Posted on 08/11/2025 12:17:37 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The transformation of a sleek, granite-clad office tower on the edge of the 110 Freeway into deluxe apartments is about to begin, and developer Garrett Lee thinks the nearly 40-year-old building can be competitive with downtown L.A.’s much newer upmarket housing. A mock-up of an apartment assembled in the L.A. Care tower on 7th Street reveals high ceilings, tall windows and sweeping views of the city that speak to the appeal of urban living.
It could also be a harbinger of what’s to become of other fancy office towers.
With downtown’s office rental market mired in high vacancies and falling values, stakeholders are clamoring for more city support to convert high-rises to housing that would help address the city’s persistent housing shortage.
Among the suggested targets for conversion are elite Financial District towers that commanded top rents before offices were shut down by COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders, leaving many buildings more than one-third vacant.
Failure to make at least some of them into housing could be financially catastrophic for taxpayers, according to a new study commissioned by the Central City Assn. of Los Angeles, a downtown business advocacy group that says the city should consider giving developers financial incentives to convert their buildings.
Office values have fallen dramatically in recent sales, and many owners are seeking public reappraisals of their buildings in hope of reducing their property taxes. When assessed values of buildings are reduced, so are the taxes collected by the county and shared with the city, school districts and other public entities.
“Declining assessed values are likely to translate into significant losses in General Fund revenue” for the city, according to the report by BAE Urban Economics, a Berkeley real estate consulting firm.
Efforts to create a second act for underused office towers that were the height of...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Highrise ghettos and drug shooting gallery’s. Only Democrats could come up with such nonsense.
Better exterminate the “homeless” first. Skid Row has grown all the way to, and past, City Hall.
The conversion of office buildings to multi-family buildings has been going full force in many cities since COVID started. That or converting them to warehouses, depending on the area within the city. The problem with LA is regulation and other costs that makes building or converting any building extremely expensive. And LA will find a way to “f” it up by trying to involve government funding with a lot of strings attached.
Here’s an idea:
Don’t live there.
Homelessness isn't the problem. Drug use, alcoholism and mental illness are the problem. Putting those people in a "home" is not going to help anything. But the LA government would sure make more bank off it.
Heard they’ve tried this with empty malls, so why not? We’ve got an empty theater here and we’re waiting to see what it turns into.
The first several floors of Trump Tower in NYC are open to the public. They are filled with beautiful, expensive shops, all too pricey for me.
A highrise ghetto would not be the same thing. Dems are not known for their high IQs or commercial savvy.
Don’t some homeless people pee in elevators? Now they would have multiple, convenient opportunities to do so.
Yeah, high-rise low income housing.....because that concept has worked so well in the past.
Homeless to Mojave. With programs to help them navigate back to the mainstream.
Cabrini Green 2.0.............................
Great idea. They don’t have to be ghettos. They could be first class condos.
After the skyscrapers in downtown L.A. were built they found out they were on a fault line ooops?.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
ONE BATHROOM PER FLOOR-—THAT COULD GET INTERESTING
Wonder what will happen to the office buildings where Remington Steele or Jonathan Hart or Maddie Hayes and David Addison worked, lol.
Highrise ghettos and drug shooting gallery’s. Only Democrats could come up with such nonsense.
******
Actually, the inflationary pricing in current American real estate is being driven by the international market.(They have plenty of money to inflate prices)
Real Estate is the best investment in world history, until only the high end can afford it.
Then, “peak real” estate will happen & a draw down or sell off will happen.
Water leak on 34th floor, pronto;-)
surprised squatters haven’t already called dibs
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