In the early days of Downtown LA’s rebirth as a place where well-off people lived in lofts and hip restaurants and bars flourished, Tom Gilmore was heralded as a developer who could kick start the changes.
In 2000, he bought four historic, decrepit buildings at the edge of Skid Row and created the Old Bank District, which became a trendy high-rent pocket in the hard-luck neighborhood. He was not the only developer that boosted Downtown’s reputation—but he was among the most lauded.
Now it seems he’s turning his attention to Chinatown.
In 2016 and 2017, LLCs connected to Gilmore have snatched up two properties on Jung Jing Road in the Chinatown Central Plaza. Then, last year, property records show a Gilmore-connected LLC paid $15.375 million for a corner property at Hill and College streets that houses a number of small businesses, including the Ai Hoa Market.
Ai Hoa has been in operation in Chinatown since the late 1970s and outlasted a controversial Walmart grocery store up the street. But the market is slated to relocate to El Monte at the end of the year, architect Daveed Kapoor tweeted last week.
In addition to being a longtime neighborhood fixture, the market is also important to the history of Vietnamese Americans in LA. The Ai Hoa was one of the first in LA’s Chinatown founded by Vietnamese war refugees, according to Phuong Nguyen, assistant professor of U.S. history at Cal State University, Monterey Bay.
An employee at the market confirmed to Curbed last week that the Ai Hoa Market was moving, and indicated that it was because of an issue between the management and the building’s new owner.
It’s unclear what the future holds for the market’s corner parcel. City records do not indicate that there are any immediate plans for development at the site, and Gilmore was unable to provide comment in time for publication.
In 2013, Gilmore purchased four properties along College and Broadway, paying $10 million. Now, with his purchase of the Ai Hoa, Gilmore effectively owns half of that block bounded by Hill, College, Broadway, and Alpine.
The Ai Hoa building and an adjacent Gilmore-owned office structure have been given a Pepto Bismol-pink paint job reminiscent of a fancy makeover on another Gilmore-owned building on Jung Jing Way in the old Chinatown Plaza area, which he purchased for $1 million in 2017.
Gilmore is hardly the only developer interested in Chinatown. Interest in the neighborhood’s properties has surged recently.
Downtown developer Izek Shomof is planning a seven-story mixed-user near Spring and Alpine. Atlas Capital is planning 725 market-rate units near the Chinatown Gold Line Station (though residents are suing to stop it).
A high-end French developer has teamed up with architecture firm Studio Gang to pitch a 26-story hotel and apartment tower on a site now occupied by a former movie theater turned event venue. In November 2018, an LLC controlled by Jim Jacobsen of the Santa Monica-based firm Redcar Properties, bought the large swap meet building at 861 North Spring Street for $15 million.
It’s a pattern that is repeating in Chinatowns across the country as wealthier people seek downtown homes, the Atlantic reported in February.
These neighborhoods, often located in the heart of cities’ urban centers, were inexpensive and undesirable for decades. They experienced long periods of disinvestment in the wake of white flight from cities and suburbanization, and that’s made them very attractive to developers.
But as Chinatowns and other ethnic enclaves have become prime properties, that has meant in many instances that longterm residents are getting pushed out. In LA’s Chinatown, this seems to be the case too.
Comments
Why can’t he scoop up Skid Row . That place is a dump and disease ridden. My blessing and scoop up all of Los Angeles.
By Wackyone1968 on 06.13.19 5:24pm
Now more people will be living on the streets..
By ByeByeLA on 06.14.19 4:17am
How so Bye? I’ll play Devils Advocate- How long do we fund people, or subsidize them? How about more into Education and lifting people out of poverty? Sounds like the Democrats are afraid if more people are educated, and move up economically; they will lose their base. Keep people at a certain level, and they never question. Just like the Republicans keep the poor , from ever questioning . Keep them in fear . I see the parallels. Time for a new tune and beat of a different rhythm. Sad people can’t see when they’re being manipulated . Wake up people. Demand balance and change, that benefits everyone.
By Wackyone1968 on 06.14.19 11:24am
Chinatown needs to be more developed. It’s mostly a lot of single or 2 story buildings. Way too close to downtown to remain that way and at the moment really dumpy looking. I say develop the hell out of it. just keep that one little area that looks sort of cute (in the picture).
By LAoneWay on 06.14.19 6:19am
Downtown Chinatown no longer serves new immigrant Chinese who moved further east to Rowland Heights and Chino Hills and South to Irvine. Chinatown is a throwback to a culture that is no longer relevant to current designs. Just look at the skyline at China’s Shanghai with modern buildings and shops. Call this chinese flight. Richer white people are returning. Maybe Whole Foods should open nearby.
By TTTSec on 06.14.19 9:11am
Gilmore is the antichrist. He builds sterile, hostile buildings & does nothing to elevate the neighborhoods he develops in. He sucks.
By SnoodFob on 06.14.19 10:49pm
You’re thinking of Geoff Palmer with his Italianate monstrosities of buildings. Tom Gilmore almost always adaptively re-uses existing, historic buildings.
By I Like Buildings on 06.17.19 12:31pm
Yep its Palmer who doesn’t build apartments, he excretes them out his bottom.
By KlunkerRider on 06.18.19 3:51pm
That paint job on the other building is a horror show. What were they thinking?!
By enter ranting on 06.17.19 10:20am