|
'Metropolis' High Profile Downtown L.A. Full City Block
Development
Site Comes To Market Five parcel block located along the 110 Freeway at 9th Street off-ramp one block north of LA Live is entitled for 1.65 million SF of multi-family, hotel, office and retail development
LOS
ANGELES, April 17, 2013 – IDS Real Estate Group and CBRE jointly
announced the listing for sale of an entire city block consisting of
five parcels
of land in Downtown Los Angeles that is entitled for approximately 1.65
million
square feet of multi-family, hotel, office and retail space.
The 6.33-acre site, known as Metropolis, extends along Francisco Street from 8th Street to James W. Wood Boulevard and sits at the gateway to Downtown Los Angeles along the 9th Street off-ramp from the Harbor 110 Freeway. Situated between the Convention Center/LA Live Entertainment District and the Financial District, anchored by the new under construction Wilshire Grand redevelopment, Metropolis lies at the heart of the proposed “Avenue of the Angels”. Envisioned as an entertainment hospitality hot spot for Downtown L.A. with multiple hotels, residential towers and office space geared to today’s creative industries, “Avenue of the Angels’” will be a bright, open, pedestrian-oriented connector, lined with trendy cafes, restaurants and retail stores, according to IDS officials. “Metropolis represents one of the most prominent development opportunities in all of Downtown Los Angeles. The site offers unparalleled views and enjoys outstanding freeway visibility to the passing 500,000+ vehicles per day,” said Patrick Spillane, senior vice president of Los Angeles-based IDS Real Estate Group. A joint venture between IDS and an institutional pension fund is the seller. The Metropolis site is available by either acquiring the entire city block or by one or more parcels, according to CBRE which is representing the seller. CBRE professionals marketing the site include Laurie Lustig-Bower and Onno Zwaneveld, who are leading the process on behalf of the seller, along with CBRE Downtown multi-family expert Brad McCarthy, hotel experts Rod Apodaca and Bob Kaplan, and CBRE Debt and Equity Finance professionals Andrew Behrens and Gavin Davis. “Metropolis is the most compelling undeveloped block in Downtown Los Angeles, in part because of its excellent freeway visibility and proximity to LA Live and the Convention Center. Developers have the opportunity to literally brand the Downtown skyline with this site,” Lustig-Bower said. “In addition to its incredible visibility, Metropolis and the proposed ‘Avenue of the Angels’ will connect the Entertainment/LA Live and Financial Districts in an active, lively way, similar to San Diego’s Gas Lamp District or the French Quarter in New Orleans. Locally, when fully built out, the best comparison would be to Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade,” she added. 
“Los Angeles is the largest Downtown employment center in the Western United States, but the housing market remains grossly underserved,” Lustig-Bower declared. “With approximately 500,000 jobs but only 20,000 +/- market rate residential units, Downtown faces a considerable shortage. Metropolis offers the chance for a developer to respond to the increasing demand, particularly among upwardly mobile professionals with disposable income and an affinity for an urban lifestyle.” CBRE’s McCarthy cited Downtown’s vibrant cultural/social scene. “Downtown Los Angeles has undergone a remarkable transformation into a vibrant, 24-hour city center, with thousands of residential units having been built over the past decade resulting in a resident population now topping over 48,000 people. Downtown has become a hotbed of new cutting edge eateries, and is arguably home to L.A.’s burgeoning dining scene.” Apodaca added: “The monthly Artwalk, held the second Thursday of each month in the old bank district neighborhood, attracts tens of thousands of people enjoying the lively atmosphere found nowhere else in L.A. on such a scale. AEG’s proposed redevelopment of the L.A. Convention Center and related Farmers Field NFL football stadium/event center will bring thousands of new tourists into downtown, and will re-position L.A. as a premier convention center. This is generating demand for several thousand new hotel rooms needed to accommodate convention attendees. Downtown L.A.’s hotel performance has strongly rebounded since the recession and leads the Los Angeles region, state and national growth rate for occupancy and average daily rooms rates.” About IDS Real Estate Group Now in its twenty-seventh year of business, IDS Real Estate Group is a commercial real estate services company focusing on the Western United States. The company has a diverse portfolio exceeding 20 million square feet, and acts as a development manager on over four million square feet of space on behalf of their institutional and individual investor partners. For more, visit www.idsrealestate.com. About CBRE Hotels and CBRE Group, Inc. CBRE | Hotels is a specialized advisory group providing brokerage, valuation and capital markets services to companies in the hotel sector. CBRE | Hotels is a business unit of CBRE, Inc. (NYSE: CBG), the world’s premier, full-service real estate services company. Operating globally, the firm holds a leadership position in virtually all of the world’s key business centers. Please visit our Web site at www.cbrehotels.com. CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2012 revenue). The company has approximately 37,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services; property, facilities and project management; mortgage banking, appraisal and valuation, development services; investment management, and research and consulting. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com. |