Big Arts District Warehouse Becoming Office Space

The Arts District continues to shed its industrial past, as yet another adaptive reuse project joins an already considerable list of proposed developments.  According to an October case filing with the Department of City Planning, a 280,000-square-foot warehouse complex at 2060 E. 7th Street is slated for a mixed-use conversion.  Plans filed with the city call for 40,000 square feet of retail and 20,000 square feet of restaurant uses within the development.  Upper floors of four-story complex feature rectangular floor plates, each of which can be combined to offer 88,000 square feet of contiguous office space.

The project is being developed by the Shorenstein Company, a San Francisco-based real estate firm which recently purchased the towering Aon Center.  The above warehouse, dubbed Seventh & Santa Fe, originally opened in 1915 as the Ford Motor Company's Southern California base of operations (Thank you, John Crandell!).  Designed by famed Los Angeles architect John Parkinson, the facility was used primarily for the assembly of Model T's and Model A's.

Seventh & Santa Fe is located in the southernmost section of the Arts District, an area which has recently experienced a noticeable uptick in investment.  Two additional mixed-use developments are planned nearby along 7th Street, potentially creating over 400 new market rate housing units.  Retailers and eateries have also taken notice of the neighborhood, including Bestia and Stumptown Coffee Roasters, both of which are located across Santa Fe Avenue from the proposed office project.

Details Emerge for Coca-Cola Building's Mixed-Use Conversion

The rapid evolution of the Arts District continues to pick up steam, with yet another adaptive reuse project on the way.  Earlier this year, a subsidiary of the New York-based Atlas Capital Group purchased Coca-Cola's former West Coast headquarters, with the intention of converting it into a mixed-use development.  Now, an initial study published by the Department of City Planning has shed light on what's to come.

Per the new environmental document, the three-story edifice at 963 E. 4th Street will feature a combination of office, retail and restaurant uses.  Upper floors in the former warehouse will become approximately 78,000 square feet of creative office space.  This will give the Coca-Cola facility roughly the same footprint as South Park's Desmond Building, a similar adaptive reuse project which was recently leased by Convention Center overlord AEG.

At ground level, the Coca-Cola building will feature 25,000 square feet of  retail and 20,000 square feet of restaurant uses.  The restaurant space will be split between two different eateries, with total seating for slightly over 300 patrons and operations between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m.

These combined uses are anticipated to generate up to 1,000 daily car trips, thus spawning the final aspect of the project: a 306-vehicle garage.  The seven-story structure will rise from an existing surface parking lot, located immediately east of the Coca-Cola building.

Downtown's Foreman & Clark Building Getting Residential Conversion

Image credit: Michael Minn

Located at the southwest corner of 7th and Hill Streets, the Foreman & Clark Building was once a pillar of Downtown Los Angeles' pre-war retail scene.  Now, the owner of the mid-rise structure has proposed a mixed-use conversion that could restore the art deco gem to its former stature.  According to plans submitted to the city last month, the discount jewelry stores which currently occupy the 13-story tower's ground floor would be given the boot, to be replaced by two restaurants and a bar-lounge.  The upper floors of the building, now serving as office space, would instead be converted into 165 residential units.

Built in 1929, the Foreman & Clark Building was designed by the prominent architectural team of Aleck Curlett and Claud Beelman, whose other works includes the Garfield Building and the Park Plaza Hotel.  The building's name derives from that of its developer: the now defunct Foreman & Clark department store chain.  Known for their second-floor window displays, Foreman & Clark was headquartered out of 701 S. Hill Street for approximately 30 years, only vacating the property following Downtown's precipitous mid-century decline.  Considered a superb example of the Art Deco-Gothic style of architecture, the building was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 2009.

Two Residential-Retail Complexes Start Work in Westlake

After more than a year of inactivity, mixed-use construction is finally returning to City West.  In the shadow of Good Samaritan Hospital, two developers are now in the midst of site preparation for a pair of residential complexes that will infuse the Westlake neighborhood with more than 800 new market rate apartment units.

On a 4.1 acre property immediately northeast of the hospital, the Vancouver-based Holland Partner Group recently commenced work on a long delayed $125 million mixed-use development.  Known as the Bixel and Lucas project, plans call for a low-rise development with 648 residential units and 40,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.  According designs drawn up in 2011, the project will consist of two phases, the first of which entails the conversion of a vacant eight-story office building at 1136 W. 6th Street into 42 apartments.  The second stage, which consists of approximately 600 residential units, calls for the construction of a new, six-story building that would occupy most of the project site.  Residential amenities would include a landscaped interior courtyard, recreation room, dog run, and parking accommodations for 762 vehicles.  As part of a density bonus granted by the city, Bixel and Lucas shall reserve 30 of its residential units very low income households.  The almost 925,000 square foot development comes on the heels of 1111 Wilshire, a significantly smaller building opened by HPG in early 2013.  Bixel and Lucas, like 1111 Wilshire, features a colorful facade designed by Nadel Architects.

Image credit: Nadel Architects

USC Pursuing Adaptive Reuse of Fire Station 15

LAFD Station 15; Image Credit: Chuck Madderom Collection via LAFire.com

With construction now underway on a new, USC-funded Fire Station at the corner of Hoover and 30th Streets, something had to be done with LAFD Station 15's current digs on Jefferson Boulevard.  It appears that USC has found that something.  According to an environmental report released by LADCP, the university proposes the relocation of the current station building to a vacant lot near the Shrine Auditorium.  There it would serve as a studio annex to the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, located at the corner of Figueroa and 32nd Streets.  RZC houses both the Electronic Arts Game Design Lab and the university's student-run television station.  Comprised of slightly over 8,700 square feet of floor area, LAFD Station 15 dates back to 1950, and is eligible for local historic landmark status.  USC proposes slight modifications to the structure as part of its preservation, including new landscaping and improved lighting.

The adaptive reuse project is closely tied to the $1.1 billion Village at USC, which will create over 2 million square feet of student housing, academic facilities and neighborhood serving retail.  The first phase of the Village, once scheduled to begin work in mid-2014, consists of housing for 2,470 students and 140,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.  Although an exact groundbreaking date is unknown, USC is currently in the process of obtaining demolition permits for the existing University Village shopping center.