Two Landmarks to Be Linked : Home Furnishing Center Will Fill a Square Block

Two historic architectural landmarks in downtown Los Angeles, the May Co. and the Eastern Columbia buildings, will be linked--a first for the city--to form one major commercial venture devoted exclusively to the wholesale marketing of interior furnishings.

The ambitious project, named Palace Square, will include a design center and mart encompassing the entire block bounded by Broadway, Hill, 8th and 9th streets. The $200-million investment represents a joint venture of Double RB Associates and the Palace Square Development Group.

One-Stop Center

The concept of establishing a comprehensive, one-stop designers’ wholesale furnishings resource center in Los Angeles, had been germinating in the minds of three veterans of the furnishings industry, James Carleton, Mary Maudlin Brown and Richard Sheldon, all with extensive backgrounds in the furnishings industry, who were catalysts in previous design center projects.

Carleton is a veteran sales and marketing executive formerly associated with Welton Becket Associates and Cannell & Chaffin Commercial; Sheldon, formerly with Herman Miller Inc., currently heads his own firm, Richard Sheldon Inc., and Brown was formerly director of communications for Pacific Design Center, a primary mover in establishing the Beverly-Robertson Assn., and former owner and publisher of Designers West magazine.

The trio joined in partnership with real estate developers Robert Blumin and Richard Barclay (Double RB Associates) to “set the project in motion and make it happen.”

The participation of Blumin and Barclay gives the team a significant presence in the development of the downtown South Park district.

The developers are also currently active as builders of the 12-story 800 S. Figueroa building and the soon-to-be-completed International Tower, a 20-story office complex at Figueroa and 9th streets. Double RB Associates also co-developed Santa Monica Business Park on the site of the former Douglas Aircraft plant on Ocean Park Boulevard.

With the acquisition of the May Co. property from the Los Angeles Pan American Trade Center, two parking lots from Systems Parking and the Wells Fargo Trust, the Eastern Columbia Building plus two small structures and a parking lot from the Sieroty family, the consortium of partners is now well on the way to its goal.

The Sieroty properties closed escrow last week, negotiations on the two parking lots will be completed this month, and final papers on the May Co. building will be signed in January.

In keeping with its projected role as the largest international design resource center of its kind under one roof, Palace Square will offer a full-spectrum of showroom space. Its competitors are Pacific Design Center, the Design Center of Los Angeles, the Beverly-Robertson group and to a lesser extent the Los Angeles Mart, which is now primarily devoted to gifts and accessories.

“Contrary to popular belief, residential and contract designers don’t just come from Beverly Hills, but from all over the Los Angeles basin,” Brown explained.

“Palace Square, in fact, stands at the center of a 60-mile circle that touches five counties with a population in excess of 12 million,” Sheldon added. “We expect to bring the home and commercial furnishings market back to Los Angeles with the same vigor, if not greater, than other major markets in Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco.”

“The department store will continue to lease the ground level and first floor of the nine-story building until it relocates to the new Citicorp complex (at 7th and Figueroa streets) early next year,” Sheldon explained. Meanwhile, the owners of Palace Square will sub-lease the remainder of the floors until the close of escrow, and limited construction is expected to get under way shortly.

“We are very excited to have more than 700,000 square feet of reservations and leases out for signature,” Brown reported. “Of this, more than 115,000 square feet are reserved for major manufacturers of wall coverings and fabrics.

“We are dealing with a total of 1.25 million square feet,” Blumin said. “And having two architectural landmarks to deal with simultaneously, makes this an unusual challenge for us. We believe Palace Square will result in an important addition to the fabric of the evolving South Park District.”

The Eastern Columbia Building was built in 1929 by Adolph Sieroty on the site of Columbia Outfitting Co., at Broadway and 9th Street. It was the last major building constructed in the downtown area between the period immediately following the 1929 stock market crash and the end of World War II.

Faced with a bluish terra-cotta, the Eastern Columbia structure is a noted example of the Art Deco period, with its fluted vertical lines, zigzags, plant motifs and chevrons rising to the top of a four-sided clock tower. It was designed by Claude Beelman.

The May Co. traces its history to 1881, when its predecessor, A. Hamburger & Sons, opened a retail emporium and later, in 1906, built the present building at Hill and 8th streets. Designed by A. F. Rosenheim, it was acquired by the May Co. in 1923 and expanded to its present size in 1929.

Responsibility for the renovation of the historic buildings and integration of both into the overall concept for Palace Square, has been assigned to Kaplan/McLaughlin/Diaz, a San Francisco architectural firm that has won numerous awards for work done in the preservation and reuse of older buildings.

Dominating the May Co. ground floor will be the 28-foot-high Palm Court around the escalator area, with special amenities and a seating area. The main entrance will lead in from the ground floor of the transition parking structure that will link the two buildings.

General contractor for the renovation of the two buildings is Swinerton & Walberg. Design, engineering and construction of the 400,000-square-foot parking facility for the new Palace Square home furnishings center, is by SyArt Concrete Construction Inc. of Gardena. It will consist of 11 levels, of which nine will be above ground and two below, for freight deliveries.

Rooftop gardens and a variety of services and restaurants will be available to patrons of Palace Square.