NEW LOOKS: The Ratkovich Co. will invest $160 million to renovate Macy’s Plaza in Los Angeles. When the new looks debut in 2015, the center will be renamed The Bloc.
MACY'S NEW LOOK
Macy’s Plaza: Big Changes Detailed
Macy’s Plaza, get ready to turn into Rockefeller Center.
Developer Wayne Ratkovich, president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles–based The Ratkovich Co., made headlines when he acquired the 1970s-era Macy’s Plaza mall for $241 million in June. On Sept. 19, he made comments on his plans to redevelop the mall into a mixed-use development reminiscent of New York landmark Rockefeller Center. Ratkovich said the renovated center will be a vibrant part of downtown Los Angeles. He made the comments at a Downtown Center Business Improvement District event held at the Market Lofts building at Ninth and Hope streets.
“It’s to urbanize it, humanize it and open it to the street,” Ratkovich said of his company’s plans for Macy’s Plaza, which takes up the block of Seventh Street between Hope and Flower streets in downtown Los Angeles. The 1.8 million-square foot complex houses a Sheraton hotel and office space, as well as major tenants such as a Macy’s department store, a Victoria’s Secret, post office and an LA Fitness health club.
Ratkovich will invest $160 million in the property. Construction is forecast to start at the end of the first quarter of 2014 or the beginning of the second quarter of that year. Construction is anticipated to finish in 2015.
The project will be renamed The Bloc, and the brick, fortress-like complex will get a completely new look. For the development’s centerpiece, which will be a three-story mall, Ratkovich said the building’s roof will be torn off, turning the Nixon-era mall into a modern open-air complex.
The Bloc’s ground floor will be devoted to restaurants and food markets. Ratkovich said the Macy’s will remain at the center. The development is scouting for retailers not currently doing business in downtown Los Angeles to fill up the other floors.
The Sheraton will also remain at the complex. The hospitality business will be remodeled into a four-star, 485-room hotel focusing on conventioneers and others with business at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Before Ratkovich spoke, the Downtown Center Business Improvement District unveiled its Downtown Los Angeles Demographic Study 2013. The study found that median household income in downtown Los Angeles is $95,800. The median age of the area’s residents is 34, and most of the people surveyed for the study want new retail. Fifty-eight percent want more mid-level restaurants, 55 percent want more mid-level department stores, 46 percent want discount fashion retail such as Hennes & Mauritz H&M, and 48 percent want more book and music stores.
Angie Biggs, a district manager for Urban Outfitters, also appeared at the event and spoke about the Urban Outfitters store that is scheduled to open in December at the former Rialto Theater at 812 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.
