Is Hollywood the New Silicon Strip? --- WOW... I know some of the people up here want really great restaurants, etc. They want it to be like Downtown... i keep saying, LA Downtown has a zillion lawyers roaming around looking for good food... Maybe there is hope for Hollywood after all! I like the sound of Silicon Strip! --- Eli Weisman, vice president at Trailer Park, said that one of Hollywood’s biggest selling points is that it is close to the midpoint for reaching the industry. He said it is too hard to get to Santa Monica or Burbank. Jesse Middleton of WeWork Labs agreed. Noting he was from New York, he said he had no idea what a pain it is to get across the 405. He added that with media companies and studios close by, Hollywood provides the ecosystem that allows entrepreneurs to connect with their customers. Meanwhile Sharath Cherian, CEO of the start-up Cheri Media, said it was important to be in Hollywood to stay close to the action. His firm has developed the largest Hip Hop website in the world. Moderator Dave Gajda announced the newly-coined Silicon Strip term, and told people to remember where they first heard it used. Keynote speaker Kevin Winston, the Founder/CEO of Digital L.A., explained what L.A. start-ups are looking for and how Hollywood needs to position itself. He suggested that Hollywood work to create real estate projects that tech firms want, that we need to attract venture capitalists and accelerators which tend to be a magnet for start-up firms, that we need to provide tax incentives, that we should provide a guide to doing tech business here, that we actively market Hollywood as a tech community and that we encourage tech events to be held here. Of course, this being Hollywood, there was still a focus on real estate. David Simon, executive vice president of Kilroy Realty Corp., reported that his firm has acquired two important Hollywood properties – the 6255 Sunset Building and the Columbia Square block. “All the underpinnings in the market are here to serve the new media world,” he stressed. “The infrastructure here is what we were interested in.” He noted that Kilroy was underway with major upgrades at 6255 Sunset to reposition the building as a premier destination for creative media. They have also broken ground on Columbia Square, with restoration underway on the historic Columbia Square buildings, which will be followed next year with the beginning of construction on 330,000-sq.ft. of new office space designed specifically for tech and entertainment companies. Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Property Owners Alliance, explained what changing demographics mean for Hollywood. She reported the average age of new Hollywood arrivals is 34 and that they are predominantly male (although that is beginning to change). They are “aspirational” and primarily students, professionals and entertainment employed. They have a preference for urban living and are seeking excitement, connectedness and convenience. “People who are here want to be,” she stressed. “This is the future of Hollywood that we need to accommodate. We are the model for the 21st century.” Following up on Morrison’s assessment of the new residents, Brianne Howser, Senior Marketing Manager of Walgreens, talked about why her firm decided to locate one of their new flagship stores in Hollywood at the intersection of Sunset and Vine. She noted that Hollywood provided strong demand and dense population, a location with multiple generators of customers, and allowed Walgreens to test new concepts. Attendees also received a peek at construction and plans for Emerson College’s Hollywood campus, which is scheduled for completion the end of this year. The college is one of Hollywood’s 20 post-secondary schools. Its building, which is already being referred to as iconic, was designed by famed architect Thom Mayne’s Morphosis firm.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:37:08 +0000
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