KPMG<\/b> moved into a reimagined office space at downtown L.A.\u2019s U.S. Bank Tower last week, becoming the 73-story building\u2019s largest tenant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The London-based firm\u2019s Los Angeles-area contingent swapped its 88,000-square-feet workspace at KPMG Center for a \u201cmodernized\u201d set-up that reflects its shift to hybrid work, said Michelle Wroan<\/b>, who leads more than 1,300 employees as managing partner of KPMG\u2019s L.A. operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow we collaborate, how we work together, is different from what it was pre-Covid and (before) advances in technology,\u201d said Wroan, adding that the firm encourages in-person or client-facing work three times a week. \u201cWe needed a space that would have more collaboration areas and less dense office space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last August, the firm signed a 12-year lease, one of last year\u2019s largest, for three floors spanning 65,000 square feet at 633 W. Fifth Street. In the following months, it overhauled the rented space to include work rooms, project rooms and three types of cube structures ranging from private to open-concept spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Technology upgrades that connect employees working from the office and home were key to the rebuild, Wroan said. The costly undertaking drove the firm to consider moving out of its namesake 28-story tower at 550 S. Hope Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d have to have remodeled the whole thing, which was going to be extremely expensive,\u201d she said. \u201cKnowing that we need to do that complete redo and remodel to upgrade the experience gave us the opportunity to look at other buildings, knowing we have to invest a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite years of commercial real estate slump in the neighborhood, KPMG is \u201cbullish\u201d about downtown, Wroan said. The investment that Silverstein Properties Inc.<\/b>, which bought U.S. Bank Tower in 2020, has put into the building drove the firm\u2019s decision to relocate, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey invested a significant amount of capital in upgrading that building from just not a technology standpoint, but its look and feel and amenities,\u201d Wroan said.<\/p>\n
KPMG remains one of L.A. County\u2019s largest accounting operation, ranking third on the Business Journal\u2019s List of Accounting Firms published in February.<\/p>\n
Alongside its rethought downtown digs, KPMG\u2019s fresh office strategy involves an expansion of its local footprint with a new office space in El Segundo serving the South Bay and the city\u2019s westside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The firm will occupy 40,000 square feet at the Plaza at Continental Park complex on a 12-year lease in a booming area for the aerospace and defense industry, as well as private equity and venture capital firms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be able to have quick visits to our clients and \u2026 meaningful points of impact,\u201d Wroan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Proximity to major clients \u2013 including the city of L.A. \u2013 is downtown\u2019s draw, too, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think in-person is here to stay, and that does translate to clients and companies and in-person gatherings,\u201d Wroan said. \u201cBeing in L.A. allows us that easy, quick access to a lot of what\u2019s going on civically in L.A. and with the companies that reside here \u2026 I think that will be a competitive advantage for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KPMG moved into a reimagined office space at downtown L.A.\u2019s U.S. Bank Tower last week, becoming the 73-story…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":822853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,4719,2961,224,5337],"class_list":["post-822852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-kpmg","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116639871019857656","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}