CBRE recently announced that they are renovating a former 10,000-square-foot Kate Mantilini restaurant space at 5921 Owensmouth Ave. in Woodland Hills, CA into a new, forward-thinking office space for roughly 50 employees. The office design is in support of the company’s global Workplace360 initiative, which leverages technology to increase employees’ flexibility, productivity, and mobility.

Connect Media’s Daniella Soloway caught up with CBRE’s Managing Director David Josker to discuss what made the Warner Center property attractive, and how the set-up will benefit employees.

Q. What attracted CBRE to the San Fernando Valley for its newest workplace?

A. We view the Warner Center as the heart of the San Fernando Valley, and with the robust growth projections in the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan, we saw a strategic advantage in planting our flag in the middle of it.  It was also part of our overall strategy to service the Los Angeles North Region, where we have 3 offices spread across 63 miles.  Last year we moved our LA North regional office farther east from Universal City to Glendale, putting us in the middle of the Tri Cities market.  This past week, we closed our Ventura County office in Camarillo, and reopened 8 miles to the north in Oxnard.  This final move into the Warner Center will have us strategically positioned to best service the region.

Q. What does being “address-less and paperless” mean and what are the intended consequences? 

A. Free address means that there are no assigned desks. Every morning when you get to the office, professionals sit wherever they want to and choose to. When people leave for the day, they remove all their work and personal items. We do provide lockers, if employees want to leave some of their things at the office. Cleaning staff then wipe down all the desks at the end of the day, so they are ready for use the next morning. This set-up provides the freedom to move around our space and collaborate with colleagues based on business needs, not on desk assignment. Paperless means we use technology to lessen our dependence on paper. We use a cloud-based technology to store and protect files. It creates flexibility and efficiency, and lets us focus on our clients and run our business. The intent of both concepts, address-free and paperless, is to make our professionals as mobile, efficient, collaborative and focused on our clients as possible.

Q. What kind of amenities (both physical and intangible) are being incorporated to make this a mobile/ flexible office? What trends are driving this shift?

A. Since we’re converting a former restaurant space, we’ve done some unique things with the patio area.  We’ll have retractable glass doors facing the patio, which will provide the opportunity to work inside or outside, overlooking the adjacent park. We will also incorporate the CBRE concierge program, a service offered to our professionals where our concierge handle tasks such as dry cleaning, carwash, gas fill up and grocery pick-up.  We are always looking for ways to give back time to our professionals, which  results in a better quality of life for our people.