$200M Project Expands Hughes Center

Equity Office has unveiled plans for a $200-million Silver LEED-certified office project, with the possibility of multifamily too, that will represent the final phase of class A office space at its 70-acre Howard Hughes Center. The development will add two buildings totaling 500,000 sf of office space to the Hughes Center, which is already home to 2.6 million sf of office and retail space.Equity, which is an affiliate of the Blackstone Group, broke ground in December on the first of the two 250,000-sf office buildings, at 5901 Center Dr.

The second will be at 5900 Center Dr. and is scheduled for groundbreaking in early 2008.

Two proposed multifamily projects will follow, but the developer has not decided whether they will be for-sale or rental units. The plans "will add two new 250,000-sf office buildings to a very constrained market," notes principal Hunt Barnett of Los Angeles-based Madison Partners, leasing agent for the commercial buildings.

The new office buildings are being designed by Gensler. Rob Jernigan, a principal at the firm, comments that, "because of the size of the floor plates, we've been able to create two of everything, allowing a large tenant (100,000 sf or more) to take control of a portion of the lobby and elevator bank."

Jernigan compares the design flexibility to that of 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, where the design provided tenant CAA with its own lobby identity and elevator bank. He adds that 5901 Center Dr. is being designed with a host of LEED elements, such as its all-glass northern façade to reflect the cars driving by and a southwest façade designed to help offset the afternoon sun via ribboned windows that limit the amount of direct sunlight reaching interior spaces.

The sunshades of the windows will limit the amount of direct sunlight that can penetrate interior spaces and at the same time provide ample daylight to meet LEED ratings. In addition, 5901 Center Dr. will feature LEED-certified elements including a lobby with bamboo-clad walls (sustainable material), bike storage and showers for tenants.