$1M broker bonus on 100,000 sf at Rising’s Trust Building

Bounty offered as spur in DTLA, where office leasing lags other local markets

Rising Realty CEO Christopher Rising and the Trust Building at 433 S. Spring Street in Los Angeles (Christopher Rising, The Trust Bldg.)
Rising Realty CEO Christopher Rising and the Trust Building at 433 S. Spring Street in Los Angeles (Christopher Rising, The Trust Bldg.)

In the market for 100,000 square feet of office space? Rising Realty is trying to reel in tenants (and their brokers) with a new sort of marketing ploy.

The firm is offering a $1 million bonus to tenant brokers that bring a tenant for at least 100,000 square feet at its 300,000-square-foot Trust Building in Downtown L.A., according to marketing materials seen by The Real Deal. Cushman & Wakefield is marketing the building on behalf of Rising Realty.

The entire building also has a restaurant space that’s expected to open in 2022, according to the marketing documents. The building also has 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a gym.

One floor of office space is leased and occupied at the building, according to Rising Realty.

If a broker signs a tenant to a minimum of 10 years at the building, Rising Realty will offer $1 million. Rising Realty will offer a prorated amount on a tenant that takes more than 40,000 square feet for at least seven years. It also will pay a bonus of $3 per square foot on smaller deals.

C&W’s Mike Condon told The Real Deal the bonus wasn’t an act of desperation.

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“It’s been awhile since we’ve seen big office deals in Downtown L.A.,” he said. “We want to be the first to get it.”

The firm said it has identified seven firms that are actively looking for 100,000 square feet or more in Los Angeles. Condon didn’t drop any names, but said a variety of law firms, fashion companies, media companies and government entities in the market for space.

The Trust Building is by no means the only property struggling amid high vacancy levels. Almost a third of all office space in Downtown Los Angeles is currently vacant, according to a Savills report from the second quarter.

The building isn’t even the only building that completed a big renovation during the pandemic — in fact, it’s one of seven, Condon said.

“Everyone is in the same boat with newly renovated projects,” Condon said. The bonus “is just another point of differentiation.”