Federal Public Defender’s Office Expands in Downtown L.A.

The Trump administration cut a significant amount of federal office space in Southern California last year, but at least one agency is going the other way and expanding its footprint in Downtown Los Angeles. 

The General Services Administration (GSA), which handles the federal government’s non-military real estate portfolio, inked a 74,056-square-foot lease for the Federal Public Defenders Central District of California, at Onni Group’s 145 South Spring Street, adjacent to City Hall and LAPD’s headquarters. The 10-story, 243,749-square-foot office previously housed the L.A. Times for nearly 85 years (until the publication moved to El Segundo in 2018). 

The federal public defender’s office is relocating from its full-building, 54,827-square-foot lease at Capstone Equities’ 321 East 2nd Street, just one block southeast of its new digs. The agency is set to move within the first quarter of 2027. 

JLL’s Peter Hajimihalis, James Malone, Dana Vargas and Howard Traul represented Onni Group in the deal, alongside the landlord’s in-house team of Neal Linthicum and Malcolm Kluth. Carpenter/Robbins Commercial Real Estate’s Timothy Pavek represented the GSA. 

“The GSA was attracted to the building due to its proximity to courthouses, landlord’s ability to fund and perform tenant improvements, and overall competitive economics on the lease,” Hajimihalis said in a statement. 

Nearly 180,000 square feet of leases (Department of Government Efficiency claims notwithstanding) have officially been cut in California since the beginning of last year, according to Avison Young’s Federal Property Pulse. The biggest termination in L.A. so far was the Government Accountability Office’s roughly 16,400-square-foot lease at Jamsion’s 350 South Figueroa Street, per the brokerage. 

Meanwhile, Onni secured entitlements five years ago for a 1.51 million-square-foot project at the Spring Street property, which included plans for two towers with nearly 1,130 apartments, 307,300 square feet of office, and rehabilitated historic buildings. Yet that project was placed on hold late last year due to volatile economic conditions, Onni told the Wall Street Journal at the time. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.