Purchase of Prized Westside Tower Makes It Into Escrow.

Fox Plaza, arguably the Westside's most prized trophy building, is in escrow, and several sources familiar with the deal say the buyer is Donald Bren's Irvine Co.

The price is said to be almost $500 per square foot, or about $350 million. That would be about $65 million more than owner - and master of timing - Marvin Davis paid in late 1997.

The landmark tower commands some of the, highest rents and most prestigious tenants in Los Angeles. Fox Entertainment Group recently signed a new 15-year lease for 316,000 square feet, or 42 percent of the building's total space.

Rents run about $3.85 or so a square foot per month, but the building is almost fully occupied with about half a dozen tenants. Besides Fox, there's the offices of the Davis Cos. (Marvin Davis' holding company), investment firms Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Goldman Sachs & Co., and law firms Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro and Christiansen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glasser, Weil & Shapiro.

The tower overlooks the 20th Century Fox studio lot and had a starring role in the original "Die Hard" movie. (It was the building Bruce Willis was trying to prevent terrorists from blowing to bits.)

The Irvine Co. also owns Westwood Gateway, another premier office tower on the West-side, and was a bidder on 100 Wilshire last year before that ocean-view Santa Monica tower was purchased by Douglas Emmett (also a strong suitor for Fox Plaza).