MIAMI—"One City Block, A Thousand Stories." So proclaims the tagline of the PacMutual, a 464,000-square-foot, three-building complex, that has become the hottest property in downtown Los Angeles.

But, Tom Silva, principal of Silva, tells Globest.com, it wasn't that way three years ago. Rising Realty Partners acquired the property at 6th and Olive streets for $60 million in 2012. At the time, he explains, it was a class B office alternative for conventional white-collar firms with an occupancy of barely 50%.

"What's more, the Beaux Arts building had lost its cachet beneath drywall and dropped ceilings which obscured its splendor," Silva says. "But Rising recognized the brand that lay underneath: Built by The Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company after the San Francisco earthquake, the large-floorplate, high-ceilinged structures were fire and earthquake proof, with a buildout of steel, hard burned hollow tile, concrete and white glazed terra cotta. Seeing the potential, Rising spent $25 million on repositioning and rebranding the building."