I need tips on how to find office space in Castaic, CA.

August 16, 2006 4:05 PM

I need tips on how to find office space in Castaic, CA.

I find myself in an unusual situation... a chunk of the non-commercial FM radio band was recently vacated in Castaic, CA. I'm representing a fledgling radio station that intends to attempt to acquire that space on the dial and relocate our station there from the Bay Area. Unfortunately... we're all in the Bay Area, and we are required to have a business address in Castaic in order to apply for this license with the FCC. I have no experience renting office space, a roughly two-week window in which to accomplish this, and a very limited budget.

Essentially what I need is a single room or very small suite, zoned commercial, which I can rent for $300-$400 per month. A month to month lease would be ideal, but a three or six month arrangement is possible. The issue is that we can't even APPLY until we have a location, but if we're turned down we can't afford to be saddled with an empty room in the middle of nowhere for a year or more.

I have no idea if this is even feasible, let alone where to start. Craigslist has no listings. I don't really want to deal with a real estate agent. I don't really want to have to drive to Castaic and look around for offices for rent. It may be possible for us to rent space within a certain distance of Castaic, perhaps 25 miles, but that hasn't been made clear to us yet.

posted by autojack to work & money (5 comments total)

Relocating and moving to Castaic

...but I'm not sure if Castaic has any office buildings. If you just need a room, you could always stay in the motel visible from I-5, formerly the 'googie' Caravan, but now a Days Inn, IIRC. If a location within 25 miles is viable you might have better luck in the nearby Santa Clarita-Magic Mountain metroplex.
posted by Rash at 4:24 PM on August 16, 2006

You sure you need office space? If all that's required is a mailing address, wouldn't a box at a Mailboxes Etc. or the like work?
posted by bac at 6:20 PM on August 16, 2006

A PO box definitely will not work. The reason this is a requirement is that, from what I understand, the FCC wants to ensure that (at least with non-commercial stations anyway) the people running the station really are local and are running it in the public interest, so to speak. I do have a feeling that there is some distance from your transmitter site where it is acceptable to have your business office. We just haven't confirmed that yet.

I've also seen a lot of stuff available in Valencia, so maybe that would be viable. The mere suggestion from someone (Rash) who has apprently been to Castaic that the city might not even HAVE office buildings, so to speak, might explain why I'm having a tough time finding any :)
posted by autojack at 7:04 PM on August 16, 2006

I have a friend who grew up and still lives in Castaic. He's out of town, but if you send me a reminder email in a couple of days, I'll ask him.
posted by Skychief at 8:44 PM on August 16, 2006

I live in Santa Clarita and I can't think of any office space in Castaic. The good news is that within 2 miles of Castaic (in the Valencia part of Santa Clarita) there is a huge amount of commercial property.
posted by sideshow at 10:10 PM on August 16, 2006