Central Los Angeles : FASHION MART MAKE-OVER

One of the oldest high-rise buildings in California is about to undergo a $7-million renovation to restore its 1920s look.

The New Mart Building in the fashion district of downtown Los Angeles, erected in 1928, was originally called the Harris Newmark Building and housed a shirt manufacturing plant, said Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer, owner of the 12-story building.

The restoration project, expected to be completed by summer 1997, will concentrate on the facade of the building. It is being directed by Los Angeles-based architect Ruben Ojeda.

The New Mart is a “cast stone-faced structure” with an “old New York look,” Eisenberg-Keefer said, and is home to more than 50 showrooms featuring contemporary men and women’s fashion.

Eisenberg-Keefer runs the New Mart as charity, donating her tenants’ rent money to nonprofit organizations, including a breast clinic that she recently built.