Former Dentist Thrives as Builder of Apartments
If Dr. Ellis Ring, a Rochester, N.Y., dentist, hadn’t slipped on a patch of ice in his home town 32 years ago, fallen and broken his hip, there probably wouldn’t be a 555 Barrington apartment project opening this week in Brentwood.
Ring, 43 at the time, was on crutches for nine months, which curtailed his career. During the recuperation period, he visited Los Angeles, fell in love with the Southland and its climate and moved here, selling his Rochester dental practice. He taught dentistry at USC for a time, easing his transition into a career as a developer of landscaped and waterscaped apartment complexes.
He teamed up with his brother Seldon, resulting in the Ring Brothers partnership that led to the construction of more than 6,000 apartment units in the Los Angeles area, including the 981-unit Mariner’s Village complex on more than 20 acres in Marina del Rey.
At the age of 75, Ring has no retirement plans. He was interviewed in the midst of preparations for the grand opening of the $32-million, 111-unit development at 555 Barrington Ave., just south of Sunset Boulevard.
As he showed a reporter features of his development, where one- and two-bedroom apartments with 1,000-2,000 square feet lease for $1,400-$3,500, Ring pridefully pointed out the development’s elaborate courtyard, pool, specimen palm trees, 35-foot-high jacaranda and ficus trees and seasonal flowers and shrubs. The landscaping was designed by Ring and his landscape architect of 30 years, Phil Shipley.
“The architect of 555 Barrington is Sam Kiyotoki, but he received a lot of input from me,” Ring said with a smile. He considers 555 Barrington his finest achievement as a developer of apartments (he also teamed with Ray Watt to build the first 48 condominiums in Century Woods six years ago in Century City).
“It took us a long time to find a two-acre site in the heart of Brentwood and the project was conceptualized and refined over a long period of time,” Ring said. “The three- and four-story Mediterranean design, with mission tiled roofs, is a deliberate departure from the monolithic high-rise apartment buildings lining major streets,” he added.
Over the past three decades, Ring has been cited for his use of waterscaping, mature landscaping and amenities in his apartments, a skill he traces back to his childhood in Rochester.
“Rochester, the home of Kodak and Xerox, is a city of parks and flowers, a town that was the beneficiary of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak,” Ring said. “It has so many beautiful parks and gardens it is known as the ‘flower city.”’
Like most developers who have survived and thrived, Ring is a detail person: “Each detail, however small, is important to the total project,” he said. “The apartments have 30% more glass than is customary and all windows and sliding doors are double-glazed for energy conservation and sound control.”
Fitness Center
Other features include Berber-type carpeting, louvered wood shades and radiused corners and balconies with up to 200 square feet of space. The development has a fitness center and a lounge/conference center with a kitchen and restrooms. It is managed by Ring Brothers Management Corp.
Two furnished models, by interior decorator Bill Holbrook, show how both contemporary and traditional furnishings work with the design of the eight floor plans.
