California Apparel News

The Reef Project, formerly known as the LA Mart showroom building, plans on a major expansion.

On Nov. 1, a key Los Angeles City Council body, the planning and land use management (PLUM) committee, gave a green light to plans for a $1 billion development on a parcel adjacent to the showroom building at 1933 S. Broadway, which is a mile south from downtown Los Angeles.

The new development will eventually go to the LA City Council for approval, but no date has been scheduled yet, according to Sharon Dickinson, assistant to the PLUM committee. No changes are scheduled for The Reef showroom building, and it will continue to operate as a place for wholesale furniture and gift business, said Brian Lewis, a spokesman for the project.

Both showroom building and the parcels, located around 1900 S. Broadway, are owned by investor group PHR LA Mart LLC, which is led by Dr. Ara Tavitian, a Glendale, Calif.–based medical doctor. In 2012, The Reef showroom building was acquired by PHR LA Mart for $55 million, according to media reports.

The proposed development will include new housing, including 549 apartments, 895 condominiums and 21 work/live units, with 5 percent of living units reserved for those with low incomes; a 208-room hotel; 104,000 square feet of retail space, including a grocery store, restaurants, a gym and a public art gallery; and 140,000 square feet of open space. It has not been discussed if fashion retail will go into the development, Lewis said.

A project description said it will be spread across two city blocks. Its boundaries are Washington Boulevard to the north, 21st Street to the south, Hill Street to the west and Main to the east.

The Reef, which is well known for a giant statue of a chair placed outside of it, has served as a furniture and gifts showroom building for decades. The giant chair will be moved to another space in the project, according to the project’s website (www.reefprojectla.com).

Recently, the building has experienced a fashion turn. Over the past two years Los Angeles Fashion Week runway events have been held in the building as well as in tented areas outside the building. Maker City LA, a creative workspace that includes a photo studio and a sewing studio, has been located in the building since 2013.

The project has come with controversy. A community group called UNIDAD argued that the development will increase market rates for rents and displace economically challenged people living in the neighborhood. The area around The Reef is considered South Los Angeles and has been deemed an economically challenged neighborhood, despite close proximity to the University of Southern California and Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

LA Councilmember Curren Price has been an avid supporter of the development, which is located in his 9th council district. In a letter dated Oct. 28, he wrote that The Reef will create more than 2,700 temporary and 750 permanent jobs and infuse $5.5 million annually into the city of Los Angeles’ general fund.

The neighborhood features a couple of light-rail stations, including the Grand/LATTC stop at 331½ W. Washington Blvd. The presence of light rail has not sparked development, Price wrote.

“The Reef project is a pioneering transit-oriented development that will bring a much-needed infusion of investment, with wide sidewalks and inviting landscaping.”

Another major South Los Angeles development is making its way to completion. University Village, located across the street from USC, is 75 percent completed and scheduled to debut in summer 2017, according to a USC spokesman. It will feature housing for 2,700 students and 100,000 square feet of retail around McClintock Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard. A Trader Joe’s and a City Target have already signed University Village leases, the spokesman said.