High-Rise Opens 35% Leased : Wilshire Office Building Shaped Like Boomerang
A structural shape something like a thick, squared-off boomerang with notched ends is one of a number of architectural features that enabled the new Wilshire Brentwood Plaza to open Thursday with 35% of its space already leased.
The $63-million, 15-story, 233,533-square-foot office building, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., at Centinela Avenue, is a joint development of Irvine-based Equidon and Search Builders Inc. of Los Angeles, with Equidon serving as developer/contractor.
In addition to its unusual shape, which allows up to eight corner offices on each floor, the architects, Tracy Price Associates of Santa Monica, in joint venture with Hornberger, Worstell & Associates of San Francisco, stepped back the top four floors in a way that allows balconies for the fronting offices.
And in an area where land is valued at $200 a square foot, the developers allocated space to a park-like plaza, something Equidon said is unique among new Class A buildings thereabouts. The plaza’s green British slate and its verdant landscaping are designed to form a visual greenbelt between the office high-rise and the neighboring condominiums.
To further enhance the structure, the developers spent $28,000 on a wind study to help create a design usable both by the office tenants and local residents wishing to enjoy the area.
The 6 1/2 levels of subterranean parking for tenants and patrons of the ground-level restaurants will accommodate 732 cars, a number the developers said exceeds city requirements by one-third. The parking structure’s signage was done by Sussman Prejza & Co. Inc., which designed the Olympics graphics.
The office building’s interior features a two-level, rotunda-like lobby, textured wall coverings, marble fixtures and stainless steel elevators.
“Intelligent building” features include full automation with a computerized control center for energy, security and life-safety systems. In addition to separate air-conditioning systems so each floor is self-sufficient and tenants do not share energy costs for the whole building, each floor has vented windows which can be opened safely in case of emergency. The building also has a rooftop helicopter pad.
Construction financing is by Chase Manhattan Bank. The leasing agent, Westside Commercial Brokerage Co., recently was purchased by Grubb & Ellis Commercial Brokerage.
Tenants to date include Smart Office Co., a division of Warfield Co., which has leased two floors; Chantal, a pharmaceutical firm; three law firms, Tharpe & Howell, James Acret, and Eliaser & Eisfelder; architect Tracy Price Associates and the headquarters of General Warranty Services Inc.
Ground-floor restaurants are the Red Robin, gourmet hamburgers and spirits, and Ianuzzi, an Italian restaurant featuring al fresco dining on the adjoining plaza.
