Cohen broke ground last year on the Red Building, a class Aoffice project that will join the Blue and Green buildings at the14-acre Pacific Design Center site at 8687 Melrose Ave. Thedevelopment of the Red Building, which is scheduled to be completedin 2010, will create up to 1,933 new construction-related unionjobs.

The deal with the trade unions is the latest in a series ofsteps that Cohen has implemented to expand and upgrade the PacificDesign Center since acquiring it. A $45-million repositioning andrenovation program at the design center, for example, has targetedprestigious high-end interior design showrooms that once occupiedthe center but had left for storefront locations elsewhere.

Cohen's program attracted tens of thousands of square feet ofnew tenants, bringing the occupancy to more than 90% at the750,000-sf Center Blue building at the design center. The Bluebuilding, known locvally as the Blue Whale, opened in 1975 as thefirst of three buildings to be developed at the West Hollywoodproject. The Blue building was once filled with showrooms, butoccupancy declined in the 1990s before Cohen acquired the property.The $45-million repositioning budget at the design center also wenttoward renovations at the 450,000-sf Center Green building, whichdebuted in 1988. The Center Green building is home to officetenants as well as design firms.