Builders Hold High Hopes for High-Rises on ‘Golden Mile’
For nearly eight years, the steel frame of a 28-story building on Wilshire Boulevard between Westwood and Beverly Hills sat rusting as a skeletal reminder of a dream that had soured.
In the early 1980s, 11 projects were planned to help create the “Golden Mile,” Los Angeles’ version of high-rise luxury condominium living. But developers say that high interest rates, a glut of overpriced condominiums and the disdain of home buyers for living in high-rise buildings led to a bust. Some developers have gone bankrupt.
But now the rust has been scraped from the steel frame of that long-abandoned building--and perhaps from the tarnished image of the Wilshire Corridor--as developers are pumping millions of dollars into a new effort to bring back the glitter of the Golden Mile.
At least eight new condominium projects are planned or under construction along the 1.2-mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard between Malcolm and Comstock avenues. Four projects have broken ground and are scheduled to be completed within two years:
- The Dorchester, a 16-story, 108-unit building at 10520 Wilshire Blvd., will offer condominiums priced from $375,000 to $2 million. It is being built by Urban Pacific Group and V.M.S. Realty Partners of Chicago.
- Blair House is the new name for the rusting building at 10490 Wilshire that was to have been the Evian. It is scheduled to open next summer. Breslow Development plans a 28-story, 134-unit high-rise with condominiums priced from $500,000 to $3 million.
- Park Wilshire, a 15-story, 156-unit building at 10724 Wilshire, is set to open in September. The units will range from 1,061 to 3,080 square feet and will include four 4,000-square-foot penthouses. A spokeswoman for Stanwill Cos., the developer, said prices will be determined next spring.
- A mid-1990 completion date is expected for the Wilshire, a 27-story, 97-unit granite and limestone high-rise at 10580 Wilshire Blvd. It is being built by Cal Fed Enterprises. Units will be priced from $649,500 to $2.9 million.
Four other projects are in the planning stages.
In the late 1950s, the Wilshire Corridor was dotted with mid-rise luxury apartment buildings. By the 1970s, as property values increased, some of those apartment buildings were converted to cooperatives and condominiums. Other smaller buildings were razed to make room for high-rise condominiums. Success in selling those condominiums led to the rash of projects in the early 1980s.
Michael V. Reyes, president of Urban Pacific Group, and Lee Danielson, vice president of Cal Fed Enterprises, both were involved in efforts to create the Golden Mile.
Reyes sold his interest in a condominium project, the Mirabella, just before construction was completed in 1983, and just before the collapse of the Wilshire Corridor market. Danielson developed the Wilshire Thayer in 1983, a project that he said made less money than he had hoped.
Unrealistic Prices
Reyes said the market went bust because years of steady hype pushed prices to unrealistic heights. For example, he said, the asking price for one penthouse unit at that time was $11 million. That condo recently sold for $4 million, he said.
Danielson points out that there were too many condominiums at the time--about 900 units built in one year--and that the finished product was mediocre.
The nation’s economy also was a factor. Interest rates were high, helping put a damper on sales.
When the condominiums did not sell quickly, other developers abandoned their projects. But, as interest rates fell in the mid-1980s, other developers bought up the abandoned sites at fire-sale prices and waited for market conditions to improve.
Reyes said he paid $5.5 million in 1986 for the site of the Dorchester, about half the price the site was valued at in 1980.
Developers say market conditions are now right for a second attempt at building in the Golden Mile. They point to the demand for housing on the Westside, where prices are soaring. Reyes said units at the Mirabella, for example, are back up to more than $300 a square foot.
But political realities have changed as well, and developers now face obstacles of dealing with slow-growth sentiment.
Height Limited
Last January, West Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky sought a moratorium on high-rise development in the Wilshire Corridor. The council voted 8 to 7 to reject his proposal, instead passing a watered-down version that limits buildings to six stories. Exempted were the Wilshire and four other projects. The Dorchester, Blair House and Park Wilshire already had been approved before the moratorium was considered.
The Wilshire is under construction, but Yaroslavsky said he will try to limit the height of the other buildings. Still, he acknowledges that the glimmer of the Golden Mile is back.
“The Wilshire Corridor is one of the most preeminent streets in Los Angeles,” he said. “Everyone knew that the Golden Mile would eventually be back.”
Real estate experts are confident. Letizia Gelles, who has sold several condominium projects on the Golden Mile, said the corridor’s reputation as a desirable address is coming back. “The Wilshire Corridor has suffered all kinds of panic, but it has found its place,” Gelles said. “We don’t have to explain it anymore. It’s there to stay,” she said.
William Schwarz, marketing director for the Wilshire, said that low interest rates and the nation’s strong economy have put many people back in a position to sell large single-family homes and buy condominiums.
The attraction of condominiums appears to be the same for all categories of buyers: low maintenance, security, views and personal services.
Nearly all of the condominium projects say they offer doormen to park residents’ cars, swimming pools, saunas, exercise facilities and gardens. The Wilshire will offer a concierge to help make entertainment plans, private elevators that will serve only one residence per floor and, during the initial construction phase, custom interior decorating.
The Dorchester will feature a 13-foot coffered ceiling in the lobby, walls of exotic wood, marble floors and a reflecting pool and water sculptures at the main entrance.
In the past, most condominium buyers were so-called “empty-nesters,” couples whose children had moved out of the house. But now, a growing number of singles and young working couples are choosing condos over single-family houses. The increasing interest of Pacific Rim companies in the Southland is also creating new potential buyers.
“We live in a mobile society and, in a condominium, you can leave the key downstairs and shuttle off to Paris,” Gelles said. “And you can have someone water your plants while you’re gone.”
Florence Friedman and her husband moved out of a large house on Whittier Drive in Beverly Hills four years ago and bought a 2,200-square-foot condominium at Ten-Five-Sixty near Thayer Avenue.
“We didn’t need a big house anymore,” she said. “This place offered good security and good services. It’s great. They take your car when you come in and bring it to you when you leave.”
Gene Rosenfeld sold his home in Encino a few years ago and purchased a unit at the Wilshire House.
“I travel a lot, and living in a condominium makes it convenient,” he said.
Caron Schwartz, who is single, lives in Ten-Five-Sixty. She says high-rise condominium living fits her life style perfectly.
“It’s just very convenient,” she said. “There are people to park my car, receive packages, pick up my groceries; it’s almost like living in a hotel. The security is also great. And, of course, the view is spectacular.”
THE GOLDEN MILE
Condominiums planned or under construction:
A -- 24 stories, 119 units
B -- 12 stories, 108 units
C -- 15 stories, 156 units
D -- 27 stories, 97 units
E -- 16 stories, 108 units
F -- 28 stories, 134 units
G -- 20 stories, 73 units
H -- 20 stories, 32 units
