Aon Center Trades in DTLA’s Largest Office Sale of 2023

(Updated with additional information)

Colliers arranged the $147.8-million acquisition of Aon Center, a 1.1-million-square-foot office tower at 707 Wilshire Blvd. in Downtown Los Angeles, on behalf of Carolwood LP, Daniel Abrams and Adam Tischer. The transaction marks the largest post-pandemic office sale in DTLA and the largest this year, and the only tower to trade over one million square feet since 2020.

Colliers brokers Sean Fulp, vice chair of West Region capital markets, and SVP Tischer assembled the ownership group and provided buyer advisory services throughout the acquisition via a lender-facilitated sale. The seller, reportedly Shorenstein Properties, was represented by Newmark’s Kevin Shannon,  Ken White, Rob Hannan, Laura Stumm and Michael Moll, Chris Benton and Anthony Muhlstein.

“The ownership group’s acquisition of the iconic Aon Center exemplifies the flow of private capital into Los Angeles, seizing the opportunity created by market dislocation,” said Fulp. “With a new low basis and a well-capitalized owner, Aon Center will be competitively positioned to attract and retain tenants who desire a well-amenitized skyline tower in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.”

Shannon said, “It is likely that those assets with a reset basis will be able to compete more effectively for tenants in the market.”

Bloomberg News reported that the sale price works out to about $134 a square foot. The most recent large DTLA office property to sell was the Union Bank building which traded in March for $104 million, or about $150 a square foot.

Shorenstein acquired the 62-story tower in 2014 for about $268.5 million, reported Bloomberg.