Residential/Retail Construction Booming in Fashion District
Ground-floor business in the Los Angeles Fashion District has surged more than 25 percent over the past three years because of new residential and commercial construction, according to a recent survey conducted by the Fashion District Business Improvement District, which manages the 90-square-block area.
With the 780,000-square-foot Santee Court, which contains apartments and ground-floor retail, and a mass of new projects along the San Pedro Street corridor, new retail and wholesale construction grew by 25.6 percent between 2001 and 2004, according to the survey, which addressed only ground-floor business. That amounts to about 500 new businesses. The survey showed that wholesale stores grew by 6.2 percent and retail stores climbed 3.5 percent. Stores that offer wholesale and retail merchandise grew by 32.3 percent. Most businesses deal in apparel and accessories and are weighted 80 percent in favor of womenswear.
Other findings showed that more than $510 million has been spent on Fashion District projects since 2000, and weekend pedestrian traffic has grown by 23 percent during the same period.
The Intersection—which includes the California Market Center, the Cooper Design Space, the Gerry Building and The New Mart—now represents more than 1,200 showrooms and 4,500 lines.
In addition to Santee Court, where 165 apartments have been completed and another 280 condominiums are under development, the Fashion District has other residential projects that have fostered new business in the district and neighboring districts. The Eastern Columbia lofts, planned at Eighth Street and Broadway, will add about 150 housing units to the area. Two bars, the Golden Gopher and the Broadway Bar, are examples of peripheral growth.
New commercial projects under development include the L.A. Fashion Center at 1444 S. San Pedro St., where ground has broken on 200 wholesale units. The Los Angeles–based KI Group—developer of 1000 Maple Center, at Olympic Boulevard and Maple Avenue—has three retail projects on tap: a 300,000-square-foot center at Stanford Avenue and Pico Boulevard, and two more 100,000-square-foot centers near Olympic Boulevard and Maple Avenue. More than a dozen projects are on tap this year.
“The interesting part of all this is that it’s being done with mostly private funds. It’s not a public/private project like Staples Center [which involved taxpayers’ money],” said Kent Smith, executive director of the BID.
Smith said that the new construction is expanding retail businesses eastward as developers take over vacant manufacturing space. In addition, new residential projects such as the Pacific Electric Lofts, at Sixth and Los Angeles streets, are bringing more livable space to the district.
“Development is happening in every corner. With residential, you’re seeing trends changing. The single-led household is now the largest segment in the U.S., amounting to 33 percent. As a result, downtown is becoming more of a 24/7 environment.”
Smith said the BID and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. are working on another survey, which will focus on businesses above the ground floor.
—Robert McAllister
