BBCN Bank, the new entity formed as a result of the merger between Nara Bank and Center Bank, will occupy 62,385 square feet of office space at the Wilshire Colonnade, 3731 Wilshire Boulevard, in Los Angeles' Koreatown. The 10-year lease extends the former Nara's existing lease for 43,993 square feet on floors 4, 10 and 11, and adds an additional 18,392 square feet of expansion space for the full second floor.

The majority of Center Bank's headquarter-based employees are expected to relocate to the new headquarters in mid-2012 when construction of the expansion space is complete. The transaction structure also takes advantage of two retail locations owned by former Center Bank, with certain employees moving to these facilities to maximize capacity.

With the merger, BBCN is now the largest Korean American bank in the country.

BBCN Bank was represented by Norman Y. Lee, managing director, and Matthew Brainard, corporate managing director, with global tenant advisory firm Studley.

The requirement was triggered by a ‘merger of equals' and the transaction structure leverages existing locations and infrastructure to provide our client with an economically advantageous and operationally efficient real estate footprint, said Lee.

Additionally, the selected alternative was the least disruptive to the bank's business operations, allowing our client to maintain its flagship headquarters in Koreatown, close to its key customer base, noted Brainard.

The Wilshire Colonnade complex consists of two, 11-story office buildings totaling 367,020 square feet. Owner Wilshire Colonnade Corp. was represented in the transaction by Charles Dunn, Amir Madadi and Steve Reizes of Charles Dunn Real Estate Services.