Los Angeles is mostly a horizontal city. Century City is the exception. In fewer than two hundred acres between Beverly Hills and Westwood, you will find the densest collection of true luxury towers on the Westside, and the widest range of vertical living the city offers. A buyer can spend under a million dollars here or north of fifty, sometimes on the same street. Knowing which tower is which is the whole game, and that is what this guide is for.
A Skyline Built on a Backlot
Century City exists because a movie studio needed cash. In the early 1960s, Twentieth Century Fox sold off the better part of its backlot, and developers master planned a city within a city on the site: offices, a hotel, shopping, and residential towers, all organized around a grand boulevard named Avenue of the Stars. The Century Plaza hotel, a sweeping crescent designed by Minoru Yamasaki, opened in 1966 and became the neighborhood’s front door. Presidents stayed there. Studio deals closed there. The residential towers that followed have been trading on that glamour ever since, and the newest of them have given the old hotel a second act.
The Classics: Century Towers and Century Park East
The first residential statement here was Century Towers, a pair of towers from 1964 designed by I.M. Pei. Built originally as apartments and later converted to condominiums, the two buildings sit on unusually generous grounds for Los Angeles, with tennis, pools and a guarded entry off Avenue of the Stars. Residences tend toward classic proportions rather than glass walls, and the buildings have long attracted entertainment names who want privacy with pedigree. For buyers who love midcentury architecture with history attached, this is the address.
The towers along Century Park East are the neighborhood’s great entry point. Built in the boom years that followed, these buildings offer hundreds of residences, resort scale pools and decks, and some of the most attainable pricing anywhere on the Westside for a doorman building. Dues and renovation quality vary widely from line to line, which is exactly where a sharp agent earns their keep. If your budget says Westwood condo but your heart says skyline view, start here.
The Modern Flagships: The Century and One Century
Two buildings define the modern era. The Century, completed in 2010 and designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, rises 42 stories over its own gated park. It was conceived as a New York building transplanted to Los Angeles: limestone tones, estate scale floor plans, hotel style staff, and a porte cochère arrival that sets the tone before you reach the elevator. It remains one of the most expensive addresses in the city, and its resale market is watched the way other neighborhoods watch trophy estates.
One Century, its contemporary across the neighborhood, takes a quieter approach. The building is known for enormous floor plans, a very private arrival sequence, and a residents only culture that suits buyers who want their name in no headline anywhere. Where The Century announces, One Century conceals. Both deliver a level of service that condo buildings in Beverly Hills are only now beginning to match with their newest projects.
The Newest Chapter: Century Plaza
The most consequential recent arrival is the reimagined Century Plaza. Yamasaki’s landmark hotel was restored and reopened as the Fairmont Century Plaza, with a collection of residences inside the original crescent and two new glass towers rising behind it. The appeal is simple: hotel living as a permanent arrangement. Room service, spa, valet and housekeeping sit one elevator ride away, and the architecture is a piece of Los Angeles history. For buyers comparing the new Beverly Hills branded residences against Century City, this is the building that belongs on the tour.
One more name belongs in the conversation, with an asterisk. Ten Thousand, the glass tower at the neighborhood’s edge on Santa Monica Boulevard, is rental only. It matters to buyers anyway, because it sets the amenity bar locally and because plenty of future owners lease there while they shop the towers above.
Behind the Gates: The Low Rise Enclaves
Not everyone wants the thirtieth floor. West of the towers sit Century City’s guard gated enclaves, including Century Hill, Century Woods and Le Parc. These are terraced townhomes and garden residences with two car garages, real greenery, and a hush that feels closer to a country club than a city block. They trade less often than the towers and are beloved by longtime owners, which tells you most of what you need to know. For downsizing sellers leaving a house in Holmby Hills or the flats, the enclaves are often the softest landing.
How Century City Compares
Buyers shopping towers usually cross shop three markets. The Wilshire Corridor, just west in Westwood, offers more buildings and often more square footage per dollar, with a more traditional feel. West Hollywood offers the walkable Sunset Strip scene, anchored by Sierra Towers, where floor to ceiling glass and nightlife adjacency rule. Century City splits the difference: newer stock than the Corridor, more ground and quiet than the Sunset Strip, and a location that puts Beverly Hills on one shoulder and the studios’ old neighborhoods on the other. Buyers who want a true beach alternative usually end up comparing all of this against Santa Monica, where the ocean makes its own argument.
Living Vertically in the Middle of Everything
Daily life is the quiet selling point. Westfield Century City sits at the neighborhood’s center with Erewhon, Eataly and a few hundred reasons to leave the car parked. The office towers bring weekday energy and some of the best restaurants on the Westside. Beverly Hills shopping is minutes east, UCLA and Westwood Village minutes west, and the drive to the beach runs against traffic more often than not. For owners who travel, the towers lock and leave better than any house can.
If you are weighing Century City against the other tower markets, or trying to understand why two similar residences in the same building can sell very differently, that is a conversation worth having early. I work these buildings regularly through my practice at Carolwood Estates, and I am always glad to walk a tower floor by floor with you. Reach out any time.
Condos for Sale in Century City
