LOS ANGELES—USC has signed a 245,000-square-foot lease renewal and expansion for the building that houses the Marshall School of Business and the USC School of Social Work. The renewal increases USC's occupancy in the building by 30,000 square feet, earning the school signage on the property's signature 32-story tower.

USC will install signage on the building in the third quarter of this year. According to the Marshall School dean Jim Ellis, this is a strategic location for the school that allows it to cultivate and maintain a relationship with the business community in Downtown Los Angeles. The new space will be used for the university's business units. JLL's Gary Horwitz and Kamil Agha represented USC in the transaction, while CBRE's Todd Doney and John Zanetos represented the landlord, a joint venture between LBA Realty and LaSalle Investment Management. All parties declined to comment about the lease transaction.

Located at 1150 S. Olive St. and 1129 S. Hill Street in Downtown Los Angeles' South Park neighborhood, the two-building campus was designed by architect William Pereira. It is a LEED-Platinum certified building with mixed-use amenities, including a food court and a 500-seat auditorium. Classical KUSC, the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and other university units also occupy space within the building, as well as non-university tenants Transamerica, Fox Sports, United Way, the Patina Group and Steelcase.

“Although Downtown faces a number of challenges associated with high vacancy, the market's outlook is improving. Financial services and legal tenants comprising half of the existing tenant base are slowly beginning to expand,” Henry Gjestrum, senior analyst at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “A housing and hospitality construction boom is dramatically transforming Downtown's skyline. Retailers are moving in to support the burgeoning residential population. All these changes are going a long way to enhancing the market's image and are helping broaden the spectrum of tenants considering a Downtown location.  Downtown is better positioned now than ever to tap into the high-growth creative and technology sector concentrated on the Westside.”

The augmented lease illustrates the growth not only in the surrounding South Park market, but also for the college. Last year, USC renewed and expanded its lease at the World Trade Center in Downtown Los Angeles by 20,000 square feet, doubling the school's presence in the building. The World Trade Center houses the university's charter school, Hybrid High School. The lease expansion was used for junior and senior level classes.

While investors are finding loads of opportunities in the downtown market thanks to the ongoing renaissance (just yesterday, GlobeSt.com reported that the Broadway retail hub was expanding north), investors are also hurrying to benefit from the increasing student demographic in the Downtown market. Earlier this month, Trojan Fig Partners purchased a two-building retail center adjacent to the University of Southern California known as 901 Bar & Grill from Figueroa Retail LLC, a private family investor who has owned the property since 1971.