In another landmark move to expand coverage, UCLA on Thursday expanded access to the nation’s most popular university and helped revitalize the city’s historic center. It announced that it has purchased a landmark building in downtown Los Angeles for satellite classes.

UCLA has purchased the 11-story Art Deco Trust Building on Spring Street and plans to begin classes there later this year. The first will be through a large extension program. However, Gene Brock, president of the university, said in an interview that the university had nearby residences and “prevents it from developing the site, which was eventually renamed UCLA Downtown, to accommodate more undergraduate and graduate students.” not,’ he said.

The acquisition comes nine months after UCLA purchased two large sites owned by the University of Marymount California, a small Catholic institution in Rancho Palos Verdes that closed last year. purchased a 24.5-acre campus in Marymount for $80 million, An 11-acre residential site near San Pedro has become the university’s largest expansion to meet surging demand for seating.

UCLA, the nation’s busiest university, attracted nearly 150,000 first-year applications for about 6,500 slots in the fall of 2022 And by the fall of 2023, that number will be nearly there. A growing number of unsuccessful applicants has sparked unrest among Californians and put pressure on state legislators to reduce the number of out-of-state students.

But Westwood University’s 419-acre site is the smallest of the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses, leaving little room for growth, adding about 3,000 undergraduates and about 350 graduate students by 2030. Efforts are needed to find ways to achieve this goal.

Block said the 334,000-square-foot Trust Building, which will include classrooms and office space, could help host additional students, anchor research projects, host start-ups and serve the neighborhood. said to be sexual.

“We believe deeply in Los Angeles and its future,” Block said. “We couldn’t be more proud to expand UCLA’s presence in the beating heart of downtown. This has been our vision for a full decade. There are limits to what we can do.” .”

Block declined to disclose the sale price, but UCLA appears to have scored a sizable deal. Real estate experts familiar with the deal, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly, valued it at less than $40 million, a significant discount from the building’s valuation of about $88 million.

The historic Trust Building on Spring Street features an ornate ceiling.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

Seller Rising Realty Partners and its financial partner Lionstone Investments bought the building for $80.4 million in 2016, according to real estate data provider Koster. Rising Realty, which is headquartered in the building, spent an estimated $40 million to bring the building up to modern earthquake safety standards and restore original features such as painted gold ceiling decorations in a late 20th century renovation. .

“The challenging commercial real estate market in downtown Los Angeles has provided UCLA with great investment value,” said Hal Bastian, a real estate broker and longtime downtown advocate near Trustville. . “Despite a lot of bad publicity for downtown Los Angeles, this is proof that people are still confident in our long-term success.”

Mayor Karen Bass welcomed UCLA’s move. “It is exciting to see an institution like UCLA expand its presence in downtown Los Angeles and its future as a vibrant urban center that draws people from all over the city and around the world.” she said in a statement.

Once known as the “Queen of Spring Street,” the building was designed by legendary architects John and Donald Parkinson, who also designed City Hall, Union Station and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and is now a city historical and cultural memorial. specified for the object.

City supporters hope UCLA’s purchase of the 11-story, 334,000-square-foot Trust Building will spark a downtown revitalization.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

The building was constructed in 1928 at the behest of the Title Insurance and Trust Co., one of the city’s largest financial institutions at a time when Spring Street was touted as the “Wall Street of the West.” The company used this building as its headquarters until his 1977, when the city’s top white-collar businesses began to sprout up the city’s original downtown, historic center, so the downtown financial I was relocating to a new office tower in the city, etc.

The exterior facade of the historic Trust Building on Spring Street features this mural.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

Designed to display prestige and power with its marble, brass and black walnut finishes, this striking building has been used in recent years primarily as a filming location for period dramas and fantasy productions such as Batman.

With the downtown office rental market shrinking, The Trust has few tenants. Like the rest of downtown Los Angeles, the neighborhood streets have a sizeable homeless population that has increased during the pandemic. But in the evenings, it’s bustling with people using bars and restaurants and residents walking their dogs.

Real estate experts have expressed hope that the UCLA acquisition will accelerate downtown’s revitalization.

Cushman & Wakefield real estate broker Mike Condon, Jr., who represented the seller, said: “After a few years of negative news surrounding downtown Los Angeles, UCLA’s acquisition of the trust has seen a turnaround. It looks like one of the first green sprouts to turn.” During trading. “A large and prestigious institution like UCLA making a big bet on the market is a much-needed boost to the historic centre.”

Renowned chef Jose Andrés, known for both his cuisine and humanitarian work, has agreed to open a rooftop restaurant at the Trust Building. Andrés and his hospitality group opened two restaurants, two cocktail bars and a poolside lounge at the downtown Conrad hotel last year, while steakhouse Bazaar Meat will hit Bunker Hill’s $1 billion mark in the second half of 2023. is scheduled to open in the Grand Complex.

Andrés’ restaurant group will continue to operate as tenants in the building, along with Rising Realty and KTGY Architecture + Planning.

With the downtown office rental market shrinking, The Trust has few tenants.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

The nearly century-old Trust Building features an Art Deco tower.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

UCLA has already operated a clinic, several extension courses, and a labor center at nearby MacArthur Park for the past decade, and wants an expansion in downtown Los Angeles, Block said. The Trust’s acquisition will pay off even more in 2027 when the Purple Line is due to be completed, linking nearby Pershing Square to the Westwood Main Campus.

The prime minister said he saw the building for the first time this year and was “blinded” by its grand architecture and elegant space.

Arizona State University also sees educational opportunities ripe for the area, opening a center in 2021 in the renovated Herald Examiner Building at 11 and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Brock said the expanded presence of both universities, along with USC, is a “very important statement of confidence in the city’s future” by the institution of higher education, and that eventually “hundreds” of people will join UCLA. He added that he hopes to take over downtown.

Other campuses at the University of California are also expanding their operations in urban centers. The University of California, Davis is building Aggie Square, an “innovation hub” that includes a science and technology building and student housing, on its Sacramento campus. The campus estimates that several hundred undergraduates could spend a quarter there.

Last year, the University of California, San Diego Opens 4-story, 66,750-square-foot building Downtown is just off the Blue Line Trolley at the corner of Park Boulevard and Market Streets. University officials said the building was designed as a cultural, educational and business hub to showcase creative ventures, promote economic activity and foster cross-border ties.

“We all come to the same conclusion that there are cities that need to be protected and helped to thrive,” Block said. “So I think we all recognize the need to be downtown.”