Avison Young Downsizes in Move to Figueroa at Wilshire in LA
The global advisory firm is moving from a smaller office at City National Plaza
By Greg Cornfield May 24, 2021 8:35 pm
reprints
Avison Young’s office in Downtown Los Angeles is downsizing and changing locations, but it isn’t going far.
The global advisory firm signed an 11-year lease with Brookfield (BN) Properties for 9,647 square feet on the 44th floor of Figueroa at Wilshire. The lease, which starts in February 2022, is 26 percent smaller than its current 13,105-square-foot office at City National Plaza — owned by CommonWealth Partners and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System — kitty-corner across the street.
The lease likely comes with a sense of deja vu for the respective landlords. In 2018, CBRE (CBRE) Global Investors announced a similar move from City National Plaza to Brookfield’s Figueroa at Wilshire.
Avison Young is moving to the 1 million-square-foot tower at 601 South Figueroa Street after looking for a hybrid workplace design for “a post-COVID world.” As opposed to a static desk and workspace, the office features numerous “huddle” or break-out rooms, and the design is focused on flexibility.
“While the pandemic required everyone to implement new technologies to communicate and collaborate, it reinforced our credence that the office is fundamentally important to people-based businesses like ours,” Chris Cooper, Avison Young’s managing director in Southern California, said in a statement.
Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers occupies about 135,000 square feet at Figueroa at Wilshire, and its logo is atop the structure. The company signed a 15-year deal about nine years ago and moved from 350 South Grand Avenue nearby.
Brookfield Properties is one of the largest commercial landlords in L.A., and also owns the nearby building at 725 South Figueroa Street, as well as the 2.4 million-square-foot Wells Fargo Center complex at 333 South Grand Avenue, and the 2 million-square-foot California Market Center. The firm is redeveloping the amenity space at the Wells Fargo Center on Bunker Hill as part of a $60 million renovation.
