USC Takes Its Place Atop A 32-Story Office Tower Downtown

USC’s name now adorns the top of a 32-story landmark tower at the intersection of Olive and 12th streets in Downtown LA's South Park neighborhood.

The signage comes from the university negotiating naming rights to the building as part of a new lease deal with landlord LBA Realty that expanded its footprint at the office complex earlier this year, reports USC News.

Over the weekend, a Huey helicopter lifted the six letters, two shields and supporting framework to display the university’s logo on the top of the east and west sides of the structure. The letters weigh 500 pounds each and stand 15 feet tall, while the shields weigh one ton each and are 20 feet high.

USC has steadily expanded in this two-building mixed-use complex and is now the building’s largest tenant, occupying one-fourth of total space. The LEED Platinum mixed-use office complex, which was designed by noted architect William Pereira, was completed in 1965. It houses various USC units on multiple floors, including the university’s popular Classical KUSC radio station, which occupies the basement level. The space expansion provides additional office space for USC Marshall School of Business, Price School of Public Policy, School of Social Work, Viterbi School of Engineering and others.

You can see a video of the sign going up here.

USC now leases 1.3M SF of office and laboratory space throughout the SoCal region, 20% of which is in the South Park office complex. Over the past four years, USC has also undergone a major expansion of university-owned facilities, including the 1.2M SF USC Village, a mixed-use development that will provide the campus with a town center when it opens in 2017. [USCN]