Downtown Building Has a Telecom Future

The former home of the now-defunct University Club in downtown Los Angeles has been sold for $5.65 million to New York-based Gateway Realty, which plans to convert the building for use by telecommunications businesses. The six-story, 110,000-square-foot property at 630 W. 6th St. is near the underground fiber-optic cable system that has led many telecom firms to lease space and install electronic switching systems recently in the downtown area. Gateway has been involved in similar projects nationwide, said Los Angeles broker Wolfgang V. Kupka of Vista Realty Advisors, who represented Gateway and the building’s seller, Los Angeles-based Hertz Investment Group. It will take about six months to prepare the building for telecom tenants. The University Club closed in the early 1990s and the building has sat mostly vacant since.