Rising Realty Partners in contract to buy One California Plaza for roughly $460M: sources

Nelson Rising, Chris Rising and the Cal Plaza towers
Nelson Rising, Chris Rising and the Cal Plaza towers

Rising Realty Partners is in contract to buy one of the most prominent buildings on Downtown L.A.’s skyline, The Real Deal has learned.

Rising, the firm helmed by Downtown developer Nelson Rising and his son Chris Rising, has agreed to buy One California Plaza for a price of around $460 million, or around $460 per square foot, sources with knowledge of the deal told TRD. The seller, Beacon Capital Partners, paid $144.6 million for the roughly 1 million-square-foot, 42-story building at 300 S. Grand Avenue in 2013, according to CoStar Group data.

It’s unclear if Rising will bring in a partner on the deal. Representatives of the firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives of Beacon could not be reached.

When Eastdil Secured listed the property in January, sources told TRD it could sell for as much as $450 million. Representatives for the brokerage could not be reached for comment Monday.

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The property is roughly 90 percent leased, CoStar shows. If it closes, it would come close to, but not exceed, the priciest per-square-foot transaction Downtown: the $486 a square foot acquisition of Chase Plaza, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.

Beacon has listed the property in the past, but had no luck finding a buyer when it didn’t own the land underneath the building, sources said. It purchased the fee interest in the property for $33.4 million from CRA/LA in November 2016, making the property more marketable, sources said.

Rising’s portfolio spans from older long-term-hold buildings to new developments. The firm bought the Garland Center last year and is working on a historic renovation of One Bunker Hill. When Rising completed its $25 million creative office revamp of the historic PacMutual Campus, it leased the transformed property to 90 percent and then sold  it for $200 million — a record Downtown sale at the time.