Gerry Building Gains Commercial Condominium Status
The Gerry Building is going condo. Hermosa Beach, Calif.–based LaeRoc Partners, owner of the nine-story wholesale structure in the Los Angeles Fashion District, has gained entitlements from the city of Los Angeles to turn the building into a commercial condominium complex, allowing tenants and others to become owners of their showrooms.
“We’re still about six to nine months away from the final stages,” explained Justin Schnuelle, vice president of project and asset development for LaeRoc. “One thing for sure is that there will be no residential component in the Gerry Building.”
In other cities, commercial condominiums have attracted larger apparel companies, which usually come in and buy entire floors of a building. That may or may not be imposing to many of the smaller apparel companies that make up the Fashion District.
“We’re just waiting to see what type of price points we’ll see,” said Lois Evans, of the Lois Evans Showroom, the first tenant of the building since it was renovated into wholesale space from a manufacturing space in 2002.
Schnuelle said the move was made to give tenants and others the opportunity to buy and take advantage of an emerging concept in the Los Angeles market.
Many of the smaller wholesale and retail buildings along San Pedro Street in the southern part of the Fashion District operate as commercial condominiums.
LaeRoc is a private company catering to pension-fund investors. The company is managed by Kim Benjamin. —Robert McAllister
