Los Angeles fund manager Capital Group has completed its $210-million purchase of the Bunker Hill skyscraper it already occupied as a renter and vows to continue expanding its downtown presence.

Capital Group was an anchor tenant at Bank of America Plaza, which it will now operate as a landlord. The 55-story tower at 333 S. Hope St. was completed in 1974 and has long ranked as one downtown’s most prominent office addresses. Capital Group has been headquartered there since 1978.

The move to buy the building at a substantial discount to its previous value is part of a pattern of well-heeled tenants deciding to become owners instead of renters in recent years as office property values plunged due to the pandemic and a shift to remote work for many companies.

“We knew the best landlord we could possibly have would be ourselves,” said Capital Group Chief Executive Mike Gitlin when the sale was first announced in April.

Bank of America Plaza’s previous owner, Brookfield Properties, defaulted on a $400 million loan and put the building on the market instead of facing foreclosure.

It was the largest office sale in Los Angeles in 2026 and the largest in Los Angeles County since 2023, according to real estate brokerage Colliers, which marketed the property on behalf of the court-appointed receiver.

Potential buyers competing for Bank of America Plaza included both private and institutional investors from the U.S. and overseas, said Mark Schuessler, a broker at Colliers.

Capital Group 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 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 offices downtown and in Santa Monica.

“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, Gitlin said. “It was just this unique opportunity where the price was much lower than it had been historically, and it was for sale.”

Bank of America is also a large tenant in the building and will continue to have its name on top. Other occupants include economic consulting firm Analysis Group Inc., law firm Musick Peeler & Garrett and Alliant Insurance Services.

Capital Group 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. 

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 , while institutional investors’ share of purchases has fallen from 45% to 26%.

Office users from the public sector are among the buyers. The city of Los Angeles plans to buy a 35-story tower downtown for use by the Department of Water and Power.

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. It has an assessed value of $248 million.

Another major public buyer of a downtown office building was Los Angeles County, which in 2024 bought Gas Co. Tower for $200 million, a steep drop from its $632-million valuation in 2020. County officials said at the time that the 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 was widely considered one of the city’s most desirable office buildings when it was completed in 1991.

U.S. home purchase lending plunged to its lowest level in 12 years at the start of 2026, dragged down by elevated home prices and mortgage rates stuck above 6% that sidelined many prospective buyers.

Roughly 581,000 home purchase loans were originated from January through March 2026, down 19% from the previous quarter, according to the Q1 2026 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report from real estate data firm ATTOM.

This marks the lowest quarterly total since the beginning of 2014—a period when severe winter weather and a decline in exports triggered a sharp and unexpected contraction of the U.S. economy.

The latest data shows that the slowdown was not limited to typical buyers: Total residential mortgage originations, including purchases, refinances, and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), shrank 13% quarter over quarter to 1.57 million with a total volume of $577.7 billion.

“Purchase, refinancing, and home-equity lending all posted declines from the previous quarter, continuing a seasonal trend we’ve seen during the start of the year over the past four years,” says Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “However, purchase activity stood out with home-buying loans falling to a 12-year low, as elevated home prices and higher mortgage rates continued to strain affordability for many buyers.”

Purchase lending totaled nearly $237 billion in the first quarter, down 18% from the fourth quarter of 2025 and down 8% year over year.

Rising mortgage rates trigger hesitation

According to data from Freddie Mac, while the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.16% at the start of the year, by the first days of April, it surged 30 basis points to 6.46%, piling additional pressure onto an already strained housing market.

“Rates have moderated from their peaks, but when you layer persistent lock-in, still-scarce inventory, prices that remain near record highs, and geopolitical uncertainty, you get a market where most buyers are hesitant to make the leap,” says Realtor.com® senior economist Hannah Jones.

At the local level, residential lending declined quarter over quarter in 96.5% of the 200 metros analyzed by ATTOM, while purchase activity fell in 99% of them.

Jones says the widespread nature of the decline signals that the first-quarter slump is not “a regional soft patch but a nearly marketwide freeze.”

The steepest quarterly drops in purchase activity among large metros were in St. Louis (-43.5% quarter over quarter), Rochester, NY (-38.6%), Pittsburgh (-28.7%), Boston (-19.3%), and Honolulu (-16.1%).

Notably, St. Louis, Rochester, and Pittsburgh also saw the biggest pullback in total residential lending.

“These are supply-constrained, established markets without the release valves, like new construction, that can soften price pressure and keep the market well-stocked and moving,” says Jones. “In the most severely supply-constrained metros, there is simply nothing to buy and therefore nothing to finance.”

In the case of Honolulu, Jones says the metro faces a different set of pressures: rising insurance premiums, HOA fees, and new flood map designations are eating up whatever relief lower mortgage rates might otherwise provide.

The only metros where purchase activity did not fall in the first quarter were Yuma, AZ (up 28.6%) and Tucson, AZ (up 5.9%).

Meanwhile, refinancing activity fell 7% quarter over quarter to 715,818 loans originated in the first quarter, while HELOCs were down 12% from the last quarter, totalling 272,156 new loans.

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The hearing that could seal the fate of Oceanwide Plaza has been pushed, again, and is now scheduled for July. 

Last time, the City of Los Angeles wanted more time. Now, new court documents reveal it is against the proposed $470 million purchaser: Dr. Kali Chaudhuri’s KPC Group and Lendlease. 

Theirs is mostly a credit bid. Lendlease was the one-time general contractor for the stalled megadevelopment, and KPC came into the mix via its purchase of another creditor’s claim. The city pleaded for more time in March, basically to see if KPC was up for the job. It needed to assess whether KPC and Lendlease could close the deal, land financing and complete the graffiti-covered towers. 

After its due diligence, the city no longer thinks KPC can do that based on the information it currently has. In court documents dated May, the city said it expected the purchaser to provide a concrete plan, which it allegedly has not done. “The proposed purchaser has not provided materials sufficient to close the gap between the city’s stated requirements and the proposed purchaser’s current development plan,” the documents read.

“The sale contemplated … is premised on a development plan that — as presently proposed — is not approvable by the city,” the attorneys wrote.

The decision comes after six meetings with KPC, discussions with Lendlease and a visit to the eyesore in the heart of downtown. Issues and uncertainty surrounding entitlements and financing are the key reasons behind the opposition. Plus, the city wants a detailed phasing plan and a construction schedule, which it says it hasn’t received — not plans on pursuing tower signage, which the potential buyers apparently have provided via verbal presentations. 

The latest communications the city had with the purchaser earlier this month included “limited financing information and a proposed construction schedule and development plan for only phase 1 of the project,” per the documents. 

That’s not enough for the City of Los Angeles, which concluded that the confirmation should be denied at this point. The hearing isn’t until July, so the city and the buyers still have time to get on the same page. But there is another offer on the table, if they don’t.

A spokesperson for the joint venture said KPC and Lendlease have shared a plan with the city and its many departments. “We continue to meet with the city, respond to questions in good faith and address outstanding issues as part of the ongoing review process,” the spokesperson said.

Representatives for Oceanwide and the city did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Read more

The Oceanwide Plaza saga: Sean Burton’s Cityview becomes backup for graffiti-covered eyesore

Oceanwide Plaza buyer faces resistance, confirmation hearing pushed 

Netflix is adding to its Los Angeles real estate portfolio with the historic Radford Studio Center lot in Studio City. 

The streaming giant is in talks to purchase the studio space for less than one-third of its 2021 sale price of nearly $1.9 billion after lenders including Goldman Sachs Group seized control of the property, the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg reported. The exact price has not been settled and the deal has yet to close, according to sources close to the matter cited by the Times. 

Goldman Sachs took back the keys to the property after Hackman Capital Partners, the studio’s previous operator, defaulted on a $1.1 billion mortgage in January. Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to hand off the property to Netflix for between $330 million and $400 million, per the Times.  

Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management won the bidding war for the Studio City property in 2021, acquiring the 55-acre studio from ViacomCBS for nearly $1.9 billion. In the past, Radford Studio Center served as a production space for silent films as well as popular TV series such as “Seinfeld,” “Gilligan’s Island” and “Will & Grace.” 

Netflix is looking to consolidate its real estate footprint in one place, reportedly considering relocating from a group of Hollywood buildings it leases from Hudson Pacific Properties, per Bloomberg. 

The streamer previously submitted an $82.7 billion bid to buy Warner Bros. studios and streaming services in December but pulled out of the battle after being outbid by Paramount Skydance. The firm, which has largely leased rather than owned properties in the past, is currently developing a $1 billion production center in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. In 2020, it purchased the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and continues to operate it. 

Property values for Los Angeles studios have fallen since the 2023 writer and actor strikes while interest rates tick upward. Non-studio-associated landlords such as Hackman have borne much of the brunt as productions moved to studios owned by the massive entertainment companies that dominate Los Angeles. Last month, Deutsche Bank AG sued Hackman to foreclose on its Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City.

Los Angeles soundstage occupancy dropped to 62 percent in the first half of last year, per FilmLA data cited by Bloomberg. As of September, Radford Studio Center was 61 percent leased, with roughly half of the leases slated to expire this year. — Chris Malone Méndez

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Inside the Los Angeles real estate owned and occupied by Warner Bros and Paramount

Goldman lists massive film lot after Hackman’s billion-dollar default

Soundstage development keeps rolling despite high vacancy

Things are looking less certain for downtown Los Angeles’ infamous, incomplete graffiti-covered skyscrapers, a month after its largest creditors became a white knight buyer. 

The bankruptcy court on Monday approved the City of Los Angeles’ request for a continuance of the confirmation hearing that could seal the stalled-Oceanwide Plaza’s fate. It was supposed to be on April 9 but is now scheduled for May 19. 

But the problems go beyond the city’s plea. The Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector and the United States Trustee, a Department of Justice entity that oversees the federal bankruptcy system, have filed their own oppositions, too. 

Let’s start with the city, which claims to need more time to complete its evaluation and diligence process, attorneys for the City of Los Angeles wrote. This occurred after having a conversation with the proposed $470 million purchaser: Dr. Kali Chaudhuri’s KPC Group and Lendlease. KPC came to the deal via its control of another creditor, LA Downtown Investment – after purchasing LADI’s debt. Lendlease was the mega-development’s one-time general contractor. 

The city needs to review and assess KPC and Lendlease’s ability to close the deal, secure financing and complete the development, the court documents read. The city has identified issues with the purchase agreement that requires landing entitlements and financing, its attorneys said, without much further clarification.

An earlier statement Mayor Karen Bass’ office put out late-February noted, “The City of Los Angeles is eager to see an expeditious close on the Oceanwide Plaza site to new ownership following the April 9, 2026 hearing.”

Los Angeles County, on the other hand, has an issue concerning delinquent property taxes to the tune of $40 million, per its opposition. The L.A. County attorneys claim the debtor, Chinese conglomerate Oceanwide Holdings, promised the county’s tax liens would be the first paid off post-sale. But based on its understanding of the debtor’s liquidation plan and purchase and sale agreement, that isn’t the case.

The United States Trustee, meanwhile, has a problem with provisions that it says are inconsistent with bankruptcy code and precedent. Lawyers for KPC and Oceanwide requested the court overrule the objections. Attorneys for the City of Los Angeles, L.A. County, United States Trustee, KPC and Oceanwide did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A source familiar with the matter previously told The Real Deal there was another potential buyer, an all-cash one, behind the scenes. That buyer consists of a partnership between an overseas investor and Cityview, though the details aren’t completely clear. The source said Chaudhuri has been shopping for construction loans but hasn’t found a taker. 

It could cost another billion dollars to complete the three towers that occupy an entire city block, bounded by Figueroa, Flower, 11th and 12th Streets. The development has been stuck in bankruptcy court for years, and it is unclear whether it would be completed by the 2028 Summer Olympics even if that is the goal.

Read more

Another bidder in picture for Oceanwide Plaza

Will Oceanwide Plaza creditors take a shot or pass on downtown eyesore?

MBA estimates new single-family home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 641,000 units in February, based on application data and assumptions about market coverage. That is down 3.3% from an estimated 663,000-unit pace in January.

On an unadjusted basis, MBA estimates there were 57,000 new-home sales in February, down 1.7% from 58,000 in January.

Kan said macroeconomic uncertainty and a weakening job market likely weighed on demand, and he pointed to emerging signs of cooling in some high-supply Sun Belt markets despite slower home-price growth.

By product type, conventional loans made up 49.4% of February new-home purchase applications. Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans accounted for 35.3%, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) loans for 14.1% and Rural Housing Service/U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans for 1.2%, MBA reported.

The average new-home loan size declined to $383,570 in February, down $385,506 in January, suggesting some shift toward slightly lower price points or smaller loan balances.

MBA’s Builder Application Survey tracks application volume from mortgage subsidiaries of homebuilders nationwide and is viewed as a leading indicator for the U.S. Census Bureau’s New Residential Sales report, which records new-home sales at contract signing.

The February data underscores a key dynamic in the 2026 housing market: new construction continues to capture demand that existing-home supply cannot meet, but monthly volatility remains tied to interest rates, employment and regional inventory patterns.

For lenders focused on purchase business, the steady year-over-year gain in new-home applications — alongside a modest drop in average loan size and elevated FHA share — points to a market where entry-level and first-time buyers remain active but rate-sensitive.

For builders and their mortgage affiliates, the pullback from January suggests that incentive strategies, rate buydowns and product mix will remain critical as higher inventory in some Sun Belt markets meets softening demand.