Jamison Lands $195M for L.A. Office Tower Conversion

The developer behind a long-awaited office-to-residential conversion project near Downtown Los Angeles has landed construction financing to start getting shovels in the ground.

L.A.-based Jamison secured $195 million for the buildout of 1055 West Seventh Street, a 33-story, roughly 620,000-square-foot tower adjacent to Highway 110. Prime Finance provided the loan, according to Traded. The 1987-built tower was once the home and bore the name of oil company Arco, though was redubbed as 1055 West Seventh after the company relocated in the late 1990s. 

Neither Jamison — one of the most active firms converting office space into housing —  nor the lender immediately responded to requests for comment. 

Jamison in 2023 filed plans to redevelop the tower, which had also previously housed L.A. Care Health Plan. At 686 units, it is among the largest adaptive reuse projects in L.A. history. 

The family-owned firm, helmed by Jaime Lee, has completed seven adaptive reuse projects since 2013, with three currently under construction and another 10 in the pipeline, including 1055 West 7th. The developer is planning similar conversions for the World Trade Center Los Angeles building, which it acquired in 2004, as well as 3325 Wilshire Boulevard, a 13-story property in L.A.’s Koreatown neighborhood. 

Jamison was in the process of securing entitlements for the 1055 West 7th conversion as of September, Lee told Commercial Observer at the time. The developer began construction on the tower earlier this month, a Jamison spokesperson said.

“We think of adaptive reuse as just a very fancy [tenant improvement],” Lee said at the time. “So we’re going that route to address the housing need, and to give new life to these existing office assets that we have.”

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