Fashion District WELCOME HOME

On the heels of multiple industrial-to-residential conversions in the Downtown Fashion District, a small building just south of Santee Village may be looking to get in on the action. Last week, developer Uri Harkham filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to convert a small commercial building at 823 S. Los Angeles street into 12 live-work apartments. The low-rise structure, located mid-block between 8th and 9th Streets, already features ground-level commercial space.

The unrelenting South Park development boom is gradually spreading east through Downtown Los Angeles. Earlier this week, plans were filed with the City of Los Angeles for a new mixed-use development at 1148 South Broadway in the Fashion District. The project, slated for a half-acre parking lot at the northeast corner of Broadway and 12th Street, would include more than 50 residential units. City records have disclosed few details about the proposed development thus far, revealing neither its height nor its mix of uses.

Earlier this week, Urbanize LA got a sneak peak inside Garment Lofts- the first new market-rate rental residential project to hit in the Fashion District since way back in 2004. Located at 217 E. 8th Street in the Gothic Revival-style Garment Capitol Building, the project contains 77 residential units and 3,479 square feet of ground floor retail. Seven different floorplans are available, ranging in size from 663 SF to 1,617 SF.

Two years ago, a consortium of Fashion District property owners revealed plans to transform the shuttered City Market of Los Angeles into a $500 million to $1 billion mixed-use complex. The 10-acre site - bounded by San Julian, San Pedro, 9th and 12th Streets - would be redeveloped with a combination of housing, hotel rooms, creative office space, pedestrian-oriented retail and an educational institution focused on the fashion industry. Now, a draft environmental impact report (DEIR) has unveiled new details about architecture firm HansonLA’s master plan for the proposed development.

Today’s Throwback Thursday brings us to Garment Lofts in the Fashion District. Taken 20 months apart, the photos highlight the efforts that MDM Builders and Capital Foresight put into the renovation of the stunning but neglected 1926 building. It also highlights what a difference a renovated building of this size can make in a neighborhood, and how the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance continues to be an effective tool in bringing back the former splendor of Downtown LA.

In an upcoming presentation to the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee, Holland Partner Group will provide new details about its plans for two high-rise developments on the border between the Fashion District and the Historic Core. The proposed residential towers - both designed by architecture firm MVE & Partners - would replace two surface parking lots at the intersection of 8th and Spring Streets. 732 Spring Street The first, located immediately north of the Great Republic Lofts at 732 S.

Today’s TBT features a pair of shots of DTLA’s skyline taken from the east- one from November 2013 and the second from December 2015. Among the visible differences: Which skyline-altering projects are you most looking forward to two years from now?

According to a notice received by residents of the Chapman Flats, developer Holland Partner Group intends to break ground on a 24-story apartment tower in Downtown Los Angeles this week. The 244-foot tall edifice, slated for a surface parking lot at the northwest corner of 8th and Spring Streets, will feature 320 residential units and 8,900 square feet of commercial floor area. Plans call for retail space on both the first and second floors of the building, as well as townhome-style units wrapping its podium levels.

Downtown LA’s Fashion District has seen a handful of residential adaptive reuse projects recently, but now something new is coming to the neighborhood: executive office space and high-end retail. Downtown Executive Multiplex by Strategic Legacy Investment Group (SLIG) is a $3.5 million renovation project currently underway at 221 E 12th Street— just a stone’s throw from Santee Alley. The 4-story 29,654 SF building formerly known as the Santee Center was originally built in 1989, and up until now contained a mix of uses typical for this part of town: discount retail on the ground floor with light manufacturing and storage space above.

While developer Geoff Palmer rapidly erases Broadway’s most conspicuous parking lots, another veteran developer quietly continues with the adaptive reuse of a historic building adjacent to the Ace Hotel. Barry Shy, one of the Historic Core’s most prominent landlords, is adding to his Downtown apartment empire through the residential conversion of 939 S. Broadway, an early 1920s building which formerly housed operations for the Western Costume Company. After completion, the 12-story edifice is expected to contain 151 residential units above ground-floor retail space.