Downtown’s Union Bank Plaza is getting an upgrade.

KBS Realty Advisors has started a $20 million renovation on the famed plaza, the group announced July 9. The remodel will include an updated two-story retail level, a conference center, outdoor seating with fire pits and a new lobby.

The plaza, which covers a full city block in the middle of downtown’s dense submarket, probably couldn’t be built today, said Tim Helgeson, senior vice president for KBS and asset manager of the property.

Located at 445 S. Figueroa St., Union Bank Plaza consists of a nearly 702,000-square-foot office tower, two levels of retail, parking and a plaza. “UBP has the location and the energy that so many commercial tenants are looking for,” Helgeson said in a statement.

KBS is also creating speculative tenant suites. Two of the eight under construction have been preleased.

HLW International is the architect for the project. Swinerton Builders Inc. is the contractor for the project. The changes are scheduled to be completed in early 2020.

“There aren’t a lot of iconic buildings in Los Angeles with the amount of outdoor space and freeway accessibility that have the potential for this type of repositioning,” Rod Richerson, Western regional president for KBS, said in a statement.