LOS ANGELES-Those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter may have seen a post teasing the announcement a few days ago, but GlobeSt.com has learned that law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP has signed a 15-year lease for 77,300 square feet at Aon Center here in Downtown L.A. The international law firm is relocating from another building nearby and will occupy the top four floors at the 62-story 1.1-million-square-foot building.
Tony Morales, Josh Wrobel and Maureen Hawley of Jones Lang LaSalle Los Angeles represented the firm. The landlord leasing team of John McAniff, Tim Miller and Marin Rutherford along with Andy Fishburn of Means Knaus Partners represented building ownership, Beacon Capital Partners LLC, which acquired the building in 2007.
GlobeSt.com learns that the firm is relocating from the Gas Company Tower in Downtown. And according to Jeremy Fletcher, senior managing director of Beacon Capital Partners, among other factors, “floor plate efficiency for the firm’s layout” made the building a good fit. Aon Center is located in Downtown L.A.’s financial district. Currently, the property is home to several high-profile tenants including Aon Insurance Services and Wells Fargo.
In terms of reasons for the move, Gregory Koltun, managing partner of Morrison & Foerster’s L.A. office, tells GlobeSt.com that the firm was coming to the end of its existing lease, which gave the company a chance to look at all of its options. Those options, he explains, included looking at a small handful of buildings—all in the Downtown area—as well as potentially staying in its existing building, where it had been a tenant since 1991.
Both JLL and Morrison & Foerster did not reveal further details to GlobeSt.com regarding taking rates or further lease terms including the value of the lease; however JLL tells GlobeSt.com that the asking rent at Aon Center is $23 per square foot net. “Of course money plays a part in the choice,” Koltun tells GlobeSt.com, “but the prices were fairly comparable...we really just fell in love with the new building.”
Some of the things Koltun pointed to that were attractive included the floorplates, the views from the top four floors, and the newly redone lobby. “The economics inside were great,” he said. “In taking the partners to visit the new building, there was a very consensus to move into that space.”
The L.A. office has nearly 100 attorneys and focuses on key practice areas including corporate transactions, real estate, intellectual property, employment and litigation—securities, IP, class action, white collar and other areas.
JLL’s Miller tells GlobeSt.com that the building is now 66.1% leased though he points out that they are in “negotiations with several tenants,” which he says should push the occupancy level past 70%.
The move comes on the heels of the firm revealing that it was taking an additional floor in the 1-million-square-foot, 40-story glass tower under construction by Boston Properties at 250 W. 55th St. in New York City. When it moves into the new building in 2014, MoFo will occupy 205,000 square feet of office space there.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
