The Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympics and Paralympic Games will relocate Downtown as the city gears up to host the 2028 summer games.
The nonprofit headed by Casey Wasserman has leased 160,000 square feet at the 32-story USC Tower at 1150 South Olive Street in LBA Realty’s South Park Center office complex, according to a report by brokerage Savills and a source with knowledge of the deal.
Terms of LA28’s lease were not disclosed, but average asking rent for office space in Downtown Los Angeles was $3.72 per square foot in the last quarter of 2024, according to Savills — lower than the city’s overall average of $3.95 per square foot during the same period.
A spokesperson for landlord broker CBRE declined to comment. Spokespeople for LBA, Mayor Karen Bass’ office and the organizing committee, also known as LA28, did not respond to requests for comment.
LA28 has had an office at 10900 Wilshire Boulevard since it formed in 2015, tax filings show. The organizers previously hoped for Los Angeles to host the 2024 summer Olympics and were eventually successful with the city’s 2028 bid. The massive preparation effort will kick into high gear this year and is projected to cost $6.3 billion in venue infrastructure and other expenses, according to LA28’s most recent annual report.
The committee’s relocation Downtown was the largest office lease signed in Los Angeles last quarter, and it gives the city’s central business hub a welcome economic boost as office landlords struggle to fill vacant floors and ride out a wave of defaults in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even with the leg up from LA28, the availability rate Downtown ticked up in the fourth quarter to 33.4 percent from 31 percent the previous quarter, according to Savills.
Overall, leasing activity was up year-over-year in Los Angeles last year, with 13.7 million square feet worth of deals signed in 2024 compared to 10.5 million square feet in 2023. That’s still a sluggish pace compared to the 17.9 million square feet of office deals signed the year before the pandemic.