2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA

Syska Hennessy Group was retained to provide engineering services for the redevelopment of the 30-year-old former ABC Entertainment Center, consisting of a 12-story, 790,000-sf office tower, with 45,000 sf of destination dining, a retail/café promenade, a 10,000-sf cultural center, a 3.75-acre landscape park and a 2,500-ton rooftop central plant.

As with any development project there are challenges, and 2000 Avenue of the Stars was no different. Syska’s central challenge was to create a highly energy-efficient and sustainable solution for the new office tower, which is 50-percent larger but was mandated to use less energy and water than the existing complex it replaced.

Our collaborative and sustainable approach resulted in a 16-percent reduction in energy consumption, along with superior indoor air quality and state-of-the-art life safety and electrical systems. The curtain wall was modeled to balance abundant daylighting and views while negating energy losses.

The water-saving features—including low-flow toilets, automatic faucets and the use of greywater—generate 20-percent savings in annual consumption, and the new rooftop central plant provides a three- to four-year payback over the cost of purchasing hot and chilled water from the local district plant.

Today, 2000 Avenue of the Stars is transformed, and, thanks to Syska and Gensler’s approach, it is one of the most energy-efficient buildings in Los Angeles.