Going up: Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank shifts U.S. office to LA’s Bunker Hill

Silverstein Properties has added a new tenant to its U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles, as it pushes on with its planned $60 million renovation of the property.

Silverstein signed Israeli bank Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank to a 10-year lease at the 73-story tower, the firm announced on Tuesday. Silverstein worked with JLL on the deal, while Newmark brokered the lease for the bank.

In March of next year, the bank will take up 7,500 square feet at the property for its new U.S. office. It’s a shift across Downtown Los Angeles for the bank, which currently houses its U.S. operations in offices on the 14th floor of 800 Wilshire, about a half mile away from its new offices.

Built in 1989, the tower is the second tallest in Los Angeles. Silverstein bought the property from Singapore-based OUE Limited for $430 million — a steep discount from the previous owner’s 2020 valuation of $633 million.

In June, the tower was 73 percent leased, with tenants including U.S. Bank, law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and Thomson Reuters.

Silverstein is currently working on its renovation of the property and hopes to turn the building into an “amenity-rich” office tower for financial firms and other companies, the firm’s head of leasing, Jeremy Moss, said in a statement.

The deal is a small boost for the Downtown L.A. office market, where vacancy rates hit 21.3 percent in the third quarter. Average asking rents for Class A office buildings was $3.74 per square foot in the same period, according to Newmark, slightly lower than $3.84 per square foot in the third quarter of 2020.