LA Care inks deal to expand at Garland Center

L.A. Care Health Plan, a health insurance company, is expanding its space at the Garland Center building at 1200 W. 7th Street by 46,000 square feet, The Real Deal has learned.

The company, which covers low-income residents of L.A. County, already occupied a 100,915-square-foot space on the second and third floors, so the expansion brings its total footprint to nearly 147,000 square feet at the Downtown building. Its lease for the additional space will begin in 2019.

The lease value was not disclosed but rents at the 733,000-square-foot telecom building, owned by landlord Rising Realty Partners, average $2.75 a square foot a month, CoStar shows.

Darren Eades, Tim Miller, John McAniff and Dana Vargas represented Rising in the deal. Onno Zwaneveld of CBRE represented the tenant. Neither the brokers nor a representative for Rising could immediately be reached for comment.

The healthcare firm sought the additional space because its staff is growing, said Lance MacLean, the firm’s director of facilities. The company also has space at a sister building, at 1055 W. 7th Street.

A joint venture between H.I.G Realty Partners, Silverpeak Real Estate Partners and Nelson Rising’s eponymous firm bought the Garland Center building for $210 million in a complicated deal involving two ground leases and a building sale in June 2016.