ELECTION ‘08
COMMENTARY
FOOD
COUNCIL CANDIDATES SPEAK OUT PAGE 3 SANTA MONICA NEEDS PROP. T PAGE 4 COUNTING CALORIES PAGE 7
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008
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Volume 7 Issue 277
Santa Monica Daily Press CRAZY FOR Q SEE PAGE 6
Since 2001: A news odyssey
THE SPREADING THE WORD ISSUE
Local businesses find more space, cheaper rents across city’s border BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
COLORADO AVE The announcement last week that advertising giant Rubin Postaer and Associates will move from the Yahoo Center to spacier digs in Playa Vista marks the most recent transplant in a series of companies that have packed their bags and headed south, raising concerns about the price of commercial real estate and lack of space in Santa Monica. One of the largest advertising firms in
Southern California — with clients including American Honda, Blue Cross and am/pm — Rubin Postaer recently inked a lease agreement to occupy the former U.S. Postal Service building off of Jefferson Boulevard in two years. Gerry Rubin and Larry Postaer cofounded the agency in 1986 in West Los Angeles and relocated the business to Second Street in Downtown about five years later. The company quickly grew, expanding to four different offices in and around the Third Street Promenade, until in 2003 when they
all consolidated and moved into the Yahoo Center. With the company bulging at the seams again, executives began looking for a new home, surveying altogether more than 30 different properties on the Westside, ultimately choosing a 227,000 square foot facility in Playa Vista because of what it had to offer in cost and size. “One of our priorities was to be in a facility that we could brand,” Rubin said. “We just could not find such a space, such a facility in Santa Monica that would allow us the
opportunity to do that.” A handful of bigger businesses have uprooted the past decade in favor of cheaper and roomier possibilities in Culver City, Marina del Rey and Playa Vista where space is relatively more plentiful than in Santa Monica, a city that is mostly built out. Such was the case for the X PRIZE Foundation. In need of more room, the nonprofit moved last month from its long-time home on Fourth Street to Playa Vista. The SEE BUSINESSES PAGE 10
New medical center has some heart BY CHRISTINA WALKER Special to the Daily Press
15TH ST A heart attack can last just minutes, but damage to the organ is permanent. The good news is people in Santa Monica can do something about it. The California Heart Center Organization recently opened a new facility to help prevent such attacks and monitor the heart health of people in the community. “First and foremost we hope [the new center] will help more patients access the physicians we have available, and that they will be vigilant about their health and take advantage of the easily accessible center,” Christine Sumbi, vice president of the organization, said. The center, located at 1304 15th St., was designed with two primary concerns in mind. Due to the large amount of people using the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, cardiovascular patients were being transferred to the Santa MonicaUCLA Medical Center, causing a break in their care. Now patients will be able to stay
DODGER DANDY
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com Rudy Law (at table), who played for the Dodgers in the early '80s, made a guest appearance at Barney's Beanery on the Third Street Promenade Wednesday as fans gathered to watch the first game of the National League Division Series between the Blue Crew and the Chicago Cubs.
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