Nancy Escano, principal of Dowler-Gruman Architects, left, with Trey Post, architect and associate, and Kim Borgen, interior designer and strategic planner. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Not many Downtown businesses get the opportunity to design their entire offices. But for Dowler-Gruman Architects, renovating and redesigning the old Grossmont Bank building at Columbia and Ash was a natural extension of the work its architects do. And it brought some surprising results.

“People walk down the street, peek in the window and stare. They just stand there staring,” says Nancy Escano, one of the founders and principals of the company who manages the office. The passers-by are struck by the beauty of the lobby, which has a gleaming hardwood floor, ultra-sleek furnishings and vibrant colors.

Escano’s 12-member staff did their work in a temporary office on Pacific Highway before moving into the renovated building two years ago. “We see our office as a marketing tool,” says Escano. “We were new in town. We spent a lot of money on our improvements to show people what we can do — a lot more than what architects typically spend.”

Escano and three other architects from the Ehrlich Riminger architectural firm in Los Altos decided to strike out on their own about 10 years ago. Today, Dowler-Gruman Architects employs 60 people in offices in Mountain View, San Francisco and San Diego. California Link described the company as California’s 11th largest architectural firm in 2002. Its 2003 billings totaled $13.7 million.

“We selected Downtown San Diego because it is a center of commerce,” says Escano. “There’s a vitality here. We have a young, energetic staff who like the area. We’re close to Little Italy and the Gaslamp and we’re just a few blocks away from Broadway.”

The lobby of Dowler-Gruman Architects at 445 W. Ash St.

Dowler-Gruman has built a reputation as one of the state’s best laboratory design companies for life science, microelectronics and telecommunications companies. Its architects have designed the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Yamanouchi Shaklee Pharma and, in San Diego, the office and research laboratory buildings for Neurocrine Biosciences in Carmel Valley. That project was Dowler-Gruman’s largest here. It has about 50 or 60 projects under way in San Diego, Temecula, Los Angeles and Orange County. Many are smaller projects but the majority are in San Diego, says Escano.

Escano, 45, who makes her home in Kensington, is a graduate of UC Berkeley and has lectured on laboratory design at Stanford University and for Commercial Real Estate Women and the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering.

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At many law firms, partners get bigger offices than associates. But not at Best Best & Krieger LLP after it moves in October to leased space on the 15th floor of the new Broadway 655 commercial office building Downtown. Each of the 40 offices, designed by Howard-Sneed, will be the same size. The firm, which employs 45 people in San Diego, 25 of them attorneys, opted for one standard size to allow for more offices in the design and for more space in meeting rooms and common areas.

The law firm is leasing the 13th floor of the Emerald Plaza, where it’s been since 1993. Best Best & Krieger has more than 160 attorneys in seven offices in California.

Irving Hughes represented the law firm in the new lease.

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TSA Contracting has completed the first phase of improvements on the Coast Hotel, a combination motel and single-room occupancy hotel at 501 Seventh Ave. The original hotel was built in 1895. The $320,000 first phase included new windows, HVAC, lighting, framing, drywall and ADA upgrades.

ALS Investment Group LLC owns the 57-room, three-story hotel. Heritage Architecture and Planning did the design work. TSA representatives included Sean Meyers as superintendent, Randall LaRocco as project manager, Delores Dorman as project coordinator and Terry Arnett as project executive. Subcontractors included Cement Cutting, CPE Construction, Precision Interiors, Brady Company, Pella Architectural Products, Green Building Technologies, LaRussa-Ghianni, Zephyr Painting Inc., JSP Construction Co. and Rowan Electric.

The Downtown Relocations column features news on firms that are abandoning, moving into or expanding in the 92101 zip code. Send submissions to Manny Cruz, manny@sandiegometro.com.