LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
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Olvera Street rents, a big lease, and other happenings Around Town.
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As Downtown grows, so does the number of ethnically diverse households.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
July 4, 2011
Volume 40, Number 27
INSIDE
Follow the Rangers
A Twist in the Sales Game Upgraded for the Second Time in Four Years, the Mercantile Lofts Tries to Buck a Housing Trend
Urban Scrawl on the Dodgers debacle.
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Tweaks to the football stadium deal.
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Buy a building in City West.
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photo by Gary Leonard
Joseph Soleiman of ICO Group, which last year purchased the 35-unit Mercantile Lofts out of foreclosure. They moved the tenants out of the Main Street building and are selling the condominiums for up to $550,000. by RichaRd Guzmán
gages can still be difficult to acquire. Inside the lobby at 620 S. Main St., soft purple he final touches of an extensive renova- stripes resembling bar codes line the walls and tion are being placed on the Mercantile purple and white-striped curved benches that Lofts. This is interesting for two reasons: will be lit from beneath snake along the space. 1) The exact same thing happened just four years Hanging light orbs in the common areas add to ago, and 2) The upgrades are taking place because the upgraded feel of the 1906, Chicago Beaux Artsthe tenants have been moved out and the Historic style building. Core building is being turned from apartments to The most dramatic change, however, can be see xxxxxxxxxxxx, condominiums, a rarity in a market where mortseen from the page street.8Construction crews are add-
city editoR
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A long look at the little black dress.
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ing a glass façade to the ground level. That sits below the building’s 35 units, which have floorto-ceiling windows. Right now, passersby can peer into the empty homes. Originally converted to apartments in 2007, the building is bucking a trend. In the past few years, it has been far more common for projects planned as condominiums to open instead as rentals. “We feel that Downtown L.A. has become a see Mercantile, page 8
Dirty Land Derails Cleantech Deal Five great entertainment options.
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14 CALENDAR LISTINGS 16 MAP 17 CLASSIFIEDS
Buyer Backs Out of $15 Million Acquisition Of Troubled Property; CRA Starts New Talks by Jon ReGaRdie executive editoR
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$15 million deal to sell a huge parcel owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency has fallen through, Los Angeles Downtown News has learned. It marks the third time in less than three years that a project involving the site, envisioned as the jobs-generating Cleantech Manufacturing Center, has been scuttled. In addition, a back-up candidate for the site has opted not to pursue the deal as laid out by the agency in March. The CRA is now going back to those two companies, and is speaking with several others, about different ways to activate the parcel.
In March, the CRA reached an agreement to sell 20 acres in southeast Downtown to Culver City-based Genton Property Group, which intended to develop the land for use by greentech or clean technology companies. Genton terminated the sale because of concerns about contamination on the land. “Our independent consultant’s analysis of the Cleantech campus determined there are ongoing environmental issues at the site that require additional remediation,” the firm said in a statement. “While the city invested in a remediation effort of the property, environmental issues persist at the Cleantech site and adjoining areas. We remain very see Cleantech, page 10
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles
rendering courtesy CRA
This 2009 rendering shows an imagined Cleantech Manufacturing Center. Two development deals for the site have fallen apart, and a buyer recently terminated escrow to purchase the land owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency.