One Wilshire facts for kids

Quick facts for kids One Wilshire
General information
Address	624 S. Grand Ave
Town or city	Los Angeles
Country	California
Construction started	1964
Opened	1966
Renovated	1992 / 2001
Owner	GI Partners
Affiliation	Telecommunications industry
Technical details
Floor count	30
Floor area	664,000 sq ft (61,700 m2)
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Developer	S. Jon Kreedman & Company
Main contractor	Del E. Webb Construction Company
Known for	Famous meet-me-room

One Wilshire is a tall office building in downtown Los Angeles, California. It is located where Wilshire Boulevard meets South Grand Avenue. Even though it's called "One Wilshire," its actual address is 624 S. Grand Avenue.

This 30-story building was finished in 1966. It was designed by a famous architecture firm called Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. For many years, mostly law firms used the building. But in the early 1990s, something big changed. It started to become a home for companies that deal with phones and the internet, known as telecommunications companies.

In 1992, One Wilshire got a major upgrade to help with these new telecom networks. A special area called a meet-me room was built on the fourth floor. This room helps different internet companies connect their networks. By 2008, a magazine called Wired said that One Wilshire had the busiest "Meet-Me room" in the world. About 260 different ISPs (companies that give you internet access) had their networks connected there.

One Wilshire has been bought and sold several times for huge amounts of money. In 2013, it was sold for $437.5 million, which was the highest price ever paid for an office building in downtown Los Angeles at that time. By 2015, One Wilshire was known as the most connected internet spot in the western United States. This is because many submarine communications cables (underwater internet cables) connect there. About one-third of all internet traffic from the U.S. to Asia passes through this building!

The Story of One Wilshire

How One Wilshire Became an Internet Hub

Early Days: From Law to Telecom

Construction for One Wilshire began in 1964, and the building was ready in 1966. It was built at 624 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The building has 30 floors and covers about 664,000 square feet. It was designed to be a regular office building.

The name "One Wilshire" was suggested because the building is located at the start of Wilshire Boulevard from the east. For its first few decades, the building was mostly filled with law offices. But in the early 1990s, many traditional office tenants started to leave. Instead, telecommunications companies began to move in. One reason was that a major AT&T Switching Center was only two blocks away.

One Wilshire became important for telecom because it was near a big phone switching station. In the 1980s, phone companies were not allowed to use each other's main stations. So, a long-distance phone company called MCI put its own microwave station on the roof of One Wilshire. At the time, it was one of the tallest buildings with a clear view in downtown Los Angeles. This was the start of One Wilshire's journey to becoming a key telecom site.

Connecting the World: The Meet-Me Room

In 1992, One Wilshire had a big renovation. Most of the improvements were to upgrade its telecommunication networks. By the early 1990s, many telecom companies had gathered at One Wilshire. By 1998, it was a central point for the telecom industry. This was partly because it had a clear view to the east, which helped with microwave signals.

As the building became a hotspot for telecommunications, a special area called a meet-me room was built on the fourth floor. This room allows different companies in the building to connect their networks directly. In 2001, a company called the Carlyle Group bought the building for $119 million. They then spent another $30 million to improve its infrastructure. By 2002, the building even had five generators to keep things running during a power outage.

A Global Internet Crossroads

Surviving Earthquakes and Growing Connections

In December 2006, strong earthquakes in Taiwan broke many important underwater fiber optic cables in the Pacific Ocean. One Wilshire was one of the few places that could help redirect some of the internet and phone traffic from Taiwan. This showed how important the building was.

By 2007, about 300 companies had their equipment in the building. These included big names like Google and internet providers from Asia, India, and Europe. Other companies like Verizon Communications, Savvis, Level 3, and Sprint were also there. In 2007, Hines Real Estate Investment Trust bought One Wilshire for $287 million.

In 2008, Wired magazine reported that One Wilshire had the world's busiest "Meet-Me room." It had about 260 ISPs connected there. At that time, only four of the building's thirty floors were still used for law offices.

A Top Telecommunications Center Today

By 2013, One Wilshire was considered one of the top three telecommunications centers in the world. The other two were 60 Hudson Street in New York City and Telehouse in London. One Wilshire was also the most important telecom hub in the western United States. This is because it is a main connection point for fiber-optic cables between Asia and North America.

In July 2013, Hines Real Estate Investment Trust sold the building to GI Partners for $437.5 million. This was a record price for an office building in downtown Los Angeles. According to Fortune magazine, by 2015, One Wilshire was the "most highly connected Internet point in the western U.S." This means that underwater cables allow about one-third of all internet traffic from the U.S. to Asia to pass through this building.

Who Owns One Wilshire?

Here's a quick look at who has owned One Wilshire over the years:

Who Works at One Wilshire?

At first, One Wilshire rented office space mostly to law firms. But in the 1990s, most of its tenants became telecommunications companies. By 2007, Google was a tenant. In 2013, Wilcon expanded its presence there.

Some of One Wilshire's other major tenants in 2013 included Verizon Communications, Sirius XM Radio, and China Telecom. About one-third of One Wilshire was still used as regular office space for firms like Musick Peeler.

As of 2015, the building had over 300 tenants. Its biggest tenant is CoreSite Realty Corporation, a company that provides data center services. They set up an office in One Wilshire when they started in 2001. Other tenants in 2015 included Fiber Internet Center and American Internet Services. Big names like AT&T, Amazon Web Services, and Netflix also have a presence there. East West Bank also has a branch at the main entrance.

The One Wilshire building (pictured behind the brownstone) is said to be "... the main hub of the internet for the entire Pacific Rim," due to the large concentration of telecommunications companies as tenants.