photo touring downtown’s newest residences
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Evidence is everywhere, 2008 is a landmark year for Downtown Los Angeles.
New residential projects are opening by the month (sometimes more), and for various reasons several have not made it to the “pages” of angelenic.
In an attempt to catch up our coverage, a mini housing tour has been assembled to provide an inside look at a few of Downtown’s most noteworthy new places to live.
Roosevelt Lofts
Address: 7th & Flower
Neighborhood: Financial District
Residence Type: Loft Condos
# of Units: 222
Status: Nearly Completion (Move-ins July 2008)
Website: rsvlt.com
Comments: Instant Metro access, Restaurant Row location, first-class finishes; this building has it all. Check out those bathroom tubs.
Most project images below are renderings.
Bixel at Fifth
Address: 1311 W 5th Street
Neighborhood: City West
Residence Type: Apartments
# of Units: 80
Status: Complete
Website: bixelatfifth.com
Comments: Bland finishes and remote location, but decently priced. Spacious fitness center.
The Brockman
Address: 7th & Grand
Neighborhood: Financial District / Historic Core
Residence Type: Loft Condos
# of Units: 80
Status: Nearing Completion
Website: thebrockman.com
Comments: Beautiful building and excellent location. Bottega Louie should be a huge lure.
Union Lofts
Address: 8th & Hill
Neighborhood: Historic Core
Residence Type: Loft-Style Apartments
# of Units: 92
Status: Complete
Website: unionloftsla.com
Comments: High-class conversion but location is still unestablished. Doesn’t help the anchor restaurant is now up in the air.
17 comments
Stephen - you note Brockman & Roosevelt as “condos”, when in reality, aren’t they lofts? There’s no walled bedroom seperation from the rest of the unit, which I consider to be the difference between loft style and condo.
the distinction that stephen is probably going for is for-sale (condo) vs. for-rent (apartments).
Yeah, however, I personally would like to see more traditional condos in downtown LA. I feel we’re very limited with the Skyline, Library Court, and Bunker Hill. There’s a whole segment of buyers who I know would be attracted to buy a unit with actual walled bedrooms. Downtown still needs more housing variety.
Neel:
Sorry if it wasn’t clear - Jim is right, I was just distinguishing between sale vs lease.
I’d echo LA’s comment. Downtown needs more diversity of housing stock in styles and price points, too. Developers appear to be catering to a very distinct subset of the overall possible market and limiting their own opportunities.
I wish you had some shots of townhomes at Fifth & Bixel.
Does Bixel at 5th have a units set aside for affordable housing?
When we run out of adaptive reuse buildings, there will probably be more new construction of traditional apartments. It’s not a great idea to convert the old buildings into walled units, I think, because it does not take advantage of their charms.
Bert, I agree. New construction is already moving into that direction. 717 Olympic and Residences at Bixel are much more traditional - they just happen to be for lease. On the for sale front, Evo’s condos are traditional with demising walls and finished ceilings.
My guess is that San Pedro Apartments in LT will be similar. It’s also yet to be seen what kind product 717 Ninth and Concerto will have.
All -
You can always build your own walls and put in doors to make a loft a condo. That’s what we did…it’s not as expensive as you might think. A wall and solid door partition for a 12 foot opening will cost you no more than $2000 for a good, quality job. It’s even cheaper if you opt for sliding glass doors. Of course, there are always the high end barn doors that some penthouse units have….which will set you back at least $15 - $40 K.
Park fifth will have traditional condos as well as some lofts. But, we’ll see if thing ever gets built..
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Thanks for the compliments, TheLAstranger. That’s what we’re hoping to accomplish here!
I echo what’s been said regarding the need for traditional style homes both for rent and for sale catering to families with children. Parents can’t have any fun when their children are sleeping right next to them.
There are a number of “lofts” with partitioned bedroom floor plans. I believe just the opposite with respect to condo building and look forward to the larger, more open spaces of the garment district structures becoming available for adaptive reuse. If these are left as blank canvases, I believe we will see some truly well-designed build-outs from the area’s concentration of creative inhabitants.
>> One might even be inclined to say that this site is “my nigga.”
Why am I hoping this poster is African-American? LOL.
Brigham, we are in a loft with a 14-month-old and we used wardrobes to create a bedroom for him. It also helps that we have an L-shaped loft so our “bedroom” can’t be seen from the main living space.
We really like being in a loft because my husband works from home and his office requires a lot of room. We take full advantage of the high ceilings (tall cabinets and shelves give us extra storage) and as a result have a lot more living space than in our old place in Silver Lake, which had the same square footage but lower ceilings (not to mention walls).