OUE puts US Bank Tower in LA up for sale

Singapore

THE US Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, known for its cameos in Hollywood movies and a sky-high outdoor glass slide, has been put up for sale.

Singapore property developer OUE, backed by the Riady family, has started marketing the building after enhancement work, the company said in a statement.

The prominent Indonesian family bought the iconic building for US$367.5 million through an OUE unit in 2013, when the tower was at the time the tallest west of the Mississippi.

US Bank Tower could draw more than US$700 million, based on recent downtown transactions, the Los Angeles Times reported. OUE did not state how much it was asking for the building.

In November, an investigation into troubled Indonesian property developer Lippo Karawaci, also controlled by the Riadys, reverberated in the Singapore bond market.

Singapore dollar-denominated notes issued by OUE and others linked to the family dropped as a liquidity crunch prompted concern the group is using other entities to help shore up finances.

The stock has fallen 9.8 per cent in the past six months, compared with a 3.7 per cent decline in the Singapore benchmark Straits Times Index.

Work done by OUE at the US Bank Tower include an open-air observation deck with a 360-degree view from Hollywood Hills to the Pacific Ocean and an outdoor glass slide 1,000 feet above ground, according to the company.

The building was "blown up" in the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day and has been seen in numerous other films. BLOOMBERG