A Guide to Office Market in Downtown Los Angeles
ABOUT THE DTLA ALLIANCE
Founded in 1998, the DTLA Alliance has been a catalyst in the transformation of Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) into a vibrant 24/7 destination. A coalition of more than 2,000 property owners in the Downtown Center, the DCBID members are united in their commitment to enhance the quality of life in Downtown LA.
The mission of the Economic Development team is to improve and revitalize the District and bring investment and new businesses to the area. We provide services to current and prospective residents, workers, and businesses, including:
• Development Consulting
• Research and Information Requests
• Events and Marketing
• Housing and Office Tours
• Customized Tours and Reports
Whether you need information on development, opening a business location, or you just want to learn more about Downtown’s market sectors and dynamics, we are the portal for information about the District and DTLA.
To learn more, visit www.DowntownLA.com.
DEFINITION OF DOWNTOWN LA
The DCBID defines Downtown Los Angeles as the area bounded by the 110, 101 and 10 freeways and the LA River, plus Chinatown, City West, and Exposition Park. Because these do not precisely align with census tracts, some of the data in this report includes areas just outside these boundaries.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With over 325,000 jobs, Downtown LA is the economic heart of the City of Los Angeles. It is the region’s largest and most diverse office market, with 40 million SF of traditional and creative space in an unparalleled collection of Class A towers, historic buildings, and industrial conversions. Equally important is the transformation DTLA has undergone in recent years, with a rapidly growing residential population and an explosion of arts and culture, dining and nightlife, sports and entertainment, that has made it as exciting and inspiring a place to live and visit as to work.
The quantity and quality of DTLA’s buildings, its infrastructure, central location and transit accessibility, and amenities are attracting an increasingly broad range of industries and companies. Once dominated by traditional office tenants, growth in recent years has come from the creative and tech sectors as well, which has in turn drawn a more diverse mix of professional talent that has helped to reshape DTLA as a place of innovation and creativity.
Over the last decade, office owners in Downtown LA have made significant investments in upgrading their properties – adding common areas, outdoor spaces, amenities, and services that enhance their overall appeal and ability to accommodate differing needs across industries, companies, and individuals, which has become even more important as modes of work have shifted over the past few years.
The convenience of DTLA’s central location and its abundance of amenities supports work-life balance
and hybrid modes of work. 57% of Downtown workers commute less than 7 miles, 62% of DTLA residents travel less than 5 miles to work, and 44% walk, bike, take transit, or work from home. The area’s social and cultural vibrancy, variety of dining and retail, and robust health and wellness offerings enable a unique integration of lifestyle and work, making DTLA a place where both workers and companies thrive.
The evolution of DTLA has been fueled by its growing residential population and increasing local and tourist visitation. The combination has transformed what was a traditional 9-to-5 business district into a dynamic 24/7 mixed-use destination. With those residents and visitors have come restaurants, retail, and services that make Downtown more convenient and appealing as a place to work as well. With a walkability score of 93, DTLA is uniquely pedestrianfriendly for LA, which is a big draw for workers, residents, and visitors alike.
The future of office work will continue to be shaped by a range of factors at the intersection of people, places, and spaces – how and where people work and how they integrate work with the rest of their lives. The inherent appeal of Downtown’s authentic culture, the variety of its neighborhoods, iconic architecture, vibrant public spaces and social life, cannot be overstated in this regard. In a future less constrained by where you have to be for work, may be more defined by where you want to be – and that is Downtown Los Angeles.
DTLA BY THE NUMBERS
40 million+ SQUARE FEET OF OFFICE SPACE
325,000 JOBS
6 FREEWAYS
566 RETAIL BUSINESSES PER SQUARE MILE VS. 51 per square mile for all of the City of LA
DENSITY MOBILITY
500,000 WORKERS WITH BACHELOR’S OR HIGHER WITHIN 10 MILES
49,000 JOBS PER SQUARE MILE
5 METROLINK LINES
4 METRO LINES
110,000
DAILY COMMUTERS SERVED BY UNION STATION*
LIFESTYLE
181 FOOD & BEVERAGE SPOTS PER SQUARE MILE VS. 27 per square mile for all of the City of LA
15+ MILES OF BIKE LANES
93 AVERAGE WALK SCORE
Office tenants are drawn to DTLA by a range of factors including its central location in the region and access to transit and talent. As a result, Downtown is the largest employment cluster in the region, with 21% of all jobs in the City of LA located here. Moreover, the average annual wage for these jobs is 37% higher than for the City of LA and 43% higher than for LA County as a whole. Also, despite ongoing challenges in the office sector, the number of jobs in DTLA has grown by almost 10% since 2021, with wages growing by an even more impressive 23%. 48, 504
RACE/ ETHNICITY
NEIGHBORHOODS
BUNKER HILL
A mix of soaring skyscrapers, internationally known cultural institutions, and world-class architecture, Bunker Hill is also home to an increasing concentration of desirable residential properties. While bustling with office workers on weekdays, the success of The Broad, Disney Concert Hall, and adjacent culinary destinations has ushered in a new population, altering perceptions, and activating the area on evenings and weekends.
AMENITIES HIGHLIGHTS
Angels Flight
Pez Cantina
Grand Av Arts/Bunker Hill Metro Station
Ketchum Downtown YMCA
B of A Plaza Farmers Market
The Yard
San Laurel
Grand Central Market
The Broad
Colburn Café
NEIGHBORHOODS FINANCIAL DISTRICT
Dense, diverse, and dynamic, the Financial District is the heart of DTLA. Sitting at the center of the region’s Metro rail system, and possessing an unparalleled selection of restaurants, it is the epitome of convenience. The area is home to major retailers like Target, H&M, and Whole Foods, great hotels like The Sheraton and InterContinental, and authentic attractions like Pershing Square and the Jewelry District. Rental and condo properties add a residential community that keeps the neighborhood buzzing through the day and into the evening.
FIGat7th
LA Fitness
Hilltop Coffee
Perch
Bottega Louie
JoeyDTLA
Spire73
Grand Hope Park
Nice Coffee
LA Athletic Club
The BLOC
NEIGHBORHOODS
HISTORIC CORE
With its collection of classic buildings adapted for both office and residential use, this area boasts many of the things that originally put Los Angeles on the world stage – ornate movie palaces, showcase architecture, and the bustling Broadway corridor. It’s also where visitors can experience DTLA’s contemporary reputation as a one-of-a-kind food, arts, and shopping destination, with community events like Downtown Art Walk, and a popular weekly farmers market drawing crowds to the district through the week and weekend.
Jewelry District
Pershing Square
Apple Tower Theatre
Historic Broadway Metro Station
ARTS DISTRICT
Situated on the eastside of DTLA, adjacent to the LA River and railyards, the Arts District is famously home to galleries and cultural spaces, live/ work lofts, and unique restaurants and retail in converted warehouses and former factories. It’s also become a haven of innovative space for technology, media, and other creative companies. The neighborhood’s buzz can be felt day and night and has made it one of the hottest real estate markets in the country.
ROW DTLA
Girl & the Goat
Verve Roastery
Little Tokyo/Arts District Metro Station
OFFICE
PROPERTIES
The Downtown renaissance has radically transformed the DTLA office market with new ownership, tenants, and workspaces – bringing Class A properties into the 21st century, restoring historic buildings to their former glory, and converting industrial spaces for a new generation of tech and creative companies.
CLASS A
Modern glass and steel towers, long-desired for their high-quality spaces and amenities, large floorplates, and prestige locations.
HISTORIC
Classic buildings from the early 20th century updated for today’s creative firms in architecture, design, fashion, and technology.
INDUSTRIAL
Traditional warehouse and manufacturing properties retrofitted and repositioned as flexible open space.
City National Plaza Wells Fargo Center
Pershing Square Building
The Bradbury
The Container Yard
ROW DTLA
AON Center
Wilshire Grand Center
FourFortyFour South Flower
The CalEdison
Fine Arts Building PacMutual
The Switchyard fourth & traction
7MAIN
Fine Arts Building
OFFICE LANDSCAPE
PROPERTIES: CLASS A
DTLA’s Class A Towers have made substantial, strategic investments in upgrading their infrastructure, amenities, and programming to appeal to new industries, companies, and talent.
WELLS FARGO CENTER: HALO
This $80M overhaul of the food and beverage offerings at Wells Fargo Center features an open seating plan, enhanced outdoor spaces, and first-rate food options such as Trejo’s and Danny Boy’s Famous Original Pizza. On the second floor, The Peak at Halo is a tenant amenity center featuring an al fresco terrace, and flexible space for work and meetings.
THE BLOC: URBAN CAMPUS
The creation of THE BLOC was one of the most dramatic property transformations in DTLA’s recent history, with much of the attention placed on the open-air retail plaza. Less obvious from the outside were critical investments in the office tower, including a rooftop patio and common areas, high-speed programmed elevators, and a new entrance lobby integrated with the public-facing plaza.
CITY NATIONAL PLAZA: INDOOR-OUTDOOR SPACES
The redesign and reorientation of City National’s central plaza demonstrated the value of such investments, transforming what was once an underutilized space into one of the area’s most popular gathering spots. To make the space even more accessible and inviting, ownership added giant sliding doors that bring the outside in and the inside out, along with a private indoor-outdoor tenant lounge for meetings and events.
US BANK TOWER: TRANSFORMATION
Silverstein Property’s $60M repositioning plans have transformed all aspects of the tower and surrounding campus - The Gardens - to meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce. Highlighted by a redesigned lobby with indoor & outdoor collaboration areas, juice/cocktail bar, Grab & Go market, and Vista - a new 20,000 SF amenity destination on the 54th floor with flexible event/conferencing/ work spaces - this comprehensive placemaking effort greatly improves not only the building, but the surrounding neighborhood as well.
PROPERTIES: HISTORIC
DTLA possesses some of the finest examples of early 20th century commercial architecture in the world –many of which have been lovingly restored and modernized with the latest technology and amenities.
PACMUTUAL
A City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, PacMutual is an iconic 450,000 SF complex of three interconnected buildings that has been at the forefront of DTLA’s rise as a destination for creative companies. Strategic investments to upgrade and reposition the property have attracted a new wave of tenants in fashion, design, technology, and communications.
One of the first all-electrically heated and cooled buildings in the United States, The CalEdison is a fourteen-story, steel-framed 1931 treasure that follows a classically inspired Art Deco design. As part of its repositioning for creative offices, the property now features a campus-wide fiber backbone that allows tenants to work across the property’s amenities on their own private network, including at the hip espresso bar in the building’s spectacular Deco lobby.
THE BRADBURY BUILDING
Built in 1893, The Bradbury Building combines architectural grandeur with modern functionality. The property consists of five stories of impeccable office suites immersed within ornate cast iron, polished wood, rich marble and glazed brick, and crowned with an extraordinary skylight atrium illuminating the entire building with natural light. Recently restored to meet the needs of today’s tenants, it features contemporary amenities like highspeed internet, upgraded HVAC systems, and design-forward conference rooms and kitchens.
THE TRUST
Built in 1928 as the headquarters of the Title Insurance & Trust Company, and known as the “Queen of Spring Street” when Spring Street was known as the Wall Street of the West, and meticulously restored by Rising Realty with plans for a bustling hub of creative offices, the property was recently purchased by UCLA as part of the university’s plan to expand its presence in DTLA.
PROPERTIES: INDUSTRIAL
Former industrial properties have become a go-to choice for tech and creative companies, and DTLA’s Arts District is home to over 30 million SF of such space, fueling its rise as one of the top destinations for innovative companies in growth industries.
ROW DTLA
In terms of scope and ambition, no other industrial conversion comes close to the vision that Atlas Capital has been making a reality for ROW DTLA. More than a campus, at 32 acres and almost 3 million SF of rentable space, it is a “city within a city” that features a curated mix of contemporary offices, bespoke boutiques, and artisanal eateries, all served by a 4,000-stall parking structure that affords tenants 4 spaces per 1,000 SF.
WARNER MUSIC
Originally built in 1914 to manufacture Ford Model T automobiles, this property at 7th and Santa Fe was purchased by Shorenstein in 2014, and restored to its former glory just as the Arts District was taking off. In 2019 it became the new home of Warner Music Group, whose relocation from Burbank firmly established DTLA as a premier location for media and creative companies.
CALIFORNIA MARKET CENTER
Built in 1962 as a showroom and merchandising complex, it quickly became the heart of the world-renowned LA fashion industry. Comprising three towers and over 1.8 million SF, it was acquired by Brookfield Properties in 2017 - who has undertaken a $170M redevelopment and creative office repositioning featuring state-ofthe-art facilities, infrastructure, and amenities, including an open-air shopping plaza, rooftop terraces, and an Urbanspace food hall.
THE MAXWELL
The Maxwell, a beautifully redesigned former Maxwell Coffee factory built in 1924 in the Arts District, offers prime creative office space for prospective tenants. The building spans approximately 56,000 square feet across five floors of repurposed, character-rich industrial space. Office suites feature oversized windows, exposed brick, wood-concrete ceilings, operable steel-frame fixtures, plus modern upgrades—high-speed connectivity, efficient HVAC, rooftop terrace, outdoor seating, and on-site parking.
A PROPERTY TO
FIT EVERY NEED
The previous examples are a small sampling of DTLA’s inventory of contemporary office properties, which offer a wide range of options in terms of size, on-site amenities, and cost. Owners of many other properties , such as the ones on this page, have similarly made substantial improvements to modernize their buildings and offer services that meet the needs of any tenant.
777 TOWER SOUTH PARK CENTER
UNION BANK PLAZA
CITY NATIONAL 2CAL
THE GAS COMPANY TOWER
FIGUEROA TOWER
818 PLAZA
AON CENTER
WILSHIRE GRAND CENTER 800 WILSHIRE
TENANTS: OVERVIEW
SOUTH PARK
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
HISTORIC DOWNTOWN
ARTS DISTRICT
BUNKER HILL
OFFICE
TENANTS
Financial services firms have long been drawn to Downtown for its Class A office spaces, prestige locations and amenities, easy freeway access, and even skyline signage opportunities. Renewals by some of the sector’s largest tenants underscore its continuing appeal.
FINANCE
Highlights:
• Bank of America
• City National Bank
• Ernst & Young (EY) >
• Wells Fargo
LEGAL
With one of the largest concentrations of courts and government agencies in the country, Downtown is a prime location for legal services, with globally-recognized firms like Fragomen (immigration) and Wilson Sonsini (tech) relocating to DTLA.
Highlights:
• Nixon Peabody
• White & Case >
• Gibson Dunn
• Sheppard Mullin
BUSINESS SERVICES
As the center of a global gateway city – one of the world’s largest regional economies – DTLA is ideal for B2B services firms. The concentration of businesses, range of industries, and access to the region, give these companies a competitive advantage.
Highlights:
• Bambee HR
• Boston Consulting Group >
• McKinsey
• Willis Towers Watson
Downtown is the primary hub of the real estate industry in Los Angeles, and its most dynamic market. Leading firms like CBRE, Brookfield, and Rising Realty are pushing boundaries, embracing DTLA’s innovative spirit, and fueling its dynamic growth.
REAL ESTATE
Highlights:
• Brookfield
• CBRE >
• Onni Group
• Rising Realty
ENGINEERING
Downtown is a natural fit for engineering with its concentration of related industries and government entities for LA City and County like LA Metro and Public Works departments. Talent is another big draw with three of the country’s best engineering schools – USC, UCLA, and CalTech nearby.
Highlights:
• AECOM >
• ARUP
• Buro Happold
• Psomas
ARCHITECTURE
Gensler’s relocation from Santa Monica sparked a wave that has made DTLA the center of the region’s architecture industry and attracted other creative industries. For these firms, being in Downtown, with the scale and scope of its development pipeline, is a major competitive advantage.
Highlights:
• CallisonRTKL
• Gensler >
• HOK Architecture
• JERDE
• Omgivning
OFFICE
TENANTS
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
It’s no surprise that companies at the intersection of creative and commercial would be drawn to DTLA. Perhaps no other industry benefits more directly from close proximity to business clients and creative talent, and being immersed in the cultural energy that defines today’s Downtown.
Highlights:
• Be Social
• Conde Nast
• TubeScience
• WC+A >
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT
The growth of media and entertainment in DTLA is tied to its emergence as a cultural center and hub of creative talent. From pioneers like Spotify to industry icons like Warner Music Group, Downtown is rapidly becoming the place to be.
Highlights:
• BUCK
• Spotify >
• Warner Music Group
• Zocalo Public Square
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
With critical mass in key areas such as educational institutions, research funding, industry infrastructure, talent base, entrepreneurial ventures, and funding sources, DTLA’s innovation ecosystem is increasingly able to attract and nurture new firms, creative talent, and business investment.
Highlights:
• GMV
• LACI
• Magnopus >
• NationBuilder
• Netmarble US
FASHION & LIFESTYLE
Downtown has long been the “back room” of the fashion industry, with the largest collection of wholesale businesses outside of NYC. Today, that supports a new generation of globally recognized designers and a new wave of fashion-tech companies making DTLA home.
Highlights:
• Adidas
• Burlington
• Califia Farms >
• Johnny Was
• K-Swiss
• Revolve Clothing
• Splendid / Ella Moss
CO-WORKING
DTLA is home to a robust selection of co-working spaces, including a diverse mix of global brands, national players, and local ventures. No matter what kind of space you are looking for, you will find it in DTLA.
Highlights:
• CARR Workplaces >
• CENTRL Office
• Industrious
• PeopleSpace
• Premier Workspaces
• Regus
• SPACES
• WeWork
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Nick Griffin, Executive Director (213) 416-7522 I ngriffin@downtownla.com
Elan Shore, Director of Economic Development (213) 416-7518 I eshore@downtownla.com