TCW inks largest pandemic-era office lease in DTLA

Asset management firm TCW Group has agreed to move its headquarters out of the 52-story TCW Tower in Downtown, a downsizing that comes as more of its employees work from home.

The company, with $264 billion assets under management, has signed a deal to move into about 140,000 square feet at one of two buildings at City National Plaza at 515 S. Flower St., CoStar reported. That’s about 40,000 square feet – or 22 percent – smaller than its current digs.

TCW will pull up stakes in 2024, when its lease ends at its namesake home at 865 S. Figueroa St., a 37-story skyscraper built in 1990.

The company agreed to relocate its headquarters to a smaller space Downtown as companies across the U.S. reassess their real estate needs after the coronavirus pandemic upended how and where people work, according to CoStar.

City National Plaza is owned by a joint venture between the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and CommonWealth Pacific Capital (CWP Capital). The joint venture paid $858 million, or roughly $330 per square foot, to acquire the property in the fall of 2013. It’s backed by $550 million from Morgan Stanley.

The tower was built in 1972 as the headquarters for Atlantic Richfield Corporation. It has two 52-story, 700-foot-tall office towers containing 2.3 million square feet of office space, and 244,432 square feet of retail space.

TCW, founded in 1971, has more than 600 employees and $266 assets under management in June 2021. Last year, it was named one of the best places to work in money management by Pensions & Investments magazine.

[CoStar] – Dana Bartholomew

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