An under-the-radar, 1920s-era warehouse in the increasingly fancy Arts District has sold to a a developer hoping to turn it into creative offices. Developer Est4te Four purchased the structure and "additional land for potential development" for $21.6 million, says a release announcing the sale. The two-story building sits at the northwest corner of Second and Vignes streets, a block away from Dana Hollister's shuttered One-Eyed Gypsy bar, *now a fancy new eatery called Osso.
The old warehouse dates back to 1926, according to the LA Conservancy, and was originally constructed for the Challenge Cream and Butter company, though it's currently "occupied by various creative users," a release for the sale says. Est4te Four's plan is to put more floors (no word on how many) on top of the 44,547-square-foot building that's already there, and turn the entire structure into "a hub for creative industry" with some retail and a restaurant in the mix. The developers have said they're already talking to potential new tenants who will jive with neighbors like the Hauser Wirth & Schimmel arts compound.
The LA Conservancy says that the old Challenge Butter warehouse was designed by the firm of architect Charles F. Plummer. Plummer would go on to join forces with architects Welton Becket and Walter Wurdeman (forming Plummer, Wurdeman, and Becket) to design the Pan-Pacific Auditorium (and maybe a Nazi ranch in Malibu). The building was in sad shape in the 1980s, when it was rehabbed and became "One of the first conversions following the approval of the Artist-in-Residence (AIR) ordinance."
If any of those artists are the "various creative users" mentioned in the release, they're probably going to have to move along soon; construction's planned to start in 2016 and last for between a year and 18 months.
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