The Challenge

As an early mixed use building, the property had its share of retail design challenges such as grade differentials, no grease shafts for restaurant, loading + trash. In addition, at the time Westwood had a perception as a broken retail environment; and a time when single-story retail was the norm and tenants were uncertain about being in a vertical project.

The Solution.

CBRE started by quantifying the underserved office population, affluent residential that was abutting and of course, the university and the UCLA medical campus.

Educating the targeted prospects on the favorable demographics, with VOID analysis showing sales opportunity, CBRE evaluated the site with tenants and solicited proposals, as well as a few retail success stories.

Lastly, CBRE solved for operational difficulties such as floating floors, interior ramping, grease shafts through parking lots, etc.

The Outcome

We secured best-in-class neighborhood serving tenants such as Trader Joes, Rite Aid, Comerica Bank, Phenix Salon Suites, in addition to a number of fast casual restaurant tenants. This increased demand and value of the apartments above and ignited a renaissance of retail in Westwood Village.