Developer pays $20M for two historic Arts District buildings

With the Arts District booming, developers are clamoring to buy into the rapidly evolving neighborhood. Case in point: Developer DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners has paid $20 million for a pair of loft buildings, as the Los Angeles Business Journal reports.

The real estate investment firm, which owns several Los Angeles properties—including Hollywood’s historic Taft Building, actually seems to have gotten a fairly good deal on the sale. At $305 per square foot, the price was less than half the $660 per square foot paid by Tishman Speyer for the LA River-adjacent property it plans to redevelop as an eight-story office tower.

DLJ purchased the side-by-side properties from local investors who previously converted the former industrial buildings into live-work lofts for artists. Located at the intersection of Traction Ave and Hewitt Street, the brick structures are five and two stories tall.

The shorter building was built in 1908, while the taller structure was constructed in 1917, according to property records. The latter was built as a factory for Ben Hur Coffee and was designed by prominent LA architect John Parkinson, who also designed landmark structures like City Hall and Union Station.

It’s not clear yet what DLJ plans to do with its new purchases, but should the firm decide to redevelop the properties, the projects would be in good company. Just a block away, the neighborhood’s former Coca Cola factory is being remodeled as an office project called Fourth and Traction. A block southwest, a seven-story development is on the way to Alameda Street.

• Traction Avenue Buildings in Arts District Fetch $20 Million [LA Business Journal]
• Mapping the Arts District's never-ending parade of development [Curbed LA]
• Rockefeller Center owner plans eight-story office building in the Arts District [Curbed LA]