LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[Easy]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Some news from the ground. Looks like Hanover has sold its new 7 story to another company. It has been renamed "South Park by Windsor." This could be good news in that usually when a sale happens they might be looking at building something else. Maybe another 717 Olympic or Hollywood Gower tower?? Fingers crossed

Interesting. Hopefully you're right. But to be clear this isn't their newest building or even the one before that. It's the former Hanover South Park which was the first of their three low rises. It's new at maybe a little over a year old but they've been pretty busy.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LAsam

Signs of life on Park Fifth... looking to get $60MM in EB-5 financing:

http://therealdeal.com/la/2016/07/28...-dtla-project/

That implies the reported start up date of this month is a bunch of hot air. How can they have actual groundbreaking if they're still trying to assemble funding for the proj?

history is repeating itself since the previous owner of the much larger original park fifth proj....which would have been the tallest residential tower on the west coast.....was always running around trying to dig up funders too. Towards the end....right before that proj was finally put to sleep...the owner was seeking funding from sources based in israel.

Interesting how high visibility areas like 5th & olive & all the land across from disney hall get stuck with owners who are incapable of obtaining financing for yrs on end, while less prominent sections of dt.....such as on Spring near 8th st where the 2 frankenstein apt towers are going up....manage to break ground without much advance publicity about them.

Jewelry district struggles to maintain glitter in changing downtown

Steve Altinis spends much of his time sitting at his desk at Tievoli Jewelers in downtown Los Angeles, waiting to greet customers. But it can be a long wait these days. During one two-week stretch in July, not a single new face walked into the spacious store Altinis opened in 1980.

“In general, it’s totally dead,” Altinis said. “No business at all.”

Early on, business was good. In the 1980s, the Western Jewelry Mart in the old Hollingsworth Building at 6th and Hill streets in downtown L.A. often was packed, the main plaza floor bustling with activity.

Jewelry manufacturing in the district slowed in the 2000s, and since the 2008 recession, many sellers have struggled to survive in an industry whose lifeblood is the lure of luxury. Now that downtown L.A. is seeing an influx of capital from new developers, rising rents are adding to the strain felt by the craftsmen and small-business owners who kept the area alive in years past.

Working-class Latinos who helped sustain many downtown businesses are diminishing in numbers, while a growing Asian American population, including many wealthy Chinese immigrants, are drawn to luxury brands not found in the district.

On Broadway, where many stores selling gold and less pricey jewelry long thrived off a vibrant Latino consumer base, business is down too.

Ramin Refaiel, who is originally from Iran and owns a gold store on Broadway, became fluent in Spanish after working for years in retail downtown.

“The whole downtown turns on Latinos,” he said. “They come to buy their electronics here, a quinceañera dress across the street and a … perfume next door.”

Ten years ago, Refaiel hired Cintya Ortiz to help him with his Latino clientele. Ortiz said the majority of the shop’s customers are still Latinos, some coming from the Central Valley and even out of state. But there are far fewer, and they’re spending less, she said.

“Today, there’s not half the people there used to be,” Ortiz said.

Between 1997 and 2015, property values in downtown L.A. increased by 224%, according to a 2015 report by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. Between 1999 and 2015, the number of residential units increased threefold, to more than 35,000.

“Real estate values have gone up so much that rental rates have no choice [but] to follow,” Pilavjian said. “That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the mom-and-pop businesses.”

L.A.’s jewelry district, bounded roughly by 5th and 8th streets to the north and south, and Broadway and Olive to the east and west, is one of the country’s largest. The industry is difficult to track, but Pilavjian estimates there are up to 1,500 tenants, including many small, independent jewelers who rent booth space in the large jewelry plazas.

On the Broadway side of the St. Vincent Jewelry Center, the basement and ground level are now occupied by a Burlington Coat Factory. In the past year, two other icons of the jewelry district, the International Jewelry Mart and the Foreman and Clark Building, were sold to large real estate firms, with talks of being renovated and repurposed for residential or mixed use.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Some news from the ground. Looks like Hanover has sold its new 7 story to another company. It has been renamed "South Park by Windsor." This could be good news in that usually when a sale happens they might be looking at building something else. Maybe another 717 Olympic or Hollywood Gower tower?? Fingers crossed

Why would they tear down a year old building with ~300 units? They're probably getting half a million a month in rent from it.

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by King Kill 'em

Why would they tear down a year old building with ~300 units? They're probably getting half a million a month in rent from it.

They probably means Hanover would start on a new project completely on another lot.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

They probably means Hanover would start on a new project completely on another lot.

Oh I thought he was saying that the new owners would build something where that complex is.

[colemonkee]

^ No, this is Hanover liquidating assets to (likely) free up seed funds to start a totally new project. No guarantee, though, that the new project will be in LA or even downtown. Hanover develops buildings all over the country.

[hughfb3]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

^ No, this is Hanover liquidating assets to (likely) free up seed funds to start a totally new project. No guarantee, though, that the new project will be in LA or even downtown. Hanover develops buildings all over the country.

Right!!! Hoping they get busy in LA with the fresh infusion of cash. This is also Good news to any developer invested in downtown in that they can get decent to good ROI.

[caligrad]

Thanks for the photo updates everybody. I truly needed that .

That being said, I was downtown today with some friends. We stopped at the Nickel Diner on Main for lunch. Really cool place.

But here's where things got interesting. After we ate, we walked around the area to see the changes. We turned a corner heading to Broadway and some lady was standing outside of her store trying to convince us to buy new cellphone covers. When we politely said no thank you, this was her very rude response

"see, this is why we don't like you new people moving in down here, you don't want to shop at our stores, you think you're too good for our stuff, people like you are why we go out of business"

which led to the store front owner right next door (who was selling the cheapest pair of jeans I've ever seen) to chime in on the conversation in agreement with her.

Has anyone else had this experience with the older "swapmeet like" stores in the area ? they seemed crazy hostile

[King Kill 'em]

Advice for the storeowners

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[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by caligrad

"see, this is why we don't like you new people moving in down here, you don't want to shop at our stores, you think you're too good for our stuff, people like you are why we go out of business"

which led to the store front owner right next door (who was selling the cheapest pair of jeans I've ever seen) to chime in on the conversation in agreement with her.

Has anyone else had this experience with the older "swapmeet like" stores in the area ? they seemed crazy hostile

Honestly, let them go. There's a massive crowd of shoppers in the fashion district so they can easily move there. Downtown is evolving, just like it was once the home of massive flagship retail stores back in her heyday. Downtown evolved to cater to the cheaper shoppers in the past several decades but now that residents are moving in the retailers will need to evolve with it. I'm going to get a ton of flak for this but I honestly don't care.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by caligrad

Has anyone else had this experience with the older "swapmeet like" stores in the area ? they seemed crazy hostile

All the time, specially being a young white guy. Just take joy in the fact they'll be out of business soon. Its getting too risky running a money laundering operation in Historic Core.

[caligrad]

^^^ LOL I knew that would catch your attention. Yeah, when it happened, I honestly kicked myself and said "ugh, do I really have to give Hunter points for this one" LOL

But its ok. You all know how I LOVE to get argumentative sometimes. By the time I got done going off on the both of them....... I wouldn't be surprised if they both packed up and left tomorrow.

I was just more so embarrassed by the fact that one of my friends were from out of town, her first time visiting.

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Honestly, let them go. There's a massive crowd of shoppers in the fashion district so they can easily move there. Downtown is evolving, just like it was once the home of massive flagship retail stores back in her heyday. Downtown evolved to cater to the cheaper shoppers in the past several decades but now that residents are moving in the retailers will need to evolve with it. I'm going to get a ton of flak for this but I honestly don't care.

Oh trust me, I'm with you on that one. I hope all of these useless hole in the walls bite the dust. Seriously. I even told them that to their face that their days were numbered and I couldn't wait. I'm all for supporting small businesses but when their attitude is like that and the attitude matches the junk they are selling, I wouldn't blink if even the tackiest of mall stores were to take their spot.

*King Kill'em*

Pretty much sums up my mentality. If they want to stay, fine, but how about they change their attitude a bit and actually sell something worth buying. And how about cleaning up the stores they are currently squatting in. Her store was DISGUSTING. When I pointed that out to her, her response "that's none of your business". I swear common sense isn't common these days, no matter what planet you're on.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by caligrad

"see, this is why we don't like you new people moving in down here, you don't want to shop at our stores, you think you're too good for our stuff, people like you are why we go out of business"

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[cesar90]

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[colemonkee]

Great shot, Cesar! It'll only be 6-9 months before the entire right side of the skyline is more or less blocked by new towers from that view. Which in my opinion is a good sign of progress.

[Wilcal]

• Video Link

Good shots and great music Efrain.

Listening to that jazz conjures up images of Downtown Los Angeles circa 1950's with the "noir look" of dive jazz clubs. Excellent!

[cesar90]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Great shot, Cesar! It'll only be 6-9 months before the entire right side of the skyline is more or less blocked by new towers from that view. Which in my opinion is a good sign of progress.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Wilcal

Good shots and great music Efrain.

Listening to that jazz conjures up images of Downtown Los Angeles circa 1950's with the "noir look" of dive jazz clubs. Excellent!

And Thank you. I think I may be down to try a film noir look for a broader area of downtown not just bunker hill. Maybe some alleys.

[Resident]

Originally Posted by caligrad

"see, this is why we don't like you new people moving in down here, you don't want to shop at our stores, you think you're too good for our stuff, people like you are why we go out of business"

They are all about to be replaced really really soon. I personally don't care about business gentrification.

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by Resident

They are all about to be replaced really really soon. I personally don't care about business gentrification.

Same. And in a lot of cases I don't really care about resident gentrification either. Boyle Heights for example, which is majority renters, has an insanely aggressive opposition to being priced out. It has been heavily Latino for a while now, but prior to that (and not too long ago, many are still alive to remember) was a very diverse neighborhood of Jews (majority), Hispanics, Russians and Japanese, along with a few others.

Can I empathize with the residents? To a degree, yes. But being overtly offensive and casting threats of violence does not represent a good case for them. Do I want BH completely yuppified? Not at all, but a little investment in the form of new development to clean the place up a bit wouldn't hurt.

[caligrad]

^^^ I agree. I never understood this idea of letting neighborhoods sit idle for decades just to keep prices low. I understand that we need affordable housing, but keeping neighborhoods void of any form of investment isn't smart either. If anything, it rises the rents in surrounding areas, why places that are known for fighting investment (parts of South LA) sit on cheaper housing but at the same time have the highest crime rates in the county.

Originally Posted by Resident

They are all about to be replaced really really soon. I personally don't care about business gentrification.

I agree with you. I honestly don't care at all. I felt a smudge sorry at the beginning of the Broadway transformation. But now I can careless. I hope they are all replaced quickly.