GSA Takes 74,000 Square Feet in Downtown LA

Downtown Los Angeles still has not recovered from the pandemic, with large swaths of office space sitting empty, but that hasn’t deterred the General Services Administration from signing a new lease there.

The independent U.S. agency, which acts as the government’s landlord, signed a lease for 74,056 square feet for the Federal Public Defenders Central District of California in the Civic Center district, JLL announced. The new offices will be in the southern annex on a block that once was home to the headquarters of the Los Angeles Times and known as Times-Mirror Square.

GSA’s space spans a number of floors in Onni Group’s 145 South Spring Street, and the largest federal defender office in the U.S. will move into the space in the first quarter of 2027.

The GSA liked the property “due to its proximity to courthouses, landlord’s ability to fund and perform tenant improvements, and overall competitive economics on the lease,” JLL’s Peter Hajimihalis said. Lease details weren’t immediately available.

Hajimihalis and JLL colleagues James Malone, Dana Vargas and Howard Traul represented Onni in the deal along with Onni Group’s in-house leasing team of Neal Linthicum and Malcolm Kluth. Timothy Pavek at Carpenter/Robbins Commercial Real Estate worked on behalf of GSA.

Federal Public Defenders Central District of California will be relocating from 321 East 2nd Street in the Little Tokyo part of DTLA.

Developer Onni Group, headquartered in Vancouver, acquired the 10-story, 243,749-square-foot 145 South Spring Street in September 2016 for $105 million, per property records. The structure is a historical part of the Times-Mirror Square four-building office complex. The building was integral to the LA Times’ operations for 70 years until the company relocated in 2018.

The publication has a small fraction of the staff and revenue it commanded at its heights. It sold off Times-Mirror Square under prior ownership and now is located in El Segundo at a building in the portfolio of current owner Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Onni has been investing in Downtown L.A. in recent years, erecting Olympic + Hill rental tower with 685 units and 45,000 square feet of amenity space at 230 West Olympic Boulevard.

Its other DTLA office assets include two buildings in South Park: the 12-story, 159,561-square-foot 315 West 9th Street and the five-story, 69,700-square-foot 1212 South Flower Street. It also owns the 17-story, 311,300-square-foot 600 Wilshire Boulevard in the Financial District.