Center West office tower in Westwood is economic barometer

By Jeffrey Strnad

From the moment it opened in March 1990, Center West, the trophy Wilshire Boulevard office tower at the eastern gateway to Westwood Village, was cast as a barometer for the decade’s turbulent commercial real estate market to come.

Its arrival had been eagerly anticipated: Center West would be the last commercial development built on Wilshire between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica; owner-developer Kambiz Hekmat had earmarked it to be the most elegant address on the storied corporate corridor.

Center West’s opening, however, also happened to collide with the advent of the most severe collapse in commercial real estate in Southern California history. As the downturn worsened and lengthened, public speculation about the building’s future focused more on its survivability than any degree of leasing success.

But, in what can be accurately described as a text book primer on how to succeed under the most adverse conditions, Center West has not only prevailed it has prospered and recently surpassed the 80 percent tenancy milestone. Center West stands as a testament to the wisdom of building for the future based on a strong fundamental understanding of target tenants and the economics of attracting them.

Over the past eight years, the building became a crucible for achieving sustainability in a severe downturn while also being positioned for the inevitable upturn. In the process, Hekmat was able to maintain Center West’s high end exclusivity yet not sacrifice his objectives, which could have undermined original tenant’s confidence in the building. Hekmat’s strategic long-range planning included a combination of impeccable design by internationally renowned architect Romaldo Giurgola; cutting edge infrastructure; use of quality construction materials; a leasing plan that anticipated the recession; a determination to attract world-class tenants; hands-on, owner-managed maintenance and upkeep; and the owner’s own tenacity to succeed.

At the outset, in the early and mid-1980’s when plans were first being drawn, Hekmat identified a need to build in safeguards against a severe real estate recession. Accordingly, two towers within the structure were designed — low and high-rise portions which were mechanically independent of each other and could be leased independently. When the market in fact collapsed in 1990, Hekmat was able to “moth ball” the upper half of Center West, concentrating on leasing the lower, more affordable floors while measurably reducing operating costs. It was a plan that uniquely coupled intelligent design elements of the building with a leasing strategy that would permit Center West to sustain a deeply depressed market. Hekmat always believed that California generally and West Los Angeles specifically would flourish in the long term.

He was confident he had built the right kind of building at the right location and could survive the painful market conditions. It had been more expensive to build Center West with modern technological innovations for predetermined contingencies, but it translated into savings for the owner and tenants. Center West was a handsome addition to the West Los Angeles landscape, but its interior systems were as crucial to its ultimate success as the classic exterior of flamed red Karelia granite and its dramatic grand lobby. The competitive advantage began in Center West’s interior systems.

In addition to the mechanical independence of the upper and lower floors, energy systems generated significant operating cost savings. While heating and cooling sensors measure the heat mass of the building, as well as the inside and outside temperatures, the digital computer control system ensures optimum comfort levels and startup and stop times.

The extra attention to life-safety systems included Los Angeles’ first expandable silicon foam fire-stop at perimeter walls, an innovation that would prevent smoke and water from traveling between floors in the event of a fire or accidental sprinkler water flow. Testing of the building’s facade before construction for the most severe weather and earthquake conditions were important selling points for clients, who were often corporate executives who may have relocated from the eastern U.S. Despite the deteriorating market, the grandeur of the building’s exterior and interior helped attract prominent businesses, contributing to slow but steady leasing focused on the lower floors. Center West’s richly textured granite facade presents two public faces. The building’s classical front entrance on Wilshire Boulevard reflects the area’s bustling business environment, while the less formal side facing historic Westwood Village is bordered by a trellis supporting flowering plants, culminating in an inverted cone similar to traditional corner towers within the Village.

The interior amenities feature a grandly proportioned 36 x 70 foot ground floor lobby rising three stories to a lighted textured ceiling. A floor-to-ceiling glass wall faces Wilshire Boulevard. Walls are tan and marble, geometrically paneled with dark green marble astragals. Flooring is honed marble with green marble accents and a granite border extends onto the front sidewalk and continues around the perimeter.

From the valet parking area, visitors enter Center West through a dramatic three-story atrium. A marble-clad column soars 40 feet to the ceiling against the background of a window wall, with a grand staircase of bronze, glass and granite leading to the lobby level. The lobby’s massive mural and the atrium’s base relief add to the sense of luxury, offering subtle enforcements of the building’s powerful nature. All of these architectural ingredients were a vital part of the Center West strategy to beckon an elite category of tenants, a formidable task particularly during the five-and-a-half- year depression. But the overall plan, with its layers of disparate but connected strategies, eventually generated the results that Hekmat anticipated when he first embarked on development of Center West in 1978. The building is now 82 percent leased, with only 55,000 square feet remaining on the top three floors. Its portfolio of prestigious tenants include Doheny Asset Management; Fulwider, Patton, Lee & Utecht; Group W Productions, Inc./Westinghouse/Eyemark Entertainment; Jackson National Life Insurance Co.; Merrill Lynch Investment Banking; Northern Trust Bank; Preferred Hotels & Resorts; Rockwell International; Rosewood Hotels Group; Schroder Wertheim & Co., Inc.; Smith Barney Inc.; Van Kasper & Company; and Wells Fargo Bank. What could have been just another story about the development of just another high rise office building evolved instead into a saga that reflects the convulsive nature of Los Angeles’ commercial real estate industry of the 1990s. The volatility of the decade left many buildings and ownerships as victims in its wake, but the vision and tenacity of Center West’s owner/developer and the intrinsic quality of his property engendered a scenario that could educate future generations.

Jeffrey Strnad is vice president and regional leasing director for LaSalle Partners.