Bank of Tokyo Restructures Lease

Jonathan Larsen of the Downtown office of Trammell Crow, who represented the bank, explains that the lease restructuring comes as Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is preparing to merge in October with UFJ Financial Group, which will make the combined entity the largest bank in the world. The bank's western regional headquarters occupies the fifth and sixth floors of the 777 Tower, located at 777 S. Figueroa St., where it leases 34,095 sf under the new lease, the same square footage as it occupied under the former agreement. The bank has been in the 777 building since 1994.The 777 Tower is under contract for purchase by Maguire Partners, the Downtown-based REIT, as part of the CommonWealth Partners LLC portfolio. "The timing was excellent for the bank to restructure the lease due to the pending sale to Maguire Partners," says Larsen, who represented the bank along with J.D. DeRosa of Trammell Crow's Downtown office.Landlord Commonwealth Partners was represented internally by Peter Johnston. The 777 Tower is a 52-story, more than one-million-sf office tower that was built in 1991 and is nearly 90% occupied. It is part of a group of 10 assets called the Fifth Street Properties Portfolio that the Maguire REIT has agreed to buy for $1.5 billion from a partnership of CommonWealth Partners LLC, Rockefeller Group International Inc and the California Public Employees Retirement System.