Capital Group has completed its $210-million purchase of the Bunker Hill skyscraper at 333 S. Hope St., a downtown Los Angeles tower it has occupied since it became a renter. The 55-story building, completed in 1974, will now be operated by the firm as a landl
For years. Capital Group has looked up at downtown Los Angeles from inside one of its own addresses: Bank of America Plaza at 333 S. Hope St. Now, the Los Angeles investment manager is no longer just renting that space. It has completed its $210-million purchase of the 55-story Bunker Hill office tower—an asset it had already called home as an anchor tenant—and says it plans to keep expanding its downtown footprint.
The firm’s sale also changes who controls the building. Bank of America Plaza, which will now be operated as a landlord by Capital Group, has long ranked among the most prominent office addresses downtown. The tower was completed in 1974, and Capital Group has been headquartered there since 1978.
Capital Group said the buy reflects a rare opportunity that showed up as office property values plunged during the pandemic and as many companies shifted to remote work. “We knew the best landlord we could possibly have would be ourselves. ” Chief Executive Mike Gitlin said when the sale was first announced in April.
The sale’s path to completion began with financial trouble under the previous owner. Bank of America Plaza’s earlier owner. Brookfield Properties. defaulted on a $400 million loan and put the building on the market rather than facing foreclosure. The transaction was the largest office sale in Los Angeles in 2026 and the largest in Los Angeles County since 2023. real estate brokerage Colliers said. marketing the property on behalf of the court-appointed receiver.
The competition for the building was broad, reaching beyond Los Angeles and beyond the familiar circle of local real estate players. Potential buyers included both private and institutional investors from the U.S. and overseas, broker Mark Schuessler said.
Capital Group’s leadership framed the move in terms of location and consolidation. The firm has been headquartered in downtown Los Angeles since it was founded in 1931. according to Chief Operating Officer Rob Klausner. “We view it as the ideal location to invest in as we bring our Los Angeles based teams together. ” he said.
Capital Group is already the largest occupant in the building, taking up 350,000 square feet on 14 floors. It plans to gradually take over another five floors as it consolidates employees from other downtown offices and from Santa Monica.
Gitlin linked the expansion to a vision of internal cohesion in a city office market that has been roiled by shifting work patterns. “The best way to ensure a great environment in downtown L.A. is to create what we’re calling a vertical campus” with 2,100 employees, he said. “It was just this unique opportunity where the price was much lower than it had been historically. and it was for sale.”.
Not every tenant is moving. Bank of America remains a major presence and will continue to have its name on top of the building. Other occupants include economic consulting firm Analysis Group Inc., law firm Musick Peeler & Garrett, and Alliant Insurance Services.
The broader story sits under the deal: an office market reshaped by declining values and changing work habits. and a growing willingness by large users to become owners. Owner-users have surged as key players in L.A.’s office market. now accounting for nearly half of all deals. according to real estate data provider CoStar. At the same time, the share of purchases made by institutional investors has fallen from 45% to 26%.
Capital Group’s own scale reflects why this shift matters to the downtown streetscape. The firm has more than 9,000 employees in 34 offices in multiple countries. It manages $3.4 trillion in assets for millions of wealth management and institutional clients, a representative said.
Public sector buyers have also been drawn to office buildings that came with steep discounts. The city of Los Angeles plans to buy a 35-story tower downtown for use by the Department of Water and Power. Earlier this year, Manulife U.S. Real Estate Investment Trust said in April that it would sell its high-rise at 865 S. Figueroa St. for $92.5 million pending approval from Los Angeles officials; its assessed value is $248 million.
Los Angeles County has made similar moves. In 2024, the county bought Gas Co. Tower for $200 million, far below its $632-million valuation in 2020. County officials said at the time that a foreclosure sale was too good a deal to pass up. The county is gradually moving workers into the 55-story skyscraper at the base of Bunker Hill that is widely considered one of the city’s most desirable office buildings. having been completed in 1991.
With Capital Group now both the tenant and the landlord at Bank of America Plaza. the decision lands as more than a real estate transaction. It is a statement about what happens when the market that forced remote work and pushed values down also creates a buyer’s window—one some major office users are rushing through before the numbers change again.
Capital Group Bank of America Plaza Bunker Hill downtown Los Angeles office market Mike Gitlin Rob Klausner Brookfield Properties foreclosure CoStar Colliers Los Angeles County city of Los Angeles