Los Angeles’ US Bank Tower to Get $60M Makeover

Silverstein Properties has revealed plans for a substantial renovation of the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. The real estate company will invest $60 million in a capital improvement program that will reposition the iconic 1.4 million-square-foot office skyscraper into a hospitality-centric workspace destination.

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Silverstein had announced its intent to submit the U.S. Bank Tower to a substantial upgrade back in September of 2020, when the company completed the largest Los Angeles office transaction of the year with the $430 million acquisition of the property from Singapore-based OUE Ltd., which had owned the asset since 2013. Rising 72 stories at 633 W. Fifth St., the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners-designed high-rise, the second-tallest building in Los Angeles at 1,018 feet, made its debut in 1989 as a project of Maguire Properties. The LEED Gold-certified property has maintained its luster over the years, and most recently benefited from roughly $60 million in capital improvements under OUE’s ownership.

With Silverstein now at the helm, the U.S. Bank Tower will see sweeping upgrades to 35,000 square feet of common space, starting with the main entrance and lobby, which will feature food and beverage options and lounge areas, and expanding throughout the property to include elevator modernization. Plans also call for the incorporation of a new mid-tower amenity space that will encompass a lounge with collaborative and focused work areas, as well as conference rooms, additional food and beverage offerings and an event space.

Architecture firm A + I and design firm Jeffrey Beers are aboard the project, which upon completion will have transformed the office building into a cutting-edge workplace environment akin to that of a boutique hotel, with an eye toward accommodating the evolving preferences and demands of today’s office dweller. The U.S. Bank Tower is presently 78 percent occupied and home to a variety of tenants, including leading law firms like Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, construction firm Skanska, production facility Capture Studios and, of course, U.S. Bank. Silverstein expects to commence the improvement program in the summer of 2021 and complete the project by the close of 2022.

The road ahead

New York-based Silverstein has been expanding its footprint beyond its backyard; the purchase of the U.S. Bank Tower marked the company’s first foray into ownership in the Western U.S. And Silverstein plans to continue to grow outside Manhattan. In December of 2020, the company, which first entered the life sciences market in 2017, announced a partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald and University Place Associates to develop and operate 3.0 University Place, a 250,000-square-foot lab and office building in Philadelphia. “We are looking at commercial and residential acquisition and development opportunities in cities across the U.S.,” a Silverstein spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive.