LOS ANGELES—Brookfield Office Properties has signed a 113,000-square-foot lease with Deloitte Co., a professional services provider, at the Gas Co. Tower in Downtown Los Angeles. After completing this lease, Brookfield was able to sign an additional 100,000-square-feet of leases to other tenants. These new leases bring the building's occupancy to 80%.

“The deal helped us create momentum. When we took over the asset, we were looking at a mid-60% occupancy. Now were are over 80% leased, which is really positive for us in the ownership timeframe for the asset,” John Barganski, Brookfield SVP, tells GlobeSt.com.

The Deloitte lease agreement includes an option to expand and a place for the company's signage on the building exterior. Deloitte has already begun tenant improvement construction, and plans to take occupancy by the end of this year.

Located at 555 W. 5^th St. in the downtown market, the class-A property is LEED-Gold certified and is located in one of the downtown neighborhood's most sought-after office markets, all of which attracted Deloitte to the property. Additionally, Deloitte is a Brookfield customer, and Brookfield was excited to expand their relationship to Los Angeles. “We look at the Deloitte transaction as a validation of everything we knew was good about the building. It is in a strategic location, close to amenities, close to transportation with great floor plates,” says Barganski.

Brookfield's in-house leasing team of Barganski, James Malone, Rachael Zanetos and Marin Turney handled the lease transaction, while Lexis Livengood of DTZ represented Deloitte Co.

In Q1 of this year, Brookfield completed 110,000-square-feet in offices leases throughout its portfolio. Brookfield reported that 45% of the 110,000 square feet leased were with companies migrating to the downtown market from other parts of the city.