Constellation Place was constructed from 2001 to 2003. It is 26th-tallest building in Los Angeles, and the 5th-tallest in Century City. It was the first high-rise to be completed in the 21st century in Los Angeles. The building was designed by Johnson Fain Partners, and has of Class A office space. Before August 19, 2011, the headquarters were in the MGM Tower in Century City, Los Angeles. Halfway through the design building process of what would become the MGM Tower, MGM agreed to be the lead tenant. In 2000 MGM announced that it was moving its headquarters to a newly constructed building in Century City. The building opened in 2003. In 2010, as MGM emerged from bankruptcy protection, it announced that it planned to move the headquarters to Beverly Hills, California so the company could remove around $5 billion in debt. The lease in Century City was scheduled to expire in 2018. Vincent and Eller said that MGM's per square foot monthly rent would be far lower in the Beverly Hills building than in the MGM Tower. Larry Kozmont, a real estate consultant not involved in the move, said "It's a prudent move for them. Downsizing and relocating to a space that is still prominent but not overly ostentatious and burdened by expenses is fundamental for their survival."
Facilities
has its headquarters on the five recently renovated top floors of the building. Alex Yemenidjian, a former chairperson and chief executive of MGM, devised the headquarters space. Roger Vincent and Claudia Eller of the Los Angeles Times said that "Yemenidjian spared no expense in building out the studio's space with such Las Vegas-style flourishes as towering marble pillars and a grand spiral staircase lined with a wall of awards." Scott Johnson, the architect, designed the bottom third of the tower to have extra-large floors so MGM executives could have outdoor decks. The marble used in the MGM spaces was imported from Italy. MGM received a dedicated private garage, a dedicated security checkpoint, and a dedicated elevator bank. That way, celebrities who visited the complex could enter and exit the building without entering public spaces. Three screening rooms were placed in the tower. One of them was a 100-seat theater on the ground floor. As of December 2010 ICM Partners controls the theater. The 14th floor lobby housed the executive suites and a wall of Oscar statuettes for Academy Award-winning films. The street that leads to the building's garage was renamed MGM Drive. A large MGM logo was placed at the top of the building. In December 2010 MGM rented of space in the MGM Tower, and it paid nearly $5 per square foot per month in rent. As of 2012 it was noted as the first high-rise in Los Angeles to use electricity-generating fuel cells, called Bloom Energy Servers, as a source of power. The cells, which rely on hydrocarbons such as natural gas to generate power, may produce up to 400 kilowatts of power, which would supply one third of the electricity used to power the building.
