California Apparel News

Downtown Los Angeles’ development boom is pushing up against the fashion district, the hub of sales for the apparel industry in California and, once, its manufacturing center.

The boom is one of the biggest in memory. It is inevitable that the city’s fashion district will change, and many developers and city planners forecast that the district will follow the arc of other downtown LA neighborhood developments. There will be more retail and residential uses in the district, and much of the new development will serve the fashion business.

There will be more fashion showrooms and offices for designers. But there will be less apparel manufacturing in the district, where land prices have been steadily increasing. The fashion district will be a place to live and play, as well as create, according to developers, planners and designers.

Javier Laval hopes he is one of the future faces of downtown. He co-owns the IX II II studio/showroom for brands Android Homme and Scott X Scott at 912 S. Olive St. at the edge of the fashion district. Laval predicts the new developments will bring more shoppers and a creative workforce to this area. “This place will become even more of a global destination,” he said. “This district will be known for fashion, whether it is fashion showrooms or retail.”

If Laval’s forecast sounds ambitious, he’s counting on a new development to attract thousands of tourists to downtown. Portland, Ore.–headquartered boutique hotel chainAce Hotel enjoys an avid following of affluent art- and music-inspired people at its locations in Palm Springs, Calif.; Portland; Seattle; and New York. Construction crews are currently renovating the former United Artists Theater at Broadway and Ninth Street to open an Ace Hotel by the end of this year, according to an Ace representative.

More residential development

Much of the district’s new development is residential. Just outside of district borders, a few blocks away from the Ace site, Vancouver, Canada–based Onni Group is building a luxury high-rise residential building, called 888 Olive Street, adjacent to a location for a Chase bank at Olive and Ninth streets. The developer will construct a second residential high-rise next to 888 Olive.

Downtown developer G.H. Palmer Associates is building a 600-unit residential building close to the Ace on Olympic Boulevard and Broadway. It is scheduled to open in 2015.

At the other side of the fashion district, Peter Fleming is planning The City Market of Los Angeles. This 10-acre campus is located between Ninth and 12th streets and San Julian and San Pedro streets. Fleming hopes to wrap up the environmental-impact report for the sprawling development by Spring 2014. Fleming forecasts that the campus will be the site of a hotel for people doing business in the fashion district, up to 945 residences, 295,000 square feet of office space, 225,000 of retail and restaurant space, and a college that could be a culinary or an architecture school.

He currently is constructing 75,000 square feet of restaurants, retail and creative office space that will take up one block between San Julian and San Pedro streets. It is scheduled to be completed in spring 2014.

“We’re trying to be a catalytic start to a better downtown,” said Fleming, who is president of City Market. “But we’ll be starting from the east side of the district.”

Center for wholesale sales

An anticipated rush of new residents to downtown is forecast to bring a demand for new retail and restaurants to the fashion district. But the neighborhood’s main showroom business is expected to grow, too.

Showroom space is in high demand at the hub of the fashion district, dubbed the “Fashion Intersection,” at Ninth and Los Angeles streets, where showroom buildings theCalifornia Market Center, the Cooper Design Space, the Gerry Building and The New Mart are located.

In recent years, new showroom buildings have opened in the area, including The Lady Liberty, the 824 Building, the Academy Awards Building andthe Primrose. Demand remains high even though rent is not inexpensive, with a square foot costing $2.75 at The New Mart, said Ethan Eller, the building’s general manager.

“It would take a major earthquake to shake things up and make it anything else than what it is,” Eller said of the Fashion Intersection.

The fashion-showroom business has stubbornly remained in downtown, beckoning those who started showrooms in other parts of Los Angeles, said Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Association and former general manager of the California Market Center. “They are coming back to the industry cluster,” she said. “Visiting retail buyers do not want to travel all over LA.”

The last time someone tried to develop another fashion-showroom neighborhood was in the early 1970s at a space in Westchester, Calif., Metchek said. The attempt failed, and the space later became part of the Loyola Marymount University campus, she said.

Manufacturing space will continue to get squeezed out by demand for high-priced residential properties in downtown Los Angeles, said Brad Luster, president of commercial real estate firm Major Properties and a board member of the Fashion District Business Improvement District, a nonprofit group devoted to marketing, maintenance and development of the district. It is funded by the district’s property owners.

Kent Smith, executive director of the Fashion District BID, said much of the east side of the district is still zoned for industrial. “It really is completely out of date,” he said. Later this year, the BID is scheduled to resume work on its specific plan to change the district’s zoning. Work stopped in 2011 when the BID’s partner, theCommunity Redevelopment Agency, was dismantled by the state of California.

Creative hub

One forecast suggests that more artisan space will spring up in the fashion district. These artisan spaces will be live/work spaces where designers or other creatives build a showroom or a design space where they live, Luster said.

Another popular development might be headquarters for a brand, where brands will maintain design and creative headquarters downtown and also offer retail.

Retailer Nasty Gal recently announced its new headquarters in downtown LA, at the former PacMutual building, located slightly outside of the fashion district. Tarina Tarantino also will open a building, to be called Sparkle Factory, at 908 S. Broadway. Along with being the headquarters of the Tarina Tarantino brand, the Sparkle Factory will offer space to other creative companies. The building’s ground floor will be devoted to boutique-style retail and is scheduled to open in spring 2014. Tarantino expects downtown to buzz with even more activity at that date.

“When we bought the building, we were told that it would be 10 years before this part of downtown takes off,” Tarantino said. “We are happy that things are developing more quickly.” l

Downtown Los Angeles’ development boom is pushing up against the fashion district, the hub of sales for the apparel industry in California and, once, its manufacturing center.

The boom is one of the biggest in memory. It is inevitable that the city’s fashion district will change, and many developers and city planners forecast that the district will follow the arc of other downtown LA neighborhood developments. There will be more retail and residential uses in the district, and much of the new development will serve the fashion business.

There will be more fashion showrooms and offices for designers. But there will be less apparel manufacturing in the district, where land prices have been steadily increasing. The fashion district will be a place to live and play, as well as create, according to developers, planners and designers.

Javier Laval hopes he is one of the future faces of downtown. He co-owns the IX II II studio/showroom for brands Android Homme and Scott X Scott at 912 S. Olive St. at the edge of the fashion district. Laval predicts the new developments will bring more shoppers and a creative workforce to this area. “This place will become even more of a global destination,” he said. “This district will be known for fashion, whether it is fashion showrooms or retail.”

If Laval’s forecast sounds ambitious, he’s counting on a new development to attract thousands of tourists to downtown. Portland, Ore.–headquartered boutique hotel chainAce Hotel enjoys an avid following of affluent art- and music-inspired people at its locations in Palm Springs, Calif.; Portland; Seattle; and New York. Construction crews are currently renovating the former United Artists Theater at Broadway and Ninth Street to open an Ace Hotel by the end of this year, according to an Ace representative.

More residential development

Much of the district’s new development is residential. Just outside of district borders, a few blocks away from the Ace site, Vancouver, Canada–based Onni Group is building a luxury high-rise residential building, called 888 Olive Street, adjacent to a location for a Chase bank at Olive and Ninth streets. The developer will construct a second residential high-rise next to 888 Olive.

Downtown developer G.H. Palmer Associates is building a 600-unit residential building close to the Ace on Olympic Boulevard and Broadway. It is scheduled to open in 2015.

At the other side of the fashion district, Peter Fleming is planning The City Market of Los Angeles. This 10-acre campus is located between Ninth and 12th streets and San Julian and San Pedro streets. Fleming hopes to wrap up the environmental-impact report for the sprawling development by Spring 2014. Fleming forecasts that the campus will be the site of a hotel for people doing business in the fashion district, up to 945 residences, 295,000 square feet of office space, 225,000 of retail and restaurant space, and a college that could be a culinary or an architecture school.

He currently is constructing 75,000 square feet of restaurants, retail and creative office space that will take up one block between San Julian and San Pedro streets. It is scheduled to be completed in spring 2014.

“We’re trying to be a catalytic start to a better downtown,” said Fleming, who is president of City Market. “But we’ll be starting from the east side of the district.”

Center for wholesale sales

An anticipated rush of new residents to downtown is forecast to bring a demand for new retail and restaurants to the fashion district. But the neighborhood’s main showroom business is expected to grow, too.

Showroom space is in high demand at the hub of the fashion district, dubbed the “Fashion Intersection,” at Ninth and Los Angeles streets, where showroom buildings theCalifornia Market Center, the Cooper Design Space, the Gerry Building and The New Mart are located.

In recent years, new showroom buildings have opened in the area, including The Lady Liberty, the 824 Building, the Academy Awards Building andthe Primrose. Demand remains high even though rent is not inexpensive, with a square foot costing $2.75 at The New Mart, said Ethan Eller, the building’s general manager.

“It would take a major earthquake to shake things up and make it anything else than what it is,” Eller said of the Fashion Intersection.

The fashion-showroom business has stubbornly remained in downtown, beckoning those who started showrooms in other parts of Los Angeles, said Ilse Metchek, president of the California Fashion Association and former general manager of the California Market Center. “They are coming back to the industry cluster,” she said. “Visiting retail buyers do not want to travel all over LA.”

The last time someone tried to develop another fashion-showroom neighborhood was in the early 1970s at a space in Westchester, Calif., Metchek said. The attempt failed, and the space later became part of the Loyola Marymount University campus, she said.

Manufacturing space will continue to get squeezed out by demand for high-priced residential properties in downtown Los Angeles, said Brad Luster, president of commercial real estate firm Major Properties and a board member of the Fashion District Business Improvement District, a nonprofit group devoted to marketing, maintenance and development of the district. It is funded by the district’s property owners.

Kent Smith, executive director of the Fashion District BID, said much of the east side of the district is still zoned for industrial. “It really is completely out of date,” he said. Later this year, the BID is scheduled to resume work on its specific plan to change the district’s zoning. Work stopped in 2011 when the BID’s partner, theCommunity Redevelopment Agency, was dismantled by the state of California.

Creative hub

One forecast suggests that more artisan space will spring up in the fashion district. These artisan spaces will be live/work spaces where designers or other creatives build a showroom or a design space where they live, Luster said.

Another popular development might be headquarters for a brand, where brands will maintain design and creative headquarters downtown and also offer retail.

Retailer Nasty Gal recently announced its new headquarters in downtown LA, at the former PacMutual building, located slightly outside of the fashion district. Tarina Tarantino also will open a building, to be called Sparkle Factory, at 908 S. Broadway. Along with being the headquarters of the Tarina Tarantino brand, the Sparkle Factory will offer space to other creative companies. The building’s ground floor will be devoted to boutique-style retail and is scheduled to open in spring 2014. Tarantino expects downtown to buzz with even more activity at that date.

“When we bought the building, we were told that it would be 10 years before this part of downtown takes off,” Tarantino said. “We are happy that things are developing more quickly.”