Glendale-based ServiceTitan has leased five of 12 vacant floors at 800 N. Brand Blvd., space formerly occupied by Nestlé USA. ServiceTitan, which makes an app to help plumbers, electricians and other home improvement professionals handle scheduling and billing, will retain its current headquarters across the street at 801 N. Brand Blvd. Fresh off series D funding, the tech startup will take 125,000 square feet, or about five floors, at the building owned by Beacon Capital Partners. Also, ServiceTitan will put its name on the building. Suzanne Lee of Cushman & Wakefield represented ServiceTitan. Tim Miller, Patrick Church and Anneke Greco with JLL represented landlord Beacon. Ara Mahdessian, co-founder and chief executive of ServiceTitan, told the Business Journal the space was needed to accommodate the company’s growth. ServiceTitan expects its payroll to reach 1,000 employees by the end of the year and go up to nearly 2,000 next year, he said. To attract the best people, the unicorn needs be in the highest-grade office space with the best amenities and most productive environment, Mahdessian said. “Beacon has been a willing partner to make that kind of investment to create that ultimate work environment for the future home of ServiceTitan,” he added. About 71 percent of the building is currently leased, with about 150,000 square feet, or about six floors, still open. ServiceTitan will begin its expansion from the current offices across the street during the next few months. Since last year’s sale of the 800 N. Brand tower by Piedmont Office Realty Trust to Beacon, CBRE Group no longer leases the former Nestlé floors, which reverted to direct leasing. “Beacon bought out of the sublease,” CBRE Senior Vice President Natalie Bazarevitsch told the Business Journal. “Piedmont gave them a discount with the connection to the buyout.” CBRE still manages the leasing at 801 N. Brand, where “we have watched ServiceTitan continually grow,” Bazarevitsch said. She added that ServiceTitan still has 4.5 years remaining on its 801 N. Brand commitment. “We literally are 99.99 percent leased (at 801 N. Brand) and couldn’t accommodate their growth,” Bazarevitsch added. Overall, downtown Glendale continues to enjoy a renaissance for its office-space corridor. “All of the class A (except for 330 N. Brand) has traded in the main thoroughfares,” Bazarevitsch said, and the owners of such edifices are continuing to renovate. For example, Brand 801 is working on its plaza and lobby and Cruzan-owned 505 N. Brand is investing $12 million into a lobby refresh. In addition to ServiceTitan’s assumption of five floors, longtime 801 N. Brand tenant Children’s Hospital — which occupied several floors before absorbing four of the former Nestlé floors in the last couple years — will be taking on an additional 36,000 square feet, or 1.5 floors, at 801 N. Brand Blvd. for an overall presence of 100,000 square feet. WREN in Burbank Women’s Real Estate Network, known as WREN, held “Ignite the Fire,” a day’s worth of seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Marriott Burbank Airport hotel on March 23. Roughly 350 professionals from all parts of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley attended. At the afternoon session, Christina Suter, founder of Ground Level Consulting, moderated a panel discussion peopled by Huffington Post real estate columnist Jennifer Maldonado, real estate attorney and Rad Firm Managing Partner Monique Rad-Stein; investor Karla Olivares; Ridge Lending Group Chief Executive Caeli Ridge; and inventor and U-direct President Karen Hall. Hall shared a memorable experience of how one person came to her with an unsecured note and upon peeling back the onion, she learned that the man had bilked a veteran who had saved half a million dollars in her IRA account (which usually has a $100,000 ceiling) and, according to the person representing her, needed to cash out $500,000 on her house, which was worth only $50,000. “She had worked like a dog to get $500,000 all her life in the military,” Hall said. Addressing the big mistakes they see, Olivares cited clients with a “lack of humility and willingness to be coachable” while Rad-Stein quipped: “please don’t lie to your attorney.” Ridge said she dreads what she calls the “tire-kickers,” who pick your brain for information and yet won’t engage in any business. “Don’t waste my time and your time,” she said. Founded by Liza Rogers, who also spoke from the event, WREN has five chapters in Phoenix, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and the flagship one in Los Angeles. Rogers told the room, “We’re learning as we go… I should say we’re learning as we grow.” Staff Reporter Michael Aushenker can be reached at (818) 316-3123 or [email protected].
