Barrister takes top position in ranking of executive suite firms.

The No. 1-ranked executive office suite lessor on this week's List, Barrister Executive Suites Inc., has boosted its revenues by collecting fees as a property manager for many suites in addition to leasing places it then rents out. It has also succeeded in moving home-based business owners and employees of Fortune 500 companies into its spaces.

An executive office suite lessor typically leases office space and rents it out to various lawyers, accountants or other professionals. The lessor also provides a common receptionist, conference room and office equipment for the professionals to share. These suite firms are ranked in this week's List according to the amount of their rentable space in L.A. County.

Santa Monica-based Barrister reported revenues of $12.5 million during 1994, more than double the $6 million in reported in 1990, said Chairman and CEO Vince Otte. Its 1993 revenues were $11 million.

Barrister doesn't lease about half of the 510,000 square feet it handles. Instead, it manages space for owners who already built out offices for tenants which for some reason didn't move in, Otte said.

In these cases, the landlords pay Barrister a fee to manage the property. Barrister finds tenants and provides receptionists, furniture and equipment for them.

Recession offset

The company began contracting its property management services in 1990. That service provided it with a stable income during the recession. At that time landlords were charging more rent for space it leased, but Barrister couldn't pass the rent along to its tenants, Otte said. Several small executive office suite lessors went out of business during the recession because they couldn't pass along their rent increases, he said.

Another source of Barrister's business comes from home-based professionals who find an executive suite provides more advantages. For one, records and documents may be safer there because many executive suites are located in high-rise office buildings, which are more immune to the floods, mudslides and fires that have wracked many Southland homes recently, Otte said.

Another advantage: An executive suite helps to create a separation between a professional's home and work lives, without a long commute, he said.

Also, during the past couple of years employees at several Fortune 500 companies have been using Barrister's space. These include GE Capital Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, Otte said.

For these companies, "it's very flexible. They can move in and out with very short notice and they don't have to put any capital in," he said.

Movin' on up

Meanwhile, Omni Offices Los Angeles, ranked No. 9 in 1993, formed a partnership with Carlsbad-based Western Business Centers Inc. in 1994. Omni was ranked No. 9 on the 1993 List and Western No. 5, but the combined space catapulted the entity to the No. 3 spot this year. Omni Offices/Western primarily rents space to computer hardware and software salespeople.

Headquarters Co., a New York-based franchisee of San Francisco-based HQ Network Systems, was ranked No. 2 on the 1993 List. But, now called HQ Business Centers, it isn't on this year's roster because last November it temporarily closed its sole L.A. County office (in Century City), said a company spokeswoman who wished to remain anonymous. The franchisee hasn't announced where or when it will reopen in L.A., the spokeswoman added.

Taking the No. 2 spot now is Long Beach-based CEO Executive Suites, with 157,000 square feet of space in L.A. County.

There are also several newcomers to this week's List. These are No. 12-ranked Esquire Executive Suites, based in El Segundo; No. 13-ranked Paul Fegen Executive Suites, based in Los Angeles; No. 14-ranked Tower Office Center, based in Burbank; No. 15-ranked American Office Centers, based in Commerce; No. 22-ranked Interoffice/Los Angeles, based in L.A.; and No. 25-ranked Maruko California Inc., based in Los Angeles.