The One Wilshire property, at South Grand Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, also includes retail space and a five-level subterranean parking garage for 524 cars. Owned by the Carlyle Group and managed by Carlyle subsidiary CRG West since 2001, it was completed in 1966 and underwent a major renovation in 1992 that consisted primarily of telecommunication networks upgrades.

The One Wilshire building is one of the country's largest telecommunications switching centers and is 99% leased, with 62% of the property occupied by communications companies including Verizon Communications, CRG West, Savvis/Level 3, Global Crossing, Qwest Communications and Pac-West. Charles Hazen, president of Hines REIT, calls it "one of the world's premier telecommunications assets."

Carlyle's CRG West subsidiary is one of the largest managers of network-neutral data centers in the US. CRG is the largest tenant at One Wilshire and occupies more than 170,000 sf under a lease that runs through June of 2017.

Thomas M. Ray, managing director of the Carlyle Group, says that the combination of first-class office space and "an incredible density of global carriers" makes One Wilshire a unique asset. According to John Savageau, managing director of CRG West, the sale of the One Wilshire building will allow CRG West to focus on its core competency in power and network operations.

Colin Shepherd, Hines senior vice president, points out that the acquisition comes at a time of extensive infrastructure and amenity improvements in Downtown Los Angeles, where Hines has had a presence for more than 20 years. Hines financed the acquisition with proceeds from the company's current public offering and borrowings under its revolving credit facility with KeyBank National Association.

In addition to telecommunications tenants, the major occupants of One Wilshire include Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP, a national law firm that leases 106,475 sf under a lease that expires in October 2018 and includes options to renew for two additional five-year periods. The Carlyle entity that sold the building was Carlyle One Wilshire II LP, a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, which was represented by Eastdil-Secured.