Since ABC Television Networks moved its offices to Burbank four years ago, the Entertainment Center complex in Century City has sat mostly empty. In April, Trammell Crow Company, which manages the adjacent Century Plaza Towers, began construction of a new project on the site at 2000 Avenue of the Stars. TPR is pleased to present an interview with Brad Cox, Principal at Trammell Crow, in which he gives an overview of the project and its context in the changing office market of the Westside and the ongoing rejuvenation of Century City.
Brad Cox
Brad, share with our readers Trammell Crow's vision for 2000 Avenue of the Stars. What will be the complex's signature contribution to the Century City urban environment and skyline?
We are currently in the process of demolishing the existing structure on the site; formerly known as the ABC Entertainment Center, essentially an obsolete facility. In its place, we will construct a new, 790,000 sq. ft. complex, which will include 724,000 square feet of office space, approximately 45,000 square feet of retail space, and a 10,000 sq. ft. cultural pavilion. To better illustrate the project, imagine two twelve-story office towers with three large interconnecting bridge floors – two at the top and one at the bottom – structurally unifying the building, creating a very unique architectural statement. The design creates two towers with a hole in the middle. Complementary to the new office tower will be a four-acre park, integrating the site area with the existing Century Plaza Towers. Anchoring the park will be retail, restaurants, cafes, and the cultural pavilion.
What makes this project unique is its urban environment. The 14-acre site will integrate 2000 Avenue of the Stars and the existing Century Plaza Towers by incorporating landscape, retail, office, and culture.
You describe the old ABC Entertainment complex as obsolete. Elaborate on that assessment.
The original building was constructed from 1969 -1971. The retail was conceived and developed in the early 1970s, when retail demographics were different than today. As such, its design and functionality just do not work in today's competitive retail environment. The Schubert Theater was too small for large productions like the Lion King, yet too large for smaller regional productions. The Loews Theater had a limited number of screens, while today theaters average 14 to 16 screens per theater complex. Recognizing office building entitlements are difficult to obtain, the highest and best use was redeveloping an office complex in a continuing supply-constrained market.
A number of TPR interviews over the last few months have addressed the changing market for retail, specifically the design of new retail developments such as Westfield Center, the Grove, and what is being planned for Grand Avenue. What, in your opinion, are the design elements that make for successful urban retail?
Well, my experience as a retail developer is non-existent; my experience has been focused on office. But, if you look at the demographics of what makes a successful retailer, it's the energy level created by having shopping mixed with entertainment, such as multiplex theaters, and food, creating a destination for the community.
Our vision for the urban retail at 2000 Avenue of the Stars is centered on a unique four-acre park. To find a private park of our size and scale within the urban fabric of Southern California is unique. We plan on a two-level pavilion restaurant with an outdoor terrace overlooking the park on the top of the building, and a second restaurant directly at the lower park level on the bottom. On the south side of the Park, we will locate four to six quick-service restaurants that are targeted toward the lunch and early-dinner crowd. When you consider the daytime population of Century City is 30,000 business employees, you have the ability to create an energetic environment attracting tenants and visitors to the retail, restaurants, and cafes at lunch. In the evening, the destination restaurant will draw visitors to enjoy the location and intimacy of the park. Century City has several new residential developments planned, and new residents will be able to walk and enjoy the nighttime environment.
The park provides an anchor for activity and programming. When you look at Bryant Park in New York, which is considered one of the most successful public spaces in the United States, its size, scale, and design are very similar to what we have planned. It is a four-acre park, with the Bryant Park Grill and several other restaurants. It has a very successful programming element that drives evening and weekend activity, including movies in the park, music and art festivals, and large-scale events on the weekends.
You have suggested that entitling 2000 Avenue of the Stars was difficult. How did you deal with EIR issues like traffic congestion?
We worked very closely with Councilman Weiss' office and the community homeowners association during the EIR review process to address traffic and other issues related to a new development on the Westside. The entitlement process was slow, as is any entitlement/development process in Los Angeles and in particular on the Westside. However, I do believe there was collaboration among stakeholder groups to reach a consensus to deliver an entitled project that met everyone's objectives. The effort required a lot of community outreach and coordination with our consultant team. Ultimately, we believe that when you consider the public amenities of this project, i.e. the park, the cultural pavilion, and the restaurants and cafes, this development will be used by daytime office residents and the surrounding community on evenings and weekends.
Construction of this ambitious project started in April. Could you give us a sense of the construction time-line going forward?
One of our challenges is construction over an existing six-story parking structure. We couldn't just implode the existing structure like you see on television and in Las Vegas. Our team of consultants designed a pretty unique construction process that allows us to demolish the existing structures while we are actually in the lower levels of the parking structure, building new footings and columns as the structural foundation for the new structure. We are probably about a month away from completing demolition, which was a six-month process due to asbestos removal from the old exterior curtain wall panels. The asbestos removal is ongoing while we complete the demolition and undertake ongoing construction underground. When we complete the demolition at the end of December, we will be about 80 percent complete on the new structural foundation. Steel erection will commence in late January and early February, at which point the columns will be complete. There is a unique counterbalancing system that will maintain the leveling of the parking structure as additional weight is loaded on the building during steel erection. The steel will be topped out by September 2005 and the building enclosed by the first quarter of 2006. We anticipate TCO in October of 2006, about two years from today. A normal construction cycle for a building of this size is generally about 22 to 24 months, but because of the demolition and abatement, we had an additional six months of time tacked onto the construction.
Who are the likely tenants for 2000 Avenue of the Stars? Which developments are your competitors for these tenants?
Like all developers, we believe we have a unique product unlike any other competitive asset in the market. Currently, Century City is the softest market on the Westside, with about fourteen percent direct vacancy. We have had increased lease activity in the last three to four months, and anticipate market activity will dramatically accelerate in 2005. The Santa Monica market is on fire right now, and we believe that market will be fully occupied with little space available by February of next year; tenants of any size will be locked out of expansion other than opportunities in Century City or one alternative in Westwood. Within a short three- to four-month timeframe, the Westside market will tighten, and vacancy rates will decline rather dramatically over the next year.
Our project will compete with the top-tier buildings: 1999, MGM, and Fox. We believe 1999 Avenue of the Stars will be effectively full by the middle of 2005, leaving Fox Plaza and potentially sublease space at MGM as the only alternatives. We will have limited available space at the Century Plaza Towers, currently 85 percent leased with very few large contiguous blocks of space available. We believe 2000 Avenue of the Stars will be the only building in late 2006 and 2007 that can deliver contiguous space in excess of 100,000 to 150,000 sq. ft.
Lastly, Trammell Crow invests all over the country. Why is Century City attractive?
2000 Avenue of the Stars is the last large entitled office project on the Westside, and there will not be competitive product built in the next three to five years, based on current entitlements. Century City is a market in transition, with major capital investment underway by property owners. Santa Monica Boulevard, after 30 years of planning, will finally be completed in early 2006 and will create a dramatic, landscaped parkway with expanded lanes and a synchronized traffic light system connecting Century City with the 405 Freeway, improving the speed of ingress and egress to Century City.
Fox Studios is building another 200,000 sq. ft. on their lot, the last entitled project on their facility. 1888 Century Park East was acquired by Beacon and CarrAmerica and is being renovated. The Northrop/Herb life building is being renovated, Westfield Shoppingtown is expanding and repositioning, and the former Century City Hospital - now Doctor's Hospital - directly adjacent to the Century Plaza Towers has been acquired and is being renovated to a state-of-the-art surgery center. There are also three sites in Century City and close proximity with plans to include another 2,000 new high-density residential units. By 2006, Century City will be dramatically repositioned and reinstated as the crown jewel of office environments in Southern California. We truly believe that upon completion of this renovation activity Century City will be restored to its place as the premier master-planned office community, as envisioned by Alcoa in the late 1960s.
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