This facility was a "see through" building, due mainly to the poor HVAC system.  Everybody  knew that if you had an office in this building, you were going to be uncomfortable.  Leasing agents  had a very tough time even getting prospective tenants into the building to look at a space.   

The main, multi-floor  tenant had reduced their presence in the building, moving their people to other sites, and had threatened litigation and cancellation of  their leases at other buildings with this owner unless this facility was made habitable. 

Three of the floors were unoccupied, and the other three floors had an average of 30% to 40% occupancy.  Overall, the building was estimated to be 20% occupied.

There were actually not that many day-to-day complaints from the few people left in the building, as those that remained had resigned themselves to being uncomfortable, until they could get transferred to another site.

Having a window office in this building  meant you had irritated someone above you, and they were taking revenge.  The north face was always cold, the east face got overheated in the winter mornings, and the south and west faces had return air temperatures that we measured at 92°F on an 85°F ambient day.  Not a pleasant place to work. 

ROI was requested to work with a design-build contractor as their Engineer, in a design competition against another $150,000,000 design-build contractor.  The ROI design was selected and built at a cost approximately 22% less than the competitive design would have cost.

Within three months of the retrofit completion, leasing picked up dramatically.  Within 8 months of completion, the facility was fully leased (97%) and fully occupied.

The leasing agents attribute this rapid lease-out to “word on the street” that the building was cured of its’ HVAC problems, and it was now a great place to work.

We have been told by the owner that the energy consumption has dropped by over 22% since the retrofit, while the occupancy of the facility has increased almost five-fold.

5200 West Century | 600 B. Street | 701 B. Street
8383 Wilshire | Arden Norwalk