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1. LEARNING FROM LOS ANGELES:
ADAPTIVE REUSE AS A
DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION TOOL
Ken Bernstein, Principal City Planner
City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning

2. The Heyday of LA’s Historic Downtown
 Spring St: Wall Street of the West
 Broadway as commercial, entertainment
hub
 Dozen ornate movie palaces
 Flagship department stores
Broadway Theater District – 1930s

3. Previous Abandonment of Downtown LA
 Legacy of urban renewal
 Created new downtown: Bunker
Hill, financial district
 Abandoned Historic Downtown,
but left intact
 Created seeds for regeneration
Spring Street Financial District
Bunker Hill redevelopment,
1960s:
Photo by Julius Shulman,
courtesy of
Getty Research Institute

4. Tom Gilmore: Catalyst for the Ordinance
 Gilmore entered downtown scene in
1997
 Purchased historic buildings at low
cost
 Ran up against code, zoning
requirements
 1999: passage of ARO, drafted by
Planning Department
 Gilmore’s projects as test cases
San Fernando Building – 4th and Main
Streets

5. ARO’s Provisions
 Parking
 Floor area, lot line setbacks, and
heights
 Unit size
 Density
 Most projects by-passed planning and
zoning process; proceeded directly to
permitting

6. Later Refinements
 Building and Safety Code
Guidelines
 Codified in 2005
 Ordinance extended to five more
areas in 2002
 Then extended citywide in 2003
(with Zoning Administrator
approval)

7. Marketing Adaptive Reuse
 Needed to overcome skepticism
 L.A. Conservancy survey of 50
adaptive reuse buildings
 Lenders Roundtables, tours
 Appointment of City point person

8. Historic Preservation Incentives
 Crucial to success of projects
 Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit
 National Register historic districts
 Mills Act (property tax incentive)

9. Case Study #1 – Pacific Electric Lofts
 Henry Huntington constructed
Pacific Electric Building in
1905
 City’s first skyscraper; largest
building in city
 Transit hub and offices for
Huntington’s railway
 Original home of Jonathan
Club

10. Case Study #1 – Pacific Electric Lofts
 Building vacant since 1989
 314 residential lofts
 ICO Investment Group and Killefer
Flammang Architects
 Exposed original steel trusses, gym,
rooftop pool and garden
 Jonathan Club became residents’
library

11. Case Study #1 – Pacific Electric Lofts
 Exposed original steel trusses, gym,
 Rooftop pool and garden
 Jonathan Club became residents’
library
 Federal Rehab Tax Credits
generated $5 million

12. Case Study #2 – Douglas Building
 Example of smaller but significant
structure
 Built 1898 at Third and Spring Streets
 Designed by James and Merritt Reid
(Fairmont Hotel, SF; Hotel del
Coronado)

13. Case Study #2 – Douglas Building
 Sat vacant for years.
 2005, Metro Partners 5 and
Rockefeller Partners Architects
converted into 50 condominiums
 Among first condos to enter into
Mills Act contract with City

14. Results of the Ordinance
 In first 12 years, ARO resulted in
76 projects in downtown alone
 9,137 units of new downtown
housing
 2,479 for sale (condominium)
units

15. Policy Concerns
 Displacement of lower-income
residents?
 Gentrification on Broadway?
 Pressure on SRO Hotel
conversion?
 Provision of new affordable
housing?

16. Conclusions and Legacy of the ARO
 One of most successful recent urban
strategies
 Preserved remarkable historic structures
 Thousands of new housing units
 Entirely new residential community
downtown and other L.A. neighborhoods
 Replicable model for urban regeneration
Metro 417 Apartments:
Subway Terminal Building