Mani says the firm's portfolio has grown by nearly 50% with the acquisition of the building, which the firm bought from Commonwealth Partners and CalPERS. Bob Safai of Madison Partners represented Mani Bros., with the selling entity representing itself.

Mani points out that the firm bought the building at well below replacement cost. He says his firm is very comfortable with Downtown Los Angeles and believes the office market there is strong now and will grow even stronger. The company also owns the 24-story 660 South Figueroa building, in which Mani Bros is headquartered.

The 801 Tower is more than 90% leased to A-credit tenants, primarily law and insurance firms. Mani notes that the building also has two new ground floor retail tenants, Patina Group's Zucca Ristorante and The Corner Bakery. The 801 Tower, a postmodern building, is one of the last buildings completed in downtown Los Angeles. It was constructed in 1992 for $175 million by a joint venture between Takenaka Corp. and Mitsubishi Banking and Trust. Major tenants in the building include Chubb Insurance; Squire, Sanders & Dempsey; Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold; and Blue Cross.

The Mani Bros. portfolio includes three buildings it acquired on Sunset Boulevard in the past five years, the most recent of which was the Beverly Sunset Medical Building acquisition from Arden Realty earlier this year.

Founded in 1994, Mani Bros. is a privately held real estate investment firm that owns, renovates, operates, manages and leases more than 1.4 million sf of commercial property. Simon Mani and Daniel Mani, both of whom were formerly Sara Lee executives, head the firm. Simon Mani headed a division of Sara Lee for 10 years, a position he left recently in order to have time to focus on the real estate investment firm.