The days of scouring the city for homemade baked goods and fresh café fare have ended for downtown Glendale, California, business professionals. Specialty’s Café & Bakery has leased space and is opening its first Tri-City location in CB Richard Ellis Investors’ (CBREI) 500 North Brand building, adjacent to the plaza. Specialty’s Café & Bakery, joining the ranks of businesses that enjoy the building’s five-star concierge services and Gold LEED certification, is known throughout California, Washington, and Illinois for combining its made-fresh-daily food and coffee items with innovative online ordering.

The opening marks the sixth Specialty’s Café & Bakery in Southern California and the first café of its kind at 500 North Brand. “Our mission is to continually enhance our 5-Star Worldwide amenities,” says Ming Lee, asset manager for CBREI. “We welcome Specialty’s Café & Bakery as another great amenity, not only for the businesses in our building, but also for those in our area. Everyone will be able to enjoy fresh Peet’s Coffee, and made-fresh-daily snacks and meals just steps away from their offices.”

Located on the ground floor, the 3,900-square-foot café offers outdoor patio seating adjacent to the plaza courtyard and has an indoor seating area. “We are thrilled to open our doors to the Glendale community as a partner with CBREI and the 500 North Brand building,” says Sean Reiter, vice president of branding and sales at Specialty’s Café & Bakery. “It takes a strong location to get us to expand into a new market, and we believe we have found a great opportunity with CBRE. Our goal is to meet the need for fresh, homemade breakfast, lunch, and coffee options in the Glendale area by providing top-notch service and food quality for which Specialty’s Café & Bakery is known.”

500 North Brand is the first Class A high-rise office building in Glendale to achieve the Gold LEED distinction, having made substantial changes in building operations in order to satisfy LEED O&M certification requirements in six categories. In the certification process, the project team document water savings in excess of 2.1 gallons of water annual in the restroom fixtures and an additional 55 percent reduction in irrigation water usage compared to typical systems. In keeping with CBREI’s commitment to protecting the environment and at the same time providing optimum customer service to its tenants, the 500 North Brand management team has established an extensive recycling program, which includes paper, plastic, and glass, as well as a quarterly electronics waste recycling roundup. The office paper recycling program alone averages 6.75 tons annually equaling 625 trees saved.