it comes to selecting the ideal corporate suite. That realization is quite a departure from years past when even the smallest company wanted to be housed in a gleaming signature office structure in downtown Los Angeles or Century City. Today, the combination of intrusive but necessary security measures, parking hassles and the general sense of simply being another face in the crowd, has motivated these enterprises to look more closely at mature boutique office buildings. The current trend indicates that they like what they see.

There are both tangible and intangible advantages of a corporate address in a smaller “Class A” office building. In a practical sense, the size of the floors allows a company occupying as little as 5,000 square feet to have a real identity, both on the main lobby directory and on the floor on which it’s located. In our building at 800 Wilshire for example, we have 15,000 square foot floors. Thus, a 5,000 - 7,500 square foot user can offer customers immediate access directly from the elevator lobby. They don’t have to be wandering the halls trying to find a suite number.

There’s also the issue of space efficiency. Tenants, pay proportionally for common areas such as elevators, lobbies and bathrooms, as part of what is known as “the load factor.”

The less the load factor, the greater the space efficiency. In smaller buildings such as 800 Wilshire, the load factor is as low as 9% and never higher than 20%, which is significantly less than the 25% found in many high-rises, thus providing tenants with much greater space utilization.

The issue of parking is another tangible consideration. In major high-rise structures, it can take excessive amounts of time and energy just to access your car and exit the building. In buildings like ours, tenants can be In their suites no more than five minutes after dropping off their cars, and similarly, can leave the premises in the same amount of time. Over the course of a year that represents a significant block of time which can be utilized more productively. Our own internal studies show that an hypothetical company with two executives, one manager and three employees can save over $40,000 annually just because of these parking efficiencies. We have also instituted a process by which tenants are able to push a button in their offices and have their cars ready for them when they reach the garage.

As the word implies, intangibles are hard to quantify in term of their application to the corporate bottom-line. We believe, however, that when management and employees are forced to work in a depersonalized environment, productivity suffers. Therefore, smaller buildings tend to cater to their tenants in ways that show a level of care and attention to detail not found in larger, homogenized offices. At 800 Wilshire, we provide coffee and donuts for all tenants in the lobby every Friday morning. We also host monthly wine and cheese receptions for the executives of our tenants. Other building owners hold regular luncheon meetings with individual tenants to obtain feedback on concerns and suggestions about their buildings. Although the concierge has become a ubiquitous part of the services offered in most Class A office buildings, smaller properties typically go well beyond the obvious in pampering their tenants. Not only will the concierge obtain tickets, book hotel and airline reservations and rent limousines, but they can plan in-office events, select and distribute holiday gifts and even have dry cleaning picked up and delivered. We’re currently working on having a Flex-car housed at 800 Wilshire, allowing tenants who rely on public transportation to have access to an automobile if they need one during the day.

Finally, we come to the issue of management Buildings that are individually owned and managed are typically more receptive to tenant needs. In our case, we have our own headquarters at800 Wilshire so we’re available 24/7. We know each tenant by sight and they know us. Each time they enter or leave the premises, the doorman greets them by name. These intangibles help create a sense of community which breeds enduring tenant loyalty, even in times of crisis.

All of the above notwithstanding, many corporate decisions about office space finally come to rest on the cost of rent In smaller Class A buildings such as ours, these costs can be from $9 to $15 per square foot below those of some of the signature high-rise properties in downtown.

For all of these reasons and more, it behooves smaller companies to carefully consider all their options before selecting their next “home”.


Wayne Ratkovich President of The Ratkovich Company, owners and developers of urban revitalization projects in and around Los Angeles. The company’s mission is to "profitably produce developments which improve the quality of urban life“

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