City National Bank Officially Expands and Adds Second Skyscraper in Downtown Los Angeles

City National logo added to city skyline on iconic Bunker Hill tower; becomes first company with signage on two major downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers

May 09, 2018

LOS ANGELES – City National Bank, America’s Premier Private and Business Bank®, announced today that it has expanded and added its signage to City National 2CAL, the iconic 52-story skyscraper at 350 S. Grand Ave. in downtown Los Angeles. The signage installation and expansion into nearly 300,000 square feet of office space reflects City National’s strong growth and ongoing commitment to Los Angeles.

With this news, the bank builds on its 51-year legacy in downtown and becomes the first company with prominent building-top signage on two of the city’s skyline-defining buildings: City National 2CAL and City National Plaza. The new state-of-the-art office space is designed to promote more open and flexible space that will increase teamwork, efficiency and access to amenities.

City National Bank will remain headquartered in City National Plaza at 555 S. Flower St., where the company will also retain its existing signage. City National currently employs more than 2,100 colleagues in downtown Los Angeles and the company expects to add several hundred new colleagues there in the next few years.

“Our decision to expand into City National 2CAL – including the addition of a second sign to the skyline – reflects both our continuing commitment to Los Angeles and the strong growth of City National Bank since its merger with RBC in 2015,” said Russell Goldsmith, chairman and CEO of City National Bank and chairman of RBC Wealth Management-U.S. “It also reflects our determination to provide City National’s colleagues with a premier work environment. The expansion and new signage on Bunker Hill positions us as one of the largest employers and tenants in downtown Los Angeles, and signals our continuing commitment to our clients, colleagues and communities in Southern California.”

The bank first announced its lease at City National 2CAL in December 2016, and has since been renovating the 11-story space to prepare for the 1,600 City National colleagues who are ultimately expected to move in. The building was chosen for its close proximity to City National Plaza, its accessibility to public transit including the Red and Purple Line subways and under-construction Regional Connector, its sustainable designation as LEED Platinum certified, and its strong restaurant and retail offerings. The building also neighbors Los Angeles landmarks including the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Broad, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Colburn School, Angel’s Flight and Grand Central Market.

To create City National Bank’s new downtown urban campus in a way that would reflect the bank’s values of innovation and premier service, the bank hired Gensler, a leading global architecture, design and planning firm. They created an open, flexible design that enables the bank’s colleagues to better connect through both physical space and enhanced technology. Each floor centers on a “work cafe,” which hosts impromptu meetings and casual lunches. Private offices have been pulled away from the perimeter to provide equitable access to light and views for all colleagues. Sit-stand desks allow individual controllability of immediate workspace and low-horizon workstations enable a visual connection across teams.                             

The new design reflects the growth at City National Bank. In November 2015, City National Bank merged with Royal Bank of Canada and since that time has been expanding rapidly.

  • Grown assets by 33 percent, from $37 billion to $49 billion.
  • Hired more than 800 colleagues, a 22 percent increase, from 3,700 colleagues to more than 4,500 colleagues.
  • Grown loans and leases by 36 percent, from $23 billion to $31 billion.
  • Grown deposits by 33 percent, from $32 billion to $43 billion.
  • Expanded nationwide with new locations in New York, Boston, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.

About Gensler

Gensler is a global architecture, design and planning firm with 44 locations and more than 5,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places people live, work and play more inspiring, more resilient and more impactful.


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