Cohen broke ground last year on the Red Building, a class A office project that will join the Blue and Green buildings at the 14-acre Pacific Design Center site at 8687 Melrose Ave. The development of the Red Building, which is scheduled to be completed in 2010, will create up to 1,933 new construction-related union jobs.

The deal with the trade unions is the latest in a series of steps that Cohen has implemented to expand and upgrade the Pacific Design Center since acquiring it. A $45-million repositioning and renovation program at the design center, for example, has targeted prestigious high-end interior design showrooms that once occupied the center but had left for storefront locations elsewhere.

Cohen's program attracted tens of thousands of square feet of new tenants, bringing the occupancy to more than 90% at the 750,000-sf Center Blue building at the design center. The Blue building, known locvally as the Blue Whale, opened in 1975 as the first of three buildings to be developed at the West Hollywood project. The Blue building was once filled with showrooms, but occupancy declined in the 1990s before Cohen acquired the property. The $45-million repositioning budget at the design center also went toward renovations at the 450,000-sf Center Green building, which debuted in 1988. The Center Green building is home to office tenants as well as design firms.

Cohen says that construction of the Red Building "will be a key economic engine for creating good jobs in construction and related occupations in West Hollywood." He cites an economic study says that the project is expected to supply 2,691 permanent new jobs in the West Hollywood community, $305 million in total annual economic output and an additional $735,000 annually to the City of West Hollywood budget in new taxes.

All three of the buildings at Pacific Design Center have been designed by architect Cesar Pelli of Pelli Clarke Pelli. Others involved in the design of the Red Building include executive architect Gruen Associates, interior architect AREA Design Inc., landscape architect Thomas Balsley Associates, mechanical engineer Tsuchiyama Kaino Sun & Carter and structural engineers Englekirk Partners Consulting.

The design center features more than 130 showrooms selling more than 2,200 interior product lines to design professionals. The PDC campus also features the Museum of Contemporary Art, two restaurants operated by chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, a conference center and the the SilverScreen Theater film venue and reception facility.