Soft market for office space has developers adding amenities like daycare, detailing.

Soft market for office space has developers adding amenities like daycare, detailing

With the commercial real estate market increasingly soft, Los Angeles developers are taking what amounts to a holistic approach to office space. Fast disappearing are the days when, lease rates and freeway access meant everything.

"It's like an auto dealer throwing in an air conditioner for free on a new car. It makes the car worth more," said Debbi Baron, vice president of Gensler & Associates/ Architects, a Century City-based architectural and interior design firm.

Developers are converting office space - some of which could have gone unrented - into fitness centers, day care facilities, concierge services, restaurants and shopping.

The tenant amenities are more than just perks; they have great impact on employee productivity and the company's bottom line, explained Maria Geisey, vice president of project development at Steinmann Grayson & Smylie, an interior design firm.

Geisey said that when companies begin their search for a new location they analyze the cost of land in the area, the availability of a skilled and educated workforce and access to mass transportation.

But companies also examine what services are located close by. That may not be a problem in downtown Los Angeles or Santa Monica, but Geisey said the amenities issue takes on extra importance when a company is considering moving to an outlying area without as many shops and services.

For that reason, the Voit Cos. has emphasized the amenities in the new Warner Center towers because the area had a paucity of services. Voit's Warner Center Plaza has a day care center, three restaurants, a printing facility, a shoeshine shop, a dry cleaner, a convenience store and an auto detailing center.

The development company has also developed an extensive ride-sharing program and has installed showers and lockers in the building parking lots for bicycle commuters.

But even new downtown developments such as Maguire-Thomas Partners First Interstate World Center and Wells Fargo Center have concierge service, restaurants and shopping inside the building.

To determine workers' favorite amenities, Steinmann Grayson & Smylie conducted a survey of Los Angeles-area employees and discovered that workers chose an in-house cafeteria as their favorite building amenity.

The employees next favorite services included a day care facility, a fitness center, bank teller, a dry cleaning shop, a gift shop and a travel center.

Geisey said that these amenities are not just beneficial to employees. Employers also receive important economic benefits from them.

For example, if all employees have to drive elsewhere for lunch, they may have trouble eating lunch within their allotted lunch hour, said Geisey. If 500 or more employees are just three to four minutes late returning from lunch day, it could cost the company more than $1 million each year in lost productivity, she said. This does not even include the time spent on other errands.

Plus, an in-house cafeteria or restaurant can promote interaction between employees and management, Geisey added.

Day care, which has grown in popularity in the past few years, helps promote interaction between employees and their children during breaks and the lunch hour.

Geisey said that 70 percent of workers that request day care centers are women, but 30 percent were men - a percentage that has risen dramatically in recent years.

One company, Agoura Hills-based Children's Wonderland, specialized in building and running day care centers in commercial office buildings.

Company founder and president Debby Berthiuame, who describes day care as "the benefit of the 90s", did market research surveys and found a strong demand for child care at the work site.

As child care becomes a necessity in the 90s and not just a perk, companies will have to offer it to attract the best employees, Berthiuame explained. "If an employee is considering five job offers," she said, "they will select the job that offers child care."

On-site child care also helps employees by reducing absenteeism and enables women to return to work sooner after pregnancy, she added.

The company works with developers in the planning stages to construct child care centers that have been designed specifically for use in office buildings. Children's Wonderland signs a long term lease for the space and operates the center.

The nation's largest child care chains, said Berthiaume, are just now considering building centers in office buildings or industrial parks, but the majority of their centers are in residential areas.

Berthiaume, who has 20 years of child care experience and who founded and operated the Woodland Village School, offers extensive services including a family resource center, which offers counseling and support services for all family members. The center also maintains an "open door policy" enabling parents to welcome to visit their children at any time, even during lunch time and breaks.

Children's Wonderland will also stay open extra hours to meet needs of companies during their peaks season workloads such as CPA firms during tax time. Plus special weekend hours can also be arranged.

Gensler, the Century City interior designer and architect, is also renovating several office buildings including the twin triangular Century City Plaza Towers at 2029 and 2049 Century Park East and Colorado Place in Santa Monica.

Because the twin Century City towers are now 10 years old, Gensler was contracted to add a food court in the lower level and upgrade the lobby's interior.

The improvements will also help the towers compete with the new 1999 Century Park East building just across the street, Baron explained.