Resurrecting the ‘Blue Whale’
Manhattan Realtor Charles Cohen fell in love with the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood at first sight. It was two years ago, and he had come to the WestWeek design festival at the center as part of his ongoing education to learn how design centers operate.
“It looked so spectacular--I am a great admirer of architecture. I saw this giant blue and green Lego set, and it knocked me out!” he recalled by phone from his New York office. “I knew I wanted it.”
The Pacific Design Center is the first Southern California acquisition for Cohen, who runs his family’s real estate business, Cohen Bros. Realty Corp. Although they’ve been acquiring office buildings in Manhattan for more than 40 years, it was only three years ago that Cohen entered the interior design world, with the purchase of Manhattan’s prestigious D&D; (Decorating & Design) Building at 979 3rd Ave.
It took two years, but Cohen has now assumed the reins of the Cesar Pelli-designed modernistic complex that dominates West Hollywood’s design community from its 16-acre site at Melrose Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard
Cohen heads an East Coast group, including a Connecticut-based private equity firm, that recently purchased the design center from mortgage holder Teachers Insurance and Annuity Assn.
“It’s spectacular from outside and inside,” he said of his new property.
The 130-showroom complex, the West Coast’s largest resource for fine home furnishings, includes the original Center Blue, known as the “Blue Whale,” which opened in 1975; Center Green, which opened in 1988; a conference center, theater, meeting rooms, art gallery and 1,900-car parking structure.
He Plans to Attract Entertainment Tenants
“I knew immediately it was made for me,” said Cohen, who has already announced plans to convert the Center Green Building’s “exciting space” to offices for entertainment and media companies. The Blue Building will continue its role as an upscale home furnishings mart catering to the design trade.
Cohen is not the first manager to announce an ambitious agenda for popularizing the Pacific Design Center. Despite its architectural prestige, the center, one of many such “to the trade” marts built nationwide in the 1980s, suffered from poor timing. Though the Blue Building had a waiting list when the Green Building opened in 1988, collectively the two properties have hovered between 70% and 80% occupancy since then.
The economic downturn of the early 1990s has segued to a changing retail patterns of increasingly educated consumers who make their own decorating decisions without the guidance (and expense) of an interior design consultant.
“A design center interests me, “ Cohen said, “because it is not just another office building. A mart is a specific place joining vendors of the same industry under one roof, which allows the client base to have one-stop shopping. It’s a uniquely American experience, which I think is fantastic.”
When Cohen’s group acquired the Manhattan D&D; Building, he said, “it was in a state of disrepair, with substantial vacancies. It had lost its luster.” Today, he said, the 18-story building is 100% leased and thriving as the result of a creative marketing program aimed at bringing the design community in on a regular basis. And Cohen, who seems to have been bitten by the interior design bug, thinks his experience there can serve him well in Los Angeles, despite the physical difference in the two buildings.
As president of the D&D; Building and the Pacific Design Center, he said, “I’ve got two jewels. I am interested in exploring synergies both in tenant base and marketing opportunities.”
He’ll be a hands-on landlord at the Pacific Design Center, he emphasized in an energetic discussion of his plans. Not only must the building run efficiently, he said, it must cater to its customers who are the design professionals shopping for their upscale clients.
“And I have another job to do,” he added. “I have to educate the individuals who have the disposable income to decorate their homes but don’t want to work with a designer.”
The D&D; Building now offers a registry to match shoppers with designers, as well as a lounge, library and meeting rooms for designer-client conferences. He added a designer-food restaurant and remodeled the lobby, which is “spectacular,” he said.
One challenge he sees at the Pacific Design Center is making its cavernous, echoing hallways more user-friendly.
“We have to rethink the public spaces to bring them into the 21st century. The finishes are cold and dated--I feel like I’m in an airport.”
But, he said, the overhaul will be subtle. “The bones are great.”
Cohen, 47, a lawyer who majored in English at Tufts University and wanted to be a filmmaker (his short documentary satirizing Bruce Lee films has aired on New York cable), was diverted when he joined the family real estate business but maintains a strong interest in the arts and in design.
His Greenwich, Conn., home, a stone, wood and slate English country house he describes as “fantastic,” was designed by Allan Greenberg, the noted architect whose recent projects include the flagship Tommy Hilfiger store in Beverly Hills. And the jewel of his mansion is an ornate 24-seat movie theater with plush red velvet seats, art deco moldings and state-of-the-art technology.
He liked the challenge of running the D&D.;
“It’s been a tremendous success and continues to keep me interested because it is evolving, just as design is evolving,” he said.
The key to success at the Pacific Design Center, he thinks, will be to “connect it to its environment, and that includes Hollywood, the entertainment capital of the world, and West Hollywood, a great place.”
High Hopes From Current Tenants
In past years a succession of managers has outlined ambitious plans to pep up the Pacific Design Center, and a sampling of the current tenants suggests they are withholding final judgment on the latest metamorphosis.
“I feel positive about it,” said Ralph Rudin, a third-generation upholstery manufacturer who recently enlarged his elegant A. Rudin showroom. “He gave a presentation to the tenants and answered some frank questions. I thought he was to the point and straightforward.”
“The building has lacked in energy for some time, and he seemed very dynamic and candid,” said Elayne Jordan, whose showroom represents 10 contemporary upscale lines, mostly European. She’s been in the design center for five years. “If he’s going to be a hands-on landlord, and can come up with ideas that will generate business, good. I just hope he doesn’t start out by tripling the rents.”
New York furniture designer Dakota Jackson opened a cutting-edge showroom designed by Peter Eisenman two years ago in the Pacific Design Center.
“There is a more educated buyer today,” he said, “and the manner of selling has expanded to everything from foreign companies moving onto the street to the Internet.”
Nevertheless, he thinks a trade building still has a role. “There is a complexity to putting together a home or office--the customization, the choice of fabrics, the coordination of details--in which the role of a designer can be important.”
Like other tenants, Jackson (who says his Los Angeles business is “terrific”) is relieved to see an end of “a long period of suspension with all plans being on hold.”
“Charles is an aggressive developer and will maximize the potential of this property,” Jackson added. “At least somebody has come in who is focused and understands a prestige property in a prestige business. But he’s got to deliver on all those fronts before they can raise the rents.”
Cohen sees his buildings, with their theaters and restaurants and art galleries, as “being all things to all designers.” And he knows what he doesn’t want: “We are not a retail center, we are not [New York’s] ABC Carpet, we are catering to the top 1% of the world. Is that a little bit elitist? It is.”
In the long run, though, despite its status as a lofty cultural icon, the Pacific Design Center must pay its way, he said: “If someone walks into a design center, they should walk out having made a purchase.”
