Despite Concerto Slowdown, Astani's Up on Downtown
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — After all the fun people had sniping at Downtown based on the LABJ's article about onw of the Concerto towers being shelved, I somehow doubt those same people will make note of a piece in this week's LABJ that profiles developer Sonny Astani. Sonny makes no disclaimers in his love for Downtown:
Despite the cancellation of one of the Concerto towers, Astani is bullish on the downtown real estate market, calling it a "candy store." Astani said that downtown offers a variety of available products -- from lofts in adaptive reuse projects to new condo units in high-rise developments -- that will make it appealing and unique for years, even if there is a temporary slowdown.
"Downtown is an empty canvas with diamonds in the rough," said Astani. He plans to focus his developments efforts there for the next 10 years. "We as developers, civic leaders, and architects pick them up and polish them. We are beginning to see a new generation of buyers move downtown."
When Sonny came to DLANC's Planning and Land Use committee a while back to talk about his 8th & Grand project it was clear how much he enjoyed the ideas and the design of what he is involved in.
D on December 07, 2006, at 04:09PM – #1
People just want to see the negatives in things, Downtown Especially. I like the steady growth of Downtown LA, which leads to a more sustainable city, rather than growth like Miami, which now has thousands of empty condos.
D.C. on December 11, 2006, at 01:56PM – #2
I recently wanted to buy a loft in one of Astani's new developments in downtown called Vero Condominiums. I fell in love with the building and the floorplans and I couldn't wait to buy it. I really admire Mr. Astani for his vision to make all his downtown projects happen, but maybe the reason why some things don't happen is because he has the wrong people working for him. Let me give you an example - Gina, the sales director at Vero, is solely responsible for losing a lot of sales, or at least she managed to drive us out of the deal, due to her lack of client service skills, her rude attitude against other races and nationalities that are not Korean and her indiference toward a sale. She did not give me any information about the sales process or the building or anything that we wanted to know before we made a $400 k purchase and she did not return our phonecalls. And i can go on and on about how we were ready to make a $400k purchase at Vero and Gina, who was hired to sell, managed to drive us out of the deal.
Burt Decklan on December 11, 2006, at 02:31PM – #3
I too, was recently going to buy a soft-loft unit at Vero Downtown. The unit was spacious for my price range, definitely a good deal for a first-time home buyer. I liked it because it was another project headed by Astani. He is building some large, expensive buildings downtown and stands out as one of downtown LA's visionaries. Unfortunately, I too, was driven away from the Vero sales team. I could not believe how cold and anti-helpful they were. They made the whole process so difficult and confusing it felt as if they didn't want me to live there. So, I walked out. I'm sure I will find another place with a sales team that makes the sale a better process.
David Kennedy on December 11, 2006, at 03:35PM – #4
D.C., sounds like housing discrimination. You may want to file a complaint, if simply to document the situation.
D.C. on December 11, 2006, at 03:59PM – #5
It doen't come as a surprise that somebody else experienced the same thing. I'm sorry to hear that. I would like to file a complaint. Could you please advise me where can I do that? Another hard fact is that the sales person there make 3% comission for doing nothing but being rude - that's an average of 12k to 15k depending on the price of the condo. It's such a shame that these people are the image and reputation of Mr. Astani.