Tower Built by Home Savings Is Purchased for $62.4 Million

The former headquarters of Home Savings of America in downtown Los Angeles has been sold for $62.4 million.

Investment and brokerage firm Milbank Real Estate Services bought the 24-story tower at 660 S. Figueroa St. from Mani Bros. Real Estate, which bought the 279,000-square-foot building in 1998 for a price estimated in the mid-$40-million range.

The Milbank acquisition amounts to $225 a square foot, close to what Mani Bros. paid to acquire 801 S. Figueroa in August 2003. Mani Bros. is a private real estate investment firm based in Los Angeles that owns a handful of other large commercial properties.

Other recent downtown office purchase prices have included $190 a square foot for BP Plaza, $172 a square foot for Union Bank Plaza and about $200 a square foot for KPMG Tower, according to real estate data tracker CoStar Group.

“The tide is rising in downtown,” said real estate broker Richard Plummer of Cushman & Wakefield, who represented the sellers.

Downtown Los Angeles is one of the five most attractive markets in the country for large real estate investors, he said, because buyers perceive that property values are going to rise as more people move downtown to live.

The tower built by Home Savings for $100 million in 1989 is known for its unusual architecture -- a postmodern version of French Chateau style.

Milbank, which is headed by Aaron Yashouafar, will relocate its headquarters from a building it owns at 727 7th St. to 20,000 square feet at 660 S. Figueroa, bringing occupancy to 98%. Other tenants in the former Home Savings tower include the law firms Lindahl Schnabel, Kardassakis & Beck and Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez.

Milbank owns and manages 1.5 million square feet in the Los Angeles area, Yashouafar said.