Broadway Exchange Features Commercial Condo Space
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I finally got around to reading a Public Hearing Notice that had come in the mail a bit ago and found that it is for the Broadway Exchange Building. It's been known for quite a while now that the former Bank of Italy building was going condo, but it's interesting to see in the notice that they're planning one "commercial condominium unit."
I know there was a building in the fashion district recently built with commercial condo as the model, but I don't know if any other buildings Downtown have gone this direction for their commercial space.
An article that ran last year in the LA Business Journal lays out why building owners like the idea (toward the end of the article):
The concept makes sense for developers who want to turn a profit on ground-floor space without the hassles of managing a retail tenant. Torrance-based Decoma Industries built a 1,500-square-foot office unit on the ground floor of its South Pasadena Mission District Lofts, which sold immediately to an architecture firm for $360,000.
"The first floor is so close to the street it's not conducive to living," said Steve Notaro, the firm's president. "It benefits both parties for us to do this."
I'm interested to know what space it is that's for sale: Is it ground-floor space, or something above? If I had to guess I'd put my money on that second-floor space that's still in the brick area of the building.
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d.j. ernie pearl on December 10, 2005, at 08:32PM – #1
Has anyone noticed that the facade of this building does not match the rest. I heard that in the 60's covering the facade of old buildings was popular to make the building look more modern. I wonder what is underneath the ugly brown facade of this building. I bet the detail is amazing, especially because this corner of downtown has so much early 1900 hstory.
d.j. ernie pearl on December 10, 2005, at 08:44PM – #2
I found a pic(1927) of what is under that ugly brown facade on the north-east corner of Broadway and 7th. They should take that ugly brown skin off to show this detail (click on to pic to get bigger image) image
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on December 11, 2005, at 12:37AM – #3
That's just one of a string of three buildings in a row that have ugly facades. The Broadway Exchange at least looks like a building, unlike Clifton's where forever I thought they were hiding a parking garage. -e;
Kathy on December 11, 2005, at 04:49PM – #4
Sadly, it's very likely a lot of the original facade was torn off when the new covering was installed. If not, the owner, in changing it into a residential building, would be making a mistake to not reveal the original shell again. But I suspect there's nothing much to salvage under that cheap brown facade.
Brady Westwater on December 12, 2005, at 03:45PM – #5
Yes, all of the detail was stripped from the Broadway Excahnge Building. They looked and there was nothing left to restore... absolutely... nothing.
As for the old Bank of Italy Building - most condo conversions and all of Barry Shy's now seven buildings - are spinning off the ground floor as one 'condo' unit. That way the developer gets to keep the rents from the ground floor retail when they sell the condos up above rather than the mony going to the condo association.