| |
Posted Oct 6, 2018, 12:21 AM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 6,461
|
|
Quote:
With 35 stories and a block-long video display, the Circa complex gives DTLA a Times Square vibe
By Roger Vincent
Oct 05, 2018
Scott Dobbins, president of Hankey Investment Co., in a two-bedroom suite on the 20th floor of the west tower at Circa apartment complex on Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Even in a time of roaring apartment construction in Los Angeles, the new Circa complex downtown is hard to miss. Its twin 35-story towers overlooking Staples Center are visible from a distance, and its massive block-long video display on Figueroa Street commands the attention of thousands of passing motorists and the day-and-night crowds that surge around the arena, L.A. Live and the nearby Los Angeles Convention Center.
In its 2 million square feet are 648 apartments, including penthouses that rent for $25,000 a month. Its sprawling outdoor amenity deck on the eighth floor has two swimming pools, cabanas, fire pits, gas barbecues, indoor and outdoor yoga spaces, a fitness center, library, wine bar, clubhouse, chef’s kitchen and two fenced-in dog parks — one for big pooches and one for small ones.
At street level there will be stores and restaurants. Circa’s garage has 2,000 parking places. Half of those are set aside for tenants, while the other half are available to people who may be attending games at Staples Center or events at the Convention Center.
Then there’s the 18,000-square-foot pulsing bright LED screen extending a full block that brings a Times Square vibe to the street. Right now, the sign is leased to Nike, which is running ads featuring sports stars Serena Williams and eventually perhaps LeBron James.
Circa opened last week with 14% of the units leased, said Scott Dobbins, president of Hankey Investment Co., who oversaw development of the project. He estimates it will take more than a year to lease the complex, where rent for a one-bedroom unit starts at $3,000 a month.
The interior of the building designed by HansonLA has “old-school touches,” architect Doug Hanson said, such as Italian marble and black walnut in the lobbies.
The kitchens were made in Germany and the floors are covered in oak. Units have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking downtown and range in size from 600 square feet for a one-bedroom to 4,000 square feet for a three-bedroom penthouse.
Downtown’s apartment market is in a peak frenzy of development, with more than 6,000 units expected to open there this year, said apartment sales broker Dean Zander of CBRE.
He expects that number to fall dramatically in 2019 and 2020 as rising construction costs and new city regulations intended to help pay for affordable housing drive up the price of apartment development.
The eighth floor amenity deck includes two pools, including one for laps that is adjacent to the gym.
The eighth floor amenity deck includes two pools, including one for laps that is adjacent to the gym. (Hunter Kerhart)
Demand for new downtown apartments has proved strong, Zander said. "The lease-up trajectory has been phenomenal,” he said, “with rents continuing to climb.”
Some landlords have offered incentives to renters such as one or two weeks of free rent for signing a one-year lease, or discounted parking fees, Zander said, but the incentives typically end at lease renewal time. Compared with other big cities, downtown still has far more jobs than residents, Zander said. “It’s an incredible imbalance.”
With Circa construction wrapping up, Hankey Investment and Jamison are planning to break ground next month on another big apartment project, this one in Koreatown, Dobbins said. The 23-story tower with 644 units will rise at 2900 Wilshire Blvd. across the street from Lafayette Park and should be completed by the end of 2020.
|
.
|
|
|
Prev
Linear Mode
