Colliers has begun marketing the senior loan secured by EY Plaza, a 41-story office tower located at 725 S. Figueroa St. in Downtown Los Angeles. The 968,745-square-foot property serves as collateral for a single-asset, single-borrower securitization, and is currently being operated under a court-appointed receiver on behalf of the lender. Prospective buyers have been informed that offers for the loan are due in October.
The loan sale comes at a time when office investment activity in Downtown Los Angeles is increasingly being driven by owner-users rather than traditional institutional buyers. According to recent transactions cited in connection with the offering, organizations such as Capital Group, Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Southwest Carpenters Pension Trust, and L.A. Care Health Plan have all acquired properties in the area for their own occupancy. Collectively, these moves have shifted nearly five million square feet of office inventory into the hands of owner-occupants.
Market participants involved in the EY Plaza loan process are positioning the asset in the context of this evolving ownership base. Commenting on buyer behavior, Sean Fulp, Vice Chair at Colliers, noted that investors are no longer approaching Downtown Los Angeles as a single submarket to be priced uniformly. Instead, they are underwriting each tower individually, with a focus on factors such as floorplate configuration, existing and potential tenancy, and the feasibility of future owner-user occupation. Fulp pointed out that this building-specific approach helps explain why two high-rise assets located just a few blocks apart can achieve markedly different valuations.
The EY Plaza assignment is being led by a Colliers investment sales team that includes Fulp along with Executive Vice Presidents Todd Tydlaska and Mark Schuessler, as well as Associate Vice Presidents Jordan Garcia and Blake Hammerstein. On the leasing side, Colliers has assembled a group consisting of Vice Chair Matt Heyn, Executive Vice President Ian Gilbert, and Senior Vice President Kurt Davis. Together, these teams are working to position the senior loan offering to investors who are active in the Downtown Los Angeles office market and the broader securitized debt arena.
By linking the loan sale to the broader trend of owner-user acquisitions, the marketing effort around EY Plaza is drawing attention to how capital is being redeployed within Downtown Los Angeles. The court-appointed receivership structure, the single-asset, single-borrower securitization format, and the active participation of multiple Colliers teams frame the opportunity as one that is closely tied to current shifts in office ownership and underwriting strategies in the urban core.
