A finance company known for auto lending has planted its flag in one of downtown Las Vegas's most recognizable office towers. The City of Las Vegas announced that Westlake Financial has opened its new offices in downtown Las Vegas, moving into a building long known to locals as the former Bank of America building.
The announcement came in a post from the City of Las Vegas
, which said Westlake Financial has opened its new offices in downtown Las Vegas. In a separate post from its official account, the city welcomed both the company and its subsidiary, writing that it was excited to welcome Westlake Financial and its subsidiary, Western Funding, to one of downtown's largest office buildings, formerly known as the Bank of America building, according to
@CityOfLasVegas
Western Funding, the subsidiary named alongside Westlake in the city's announcement, is described on its own investor page as a privately held, indirect lender in the automobile finance space that was founded in 1962 and acquired out of bankruptcy in 2013 by its parent company, Westlake Financial Services, according to westernfundinginc.com.
A Building With Two Different Numbers Attached
Exactly how the building is described depends on who you ask. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that the 300 S. Fourth St. tower, now rebranded as Tower 300, has 17 stories and was previously known as Bank of America Plaza. Molasky Companies, however, describes the same property as 16 stories tall. The dossier does not resolve that discrepancy, so both figures are presented here as reported by their respective sources.
Molasky Companies' own listing for the property says Bank of America Plaza was built in 1975 and contains 250,000 square feet of office space. The building isn't short on company downtown, either — the Review-Journal has reported that Pacific Workplaces leased more than 16,600 square feet in the 1970s-era building, taking the entire sixth floor.
Office Space Still Up For Grabs
Westlake and Western Funding aren't the last potential tenants for the tower. Tower 300 advertises office space at $2.35 per square foot, full-service gross, as the lowest rates among comparable downtown buildings, per the building's own marketing site. A Newmark brokerage listing separately shows 4,038 square feet of office space at Tower 300 available starting December 1, 2027, in a building that also offers a seven-story attached parking garage with a stated parking ratio of 2:1,000.
The City of Las Vegas's economic and urban development team works to help businesses establish themselves downtown, and the city has invited business owners to connect with that team about bringing their own operations into the area, pointing interested parties to lasvegasnevada.gov/eud for more information.
Why Downtown Keeps Drawing Tenants
The push to fill downtown office space comes against a backdrop of comparatively tight vacancy. A Review-Journal report found downtown Las Vegas's office vacancy rate stood at 10.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with the valley's overall vacancy rate of 12.5 percent. Separate research cited by the same outlet found that downtown Las Vegas had recovered to 103 percent of its pre-pandemic mobile phone activity, a sign of foot traffic bouncing back faster than in many other cities.
Economists quoted in that reporting cautioned that the region will need to diversify to keep up growth in the long term. Karen Chapple pointed to investing in transit and improving walkability, hosting events or short-term businesses in empty office space and increasing affordable housing stock as ways to sustain downtown's momentum. Local government and business leaders have also identified health care as a significant opportunity for diversification as the Las Vegas Medical District, located near downtown, continues to grow.
