May 27--Fire refugee Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard Smith will stay on Bunker Hill after completing a 15-year lease agreement with the owners of U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in the West.
Lewis Brisbois was a tenant in an office building on North Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles that was damaged last December when an arson fire destroyed a large apartment complex under construction nearby.
The law firm temporarily relocated 600 lawyers and staff to the U.S. Bank Tower at 633 W. 5th Street. The move is now settled with the recent lease between Lewis Brisbois and landlord OUE Limited, real estate broker Jonathan Larsen of Avison Young said.
He declined to say how much the lease was worth, but downtown real estate experts familiar with the deal valued it at about $115 million.
Lewis Brisbois bumped up the size of its offices to 215,230 square feet, said Larsen, who represented the firm in the transaction. Lewis Brisbois occupied 160,000 square feet on Figueroa Street. Now it has 215,230 square feet on floors 38 to 45 of the 72-story skyscraper.
U.S. Bank Tower, which was completed in 1989, is in the midst of a $50-million renovation that will include the addition of an observation deck and a sky-high restaurant. The improvements are slated to be finished by the end of the year.
