Just-Completed Tower a Rarity in Brentwood : 18-Story Building Has Block Frontage on Wilshire at Bundy

Tall new buildings have been rarities in the Brentwood area since a moratorium on construction of high-rise buildings took effect in the early ‘80s.

Among the few to be given approval during that down-zoning struggle was the just-completed, $60-million, 18-story office tower at the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Bundy Drive, newest landmark in that emerging office market.

The 343,421-square-foot building, with a full block of frontage on Wilshire Boulevard is owned by W/B Ltd., a limited partnership of the Fortune 500 Co. conglomerate of pension plans that is managed by Coldwell Banker Capital Management Services.

Dramatic Exterior

12100 Wilshire has an elongated floor plan with 10 primary sides, terraced at the upper floors and oriented to maximize tenants’ views. Its architects, Tracy Price Architects of Santa Monica, in joint venture with Gale, Hornberger & Worstell of San Francisco, selected a dramatic horizontally banded exterior, alternating metallic blue-gray panels with bands of silver reflective glass.

Vertical structural glass panels form the main entrance that opens into a two-story lobby featuring flame-finished granite and an open framework of aluminum-clad beams and columns. The ground floor and granite-paved plaza, elevated above the surrounding streets, provides seating in landscaped areas accented with bright flowering plants.

About 8,000 square feet of remaining ground-floor space has been designated as a restaurant area.

The lobby has 10 oak-and-chrome elevators, three of which service the six-level subterranean parking garage with space for 1,037 vehicles.

The elevators are controlled by a digital computer and are linked to the computerized management and fire-life safety systems of the structure. They also are equipped with an automatic emergency power control and a firefighters’ on-command service system.

The building’s automation security system monitors each tenant floor as well as the parking garage and the perimeter of the building’s exterior.

Swinerton & Walberg Co. was the general contractor for the project, and P. Patrick Murray of Century City is handling space planning.

Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services in Beverly Hills, leasing agent, reported that eight firms have already leased about 15%, or 50,860 square feet of office space at 12100 Wilshire. Tenants include Tracy-Locke, an advertising agency that occupies the entire 18th floor; Solish, Jordan & Wiener, attorneys; Philip H. Woolf, jewelers; Socbul & Co., public accountants; Corcovelos & Frye, attorneys; British Indemnity and Santa Monica Bank.