VF’s Splendid and Ella Moss Moving to New Home by American Apparel
American Apparel Inc. is getting a new neighbor—VF Corp.’s Ella Moss and Splendid.
On Oct. 18, VF Corp. announced its contemporary sportswear brands will move to Alameda Square, a burgeoning creative and industrial campus located on the corner of South Alameda and East Seventh streets in downtown Los Angeles.
The Greensboro, N.C.–based VF Corp. signed a 10-year lease for 82,000 square feet on two floors of Building 1 of the Alameda Square campus. It will move into its new offices in the first quarter of 2013.The 22-acre site includes three other buildings. American Apparel occupies Buildings 3 and 4.An as-yet-unidentified fashion company made a deal in early October to move into Building 2. There are 600,000 square feet available in Buildings 1 and 2, as well as 14 acres of parking lot, said Julio Davila, executive vice president and chief investment officer for the landlord, Evoq Properties Inc. The company will be redeveloping the campus, which was first developed in 1923, when the Southern Pacific Railroad owned the land.
Evoq intends to make multi-million-dollar improvements to the overall Alameda Square campus. Renovations include building a creative office with large warehouse windows, as well as exposed concrete floors and ceilings in addition to converting the ground floor and loading dock of Building 1 into retail, restaurant and outdoor public space. There will be a 6,000-square-foot roof deck and kitchen with dramatic views of the downtown LA skyline.
“We are repositioning the site to create a fashion hub where technology, art, fashion and creative users come together unlike anything downtown LA has seen before. From a real estate perspective, that affords us a unique opportunity,” Davila said.
If the campus is different than anything the downtown areas of the neighboring fashion and arts districts have seen, it is because it is hard to find big, sprawling commercial and industrial spaces in downtown L.A.
Most buildings around downtown Los Angeles are under 50,000 square feet, and many are no more than two or three stories high. Companies looking to include distribution and manufacturing on the same site with other operations often lease former hangar space, Davila said.
Kent Smith, the executive director of the Fashion District Business Improvement District, agreed that industrial-sized spaces are difficult to find in downtown Los Angeles.
“You might have better luck in the Inland Empire,” he said. Many companies with large space need do business in the municipalities of Vernon and Commerce, which are close to downtown Los Angeles.
The Ella Moss and Splendid departments housed in the Alameda Square space include product development, design, marketing and sales, finance, retail operations, and customer service in addition to various administrative functions for both brands, said Jonathan Saven, president of the Splendid and Ella Moss brands. Approximately 100 employees will remain in the space where Splendid and Ella Moss is currently located, 3751 South Hill St. in South Los Angeles. These employees will continue to work at their finished-goods and fabric warehouse.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa credited the state of California’s enterprise-zone program for sealing the deal between VF Corp. and Evoq. Enterprise zones are state programs that offer tax breaks to companies moving into areas considered economically disadvantaged. These companies are expected to bring jobs to enterprise-zone areas.Enterprise zones were embroiled in controversy in 2011 when Gov. Jerry Brown advocated repealing the zones. He contended the zones cost the taxpayers a lot of money and did not pay off in considerable job growth. Brown’s efforts failed, and the zones program remains in place.
“We fought hard to bring and keep state enterprise zones in downtown Los Angeles so that businesses can stay competitive while bringing hundreds of jobs to the city,” the mayor said. “The commitment of Splendid and Ella Moss to the area spotlight Los Angeles as an attractive city for businesses and their employees.” ●
