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Plenty of perks and cheaper than Santa Monica, downtown L.A. makes case to renters
A stroll through downtown Los Angeles presents a study in contrasts.
The city’s homeless community is on stark display with the population jumping by 10% in the latest annual survey. Office buildings once filled with thousands of employees are seeing vacancies skyrocket. The pandemic demonstrated to corporate America that “work from home” was possible and profitable.
Yet, while one side of the street is bleak, the other is chic.
Apartment towers and complexes along Figueroa, 7th, and Olive streets and other crucial thoroughfares are enjoying their own Gilded Age.
The recently completed Figueroa Eight skyscraper features limestone quarried from the same stone that built the Colosseum (the original one), New York City’s Lincoln Center and the Getty Museum. The building’s exterior is also brushed in aluminum, stainless steel and lightly tinted glass.
The nearby Beaudry and Atelier apartment towers are also ornately wrapped in metal and glass with tall tainted windows.
The decision to go big on Figueroa Eight, which opened last month, reflects an unusual disconnect playing out in the neighborhood: While downtown as a place to work still struggles to find its footing post-COVID, downtown as a residential center is thriving.
Canadian real estate company offers ideal case study
Downtown has about 90,000 residents, said Jessica Lall, head of real estate brokerage CBRE’s downtown office. They…