Inside the Revitalization of CitiGroup Center

John Sischo is a principal at CoreTrust.

LOS ANGELES—CoreTrust is planning a major revitalization at CitiGroup Center in Downtown Los Angeles. In an earlier story, GlobeSt.com reported that the firm purchased the dated office campus in the heart of the Downtown central business district for a reported $336 million. The circa-1981 property is due for a face-lift, but CoreTrust has a bigger vision to transform the center into a modern hub in the city that will benefit both tenants and passersby, all with a $50 million price tag.

CoreTrust is going to start by using its renovation of City National Plaza as a template. The firm purchased that property in 2003, when downtown was a gamble. “That was when everyone said that life in Downtown Los Angeles was on Bunker Hill. We moved all of these tenants down here. We were playing with large blocks of space, and we could move people in turn key. Tenants didn’t have to work through a rebuild of the space,” John Sischo, a principal at CoreTrust, tells GlobeSt.com. “Now, we have to look at how to make our space attractive as a home, because we are all mobile and we can anywhere we want to be. That is why there is a big play on open spaces, communal spaces and lighting. That is all designed to compete with home spaces. I have the ability in this building to create an attractive floor plates and outdoor amenities.”