California Apparel News

With a new owner may come a new look for the historic Gerry Building, one of the principal showroom buildings in the Los Angeles Fashion District.

Shawn Far, head of the Vertigo clothing line and its parent company, the Vertigo Group, closed escrow on Aug. 26 to buy the nine-story structure for $14.5 million, he said.

As the new owner, he plans to keep the Streamline Moderne edifice at 910 S. Los Angeles St. as a showroom center and not convert it into showroom condominiums, which had been rumored. He will even add his own showroom for his licensed activewear brand, called Playboy Sport.

But Far is contemplating some design changes to the 1940s-era building, known for its bank of large, curved windows and terra cotta–colored exterior.

“I’ve been consulting with Kelly Wearstler,” Far said, referring to the Los Angeles interior and fashion design icon, who has a flagship boutique in West Hollywood, Calif. “I’m thinking of painting the outside another color. … I would like to make the hallways more inviting. Right now, it feels like an enclosed shopping center.”

He is also pondering whether to pop the building’s curved front windows and add balconies. “Your showroom is like your second home,” he said. “It would be nice to open the windows and stand out on a balcony and talk on the phone.”

Other design tweaks include linking the Gerry Building to Far’s other commercial building—a three-story structure next door at 200 E. Ninth St., where he houses his Vertigo showroom.

He would like to expand the lobby, which he believes is too small for a building of that size, and add TVs broadcasting fashion programming on every floor.

Far is also trying to figure out a way to better utilize the Gerry Building rooftop, which has a stunning view of downtown Los Angeles. It could be a lounge or café or have some other use. “I don’t know what the capacity for the roof is right now,” he said.

Other additions include adding a terrazza to the roof of his three-story building at Ninth Street where tenants from both buildings could sit and relax and installing an LED-style billboard on the outside of the Gerry Building to advertise showrooms, apparel labels or trade shows. Far said he has been talking with people at L.A. Live, near the Staples Center and known for its Times Square ambience of LED billboards, about getting city permits.

Already, the building manager, Mary Peng, has been replaced by a new building manager, Mary Essuman.

Evolving concept

The Gerry Building, which opened in 1947 as a manufacturing space for Arthur Gerry, was last sold in 2005 by Mark Weinstein. He spent $4.5 million to renovate the building into showrooms and then sold it for $14.265 million. The buyers then were LaeRoc Partners, an Hermosa Beach, Calif., company that manages real-estate income funds.

According to the building’s listing in May, the 108,220-square-foot structure was 73 percent occupied. Most of the tenants are showrooms. Recently, the entire third floor was leased out as offices and a showroom to Naven, a Los Angeles contemporary line of womenswear.

The listing also noted that the building’s annual gross income for 2013 was projected to be about $1.4 million with $530,069 in operating expenses. Net operating income is $889,079.

There was a time when LaeRoc Partners wanted to convert the building into showroom condominiums that could be bought. The company obtained entitlements to do showroom condominiums, but the idea never took off.

Showroom tenants at the Gerry Building were fairly positive about the change in ownership. Many were pleased the new owner was an apparel manufacturer who understands the business. “I was happy to hear it was an apparel guy who bought the building instead of a real estate person who crunches the numbers,” said Stuart Marcher of the Julie & Stuart Showroom.

Marcher said Far came by his showroom recently and shared his vision for the historic building. “He said he was going to clean up the loading docks, which is good, and get them locked up at night so the homeless can’t get in there,” Marcher said. “He was aware of some of the things that need improvement, like the lobby and the restrooms. … If he figures out how to expand the lobby, it would be a win for us.”

Lori Marchand, owner of the Impulse Moda showroom, said she hopes that everything pretty much remains the same, including the rent. “We hope that things are going to go on running smoothly and that there are not any drastic changes,” she noted. “We’re a happy family here right now.”

Far is an entrepreneur who has been expanding his Vertigo brand and real estate interests. He operates a Vertigo store in Beverly Hills and a Vertigo beauty salon in the penthouse of the Standard Oil Building at 605 W. Olympic Blvd. Far and partners own the Standard Oil Building.

He also owns a historic 12-story structure at 1200 S. Santee St. within the Los Angeles Fashion District as well as an 88,000-square-foot event center that used to be an Odd Fellows Temple at 1828 Oak St. near downtown Los Angeles.