U.S. Bank Tower, formerly Library Tower and First Interstate Bank World Center, is a 1,018-foot (310.3Â m) skyscraper at 633 West Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the third-tallest building in California, the second-tallest building in LA, the fifteenth-tallest in the United States, the third-tallest west of the Mississippi River after the Salesforce Tower and the Wilshire Grand Center, and the 92nd-tallest building in the world, after being surpassed by the Wilshire Grand Center. Because local building codes required all high-rise buildings to have a helipad, it was known as the tallest building in the world with a roof-top heliport from its completion in 1989 to 2004 when Taipei 101 opened. It is also the third-tallest building in a major active seismic region; its structure was designed to resist an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter scale. It consists of 73 stories above ground and two parking levels below ground. Construction began in 1987 with completion in 1989. The building was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and cost $350 million to build. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Los Angeles, and often appears in establishing shots for the city in films and television programs.
Ownership
U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles was sold to Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd (OUE), a hotel and property group controlled by Indonesia's Lippo Group in 2013. OUE, a Singapore-based hotel and property company run by Indonesian billionaire Stephen Riady, acquired the tower and other related assets for $367.5 million. OUE acquired the 72-floor office building, the adjacent Maguire Gardens park, and a car park from a unit of Los Angeles-based real-estate investment trust MPG Office Trust Inc.
History
The building was first known, and is alternatively known today, as the Library Tower because it was built as part of the $1 billion Los Angeles Central Library redevelopment area following two disastrous fires in 1986, and its location across the street. The City of Los Angeles sold air rights to the developers of the tower to help pay for the reconstruction of the library. The building was also known for a time as First Interstate Bank World Center but the name Library Tower was restored after First Interstate Bancorp merged with Wells Fargo Bank. In March 2003, the property was leased by U.S. Bancorp and the building was renamed U.S. Bank Tower. Residents, however, generally continue to refer to it as Library Tower.
The tower has a large glass crown at its top that is illuminated at night. The crown has/is lit as follows:
- white (every day)
- red and green during the Christmas holiday season
- pink and red for Valentine's Day
- red and gold for Chinese New Year
- red, white, and blue for Independence Day and Veterans Day
- orange for Halloween
- red, green, gold, blue, and purple leading up to the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games
- blue and white when the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing in the postseason
- purple and gold when the Los Angeles Lakers are playing in the NBA Finals
- black and white when the Los Angeles Kings are playing in the Stanley Cup Final
- purple for Alzheimer's Association and World Prematurity Day
- red for Blood Cancer Awareness Month
- pink for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
On February 28, 2004, two 23 m (75 ft) “U.S. Bank†logo signs were installed on the crown, amid controversy for their effect on the aesthetic appearance of the building, much like the previous First Interstate Bank logos were placed on the crown between 1990 and 1998. First Interstate Bank's “I†logo on the crown was in the 1993 Guinness Book of World Records for highest-placed logo.
OUE Skyspace
In July 2014, Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. (OUE), the new owners of the skyscraper, announced construction of an observation deck named OUE Skyspace. on the 69th and 70th floors and a restaurant named 71Above on the 71st floor. The facilities opened on June 24, 2016, following remodeling and construction costing $31 million that included a makeover of the ground floor lobby as well as a separate second floor entrance for tourists, and a skylobby and exhibit hall on the 54th floor. Access to the observation deck costs $25 per person. For an additional $8 visitors can take a trip down a transparent glass slide affixed to the outside of the building between the 70th and 69th floors.
Terrorist target
On June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11 attacks called for the hijacking of ten planes, one of which was to be crashed into the building.
On October 6, 2005, House officials stated that the government had foiled a previously undisclosed second plot to crash a plane into the building in mid-2002. In his televised 2006 State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush asserted that American counterterrorism officials foiled a plot to fly planes into the tower, which he erroneously identified as the “Liberty Tower†instead of the building's former name, the Library Tower. According to President Bush, Al-Qaeda leader Khaled Sheikh Mohammed's plan was to use Asian confederates from Jemaah Islamiyah recruited by Islamic militant Hambali for the hijacking. President Bush asserted the hijackers were going to use shoe bombs to breach the plane's cockpit door. Some counter-terrorism experts have expressed doubt that the plot was ever fully developed or likely to occur.
Major tenants
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Cornerstone Research
- Gordon & Rees LLP
- Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
- Jenner & Block
- Thomson West
- U.S. Bancorp
- White & Case
- Littler Mendelson
- Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith LLP
- AlvaradoSmith APC
In popular culture
- The building and the Los Angeles skyline is featured many times in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- In the 1990 film Predator 2, Danny Glover is seen chasing the Predator around different parts of Los Angeles.
- The building made a notable appearance in the 1996 film Independence Day, in which the tower was the first structure to be destroyed during the beginning of a massive alien invasion.
- In the 2000 movie Disney's The Kid (2000), Bruce Willis's character, an image consultant, works in the building.
- In the 2001 movie Swordfish, the escape bus is deposited on top of the building by the Skyhook helicopter. Note that while the helipad is rated for 12 tons, a loaded bus can weigh upwards of 16.
- In the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow, the U.S. Bank Tower is severely damaged by the super tornado, but ultimately still standing.
- The 2007 film Dragon Wars features a giant monster dragon that first destroys and rampages through the city and then climbs the tower.
- In the 2007 movie Southland Tales, The building stands for US-IDENT, a Big Brother surveillance agency that is under the guise of a national security think-tank.
- In the 2009 disaster film 2012, it is one of the many buildings in Los Angeles destroyed by a major earthquake.
- In the 2015 disaster film San Andreas, the tower is among many high-rise buildings in Downtown LA that collapse due to a 9.1-magnitude earthquake striking the city. In one scene, protagonist Ray Gaines (played by Dwayne Johnson) barely flew his helicopter past the collapsing tower.
- In the History Channel series Life After People, the U.S. Bank Tower is shown withstanding a giant fire that consumed nearly all of LA ten after humans go extinct, and "The Big One", an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale after 50 years (though the top floors collapse due to fire damage and 50 years of neglect having weakened the structure). Finally, it collapses after a moderate earthquake 600 years after the disappearance of people.
- The 2002 music video for "Thug Lovin'" by Ja Rule and Bobby Brown was filmed on the roof of tower.
- The 2002 music video for "Drift & Die'" by Puddle of Mudd was filmed on the roof of tower shown in the last scene.
- The building was featured as an unnamed tower in the city of Los Santos in the 2004 game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and then also features in the 2013 game Grand Theft Auto V as the Maze Bank Tower.
- The building collapses during an earthquake in the TV miniseries 10.5.
Gallery
See also
- 50 tallest buildings in the U.S.
- List of tallest buildings in Los Angeles
- List of tallest buildings by U.S. state
References
External links
- U.S. Bank Tower website
- OUE Skyspace LA website
- 71 Above restaurant website
- Building Profile on Emporis
- List of Tenants @ U.S. Bank Tower - Companies located at 633 W 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA