Fashion District WELCOME HOME

The Kor Group, in partnership with Stork/Alma Development group, has announced the official start of construction on the Proper Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. First announced in July 2015, the future 148-room lifestyle hotel will be located in the former YMCA Building at 11th Street and Broadway, near the intersection of the Fashion District and South Park. Under the adaptive reuse project, the 91-year-old building will add features such as a rooftop pool and lounge deck.

The Downtown News has unveiled renderings for the proposed mixed-use development that would transform the Southern California Flower Market. A portion of the longtime wholesale center, located on a 3.8-acre property at 755 S. Wall Street, is slated to be razed to make way for a 14-story building, featuring 290 rental apartments - some of which would be set aside as affordable housing - and residential amenities. Plans call for the market’s second building to be upgraded and retained with space for floral vendors, approximatley 50,000-60,000 square feet of offices and an undetermined amount of parking.

The streak of new developments continues in the Fashion District. Today, local real estate firm Jade Enterprises filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to construct a mid-rise complex at 11th and Main Streets. The eight-story development, which would replace a series of one-story commercial buildings, is slated to include 379 apartments and 26,000 square feet of office, dining and neighborhood services space. Approximately 11% of the building’s residential units would be set aside for very low income households.

Developer Geoff Palmer is halfway through construction of his two-building Broadway Palace development, which is adding hundreds of residential units across from the popular Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The first phase of the development, which is expected to open before the end of the year, consists of a six-story building 240 apartments, 15,900 square feet of retail space and live-work units facing Main Street. It sits immediately north of the historic Los Angeles Railway building, which is poised for for a conversion into the first Los Angeles Hoxton Hotel.

The Southern California Flower Market, a longtime Fashion District institution, may head in a new direction as its management team looks to ensure the wholesale market’s long-term viability. According to a motion put forth by 14th District Councilmember Jose Huizar, the Flower Market is seeking an upgrade to its current facility, which occupies a 3.8-acre site bounded by 7th, 8th, Wall and Maple Streets. The existing market, situated in a hodge podge collection of modest industrial buildings, is described as functionally obsolete.

Ever since its completion in 2007, the Santee Court/Santee Village complex has felt a bit isolated. Sitting at the northern edge of the Fashion District, the 381-unit condo and apartment complex spans six former industrial buildings overlooking a central courtyard. The complex, along with the 64-unit Textile Building, are the only residential structures on the block defined by Seventh, Eighth, Los Angeles and Maple Streets. Too far east to feel like a contiguous part of the Historic Core, yet starkly different than the neighboring Flower District and Skid Row.

In recent years, a series of adpative reuse projects have added thousands of residents to the Fashion District, a low-slung area of Downtown Los Angeles which serves as the nexus of Southern California’s apparel industry. The neighborhood is now poised for its most noticeable change yet, as a potential high-rise development appears on the horizon. Earlier today, plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles to construct a residential tower at the corner of 7th and Maple Streets.

Eight months after purchasing the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Railway for $30 million, British developer Ennismore has revealed details about its plan to convert the 10-story edifice into a boutique Hoxton hotel. According to a presentation to the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee, the London-based firm intends to convert the upper levels of the former office building into 164 guest rooms. Plans also call for multiple food and beverage venues, lounge areas, a spa, event space and a rooftop deck with a swimming pool and seating.

Just when all was quiet on Downtown Los Angeles’ adaptive re-use front, the Department of City Planning sends out this notice. ”…the Adaptive Reuse of an existing nine-story plus basement, mezzanine and penthouse, 46,709 square-foot light manufacturing building with ground-level retail uses, into a mixed-use building containing 54 joint live/work dwelling units and ground-level retail uses The Grayco Building has 100 years of history within its walls, and soon it will also have dozens of permanent residents crammed into tiny apartments.

Take a look at the latest renderings for City Market, the Fashion District mega-development which proposes to transform a century-old produce market into a 10-acre mixed-use campus. Comprised of 14 development sites roughly bounded by 9th, 12th, San Julian and San Pedro Streets, City Market would create more than 1.9 million square feet of programmed space. Designed by HansonLA, plans call for 945 units of new housing, a 210-room business class hotel, and 225,000 square feet of ground level retail and restaurant space.