It’s official: the County Board of Supervisors just gave the green light to snag the Gas Company Tower for a whopping $205 million. This 1.5-million-square-foot office gem at 555 W. 5th Street will soon be County-owned. Plus, they’re also buying rights to air space with over 1,000 parking spots at the nearby World Trade Center complex. Best part ever, no more drab offices of warm out carpets with long lines and only inpatient patrons to look at. Once the purchase is complete, LA County offices, soon to be surrounded by electric giants and historic landmarks, will enjoy the some of the most glorious views the town has to offer.
Why the buy?
Well, it’s no secret that the downtown office scene is still reeling post-pandemic, and this tower—appraised at a cool $632 million just four years back—is quite a deal. By grabbing it now, the County can shuffle its staff out of leased offices and into a sleek, modern space built in 1991, all while saving big bucks down the road.
The County did its homework, too. Out of 42 potential downtown buildings, they narrowed it down to three before choosing the Gas Company Tower. The plan is to turn this place into back offices rather than spaces for public services.
Currently, the County’s real estate portfolio sits at a hefty 16.5 million square feet of office space, and they’re shelling out about $195 million yearly on leases. Almost half of the County-owned buildings are over 50 years old, and 40% of those are in “poor” or “very poor” shape.
And let’s talk earthquake concerns: 33 County-owned buildings, including the Hall of Administration, need seismic retrofits, and those fixes aren’t cheap—they’re in the hundreds of millions. But even with all that on the table, the Board’s decision wasn’t unanimous. Supervisor Janice Hahn was the lone “no” vote, defending the Hall of Administration named after her father, and lamenting, “It’s just a soulless building in a sea of skyscrapers. County Government belongs with the people, not up in the clouds.”
Adding to the mix, the tower’s namesake tenant, Southern California Gas Company, announced earlier this year that they’re moving out. The Gas Co. will be shifting over to a 200,000-square-foot spot in the 2Cal Tower by 2026, leaving the Gas Company Tower only 50% leased.
In a move aiming to bring County employees and services closer to modern amenities, the Board gave the go-ahead for the $200 million purchase of this downtown skyscraper. With this 52-story, 749-foot-tall addition, the County can relocate staff from aging Civic Center offices to a Class A building with style and stability. This Class A skyscraper will provide a safe and modern space for our County employees, saving hundreds of millions on retrofitting old buildings.
However, not everyone’s thrilled. Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose father, aka LA County Super-man, Kenneth Hahn’s name is stamped on the Hall of Administration on Temple, voiced her discontent, saying, “Funds that were supposed to preserve the Kenneth Hahn Hall are being used on this.”
Yet, with current occupants of the Southern California Gas Company officially set to leave, the County’s now doubling down on transforming this massive tower into a vibrant, new HQ.
