Higgins Building to Become Loft Apartments
The Higgins Building, a rundown office structure that has sat empty for decades near Los Angeles’ skid row, will be transformed into about 150 loft-style apartments, the owner says.
The 10-story building at the corner of Main and Second streets joins a growing list of older buildings in downtown Los Angeles that have been targeted for residential conversion. The number of downtown housing units is expected to jump 55% to 18,400 apartments and condominiums by 2004, according to a report by the Los Angeles Downtown Center Improvement District.
Once home to the city’s business elite, the 91-year-old Higgins Building has been vacant since the late 1970s. The owner, San Francisco-based Albion Pacific Properties, is in the early stages of rehabbing the structure and is seeking the final round of city permits to build the apartments, said Andrew Meieran, president and owner of Albion Pacific. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in 10 months and includes the conversion of a two-level basement into a parking garage.
“There is a lot of demand,” said Meieran, whose company has recently finished a residential conversion in San Francisco. “It seems to be a product that a lot people are excited about.”
Meieran said the units, which will range in size from 800 square feet to 1,200 square feet, will initially be rented. But he said the firm would like to eventually convert the rental units into condominiums and sell them.
The Higgins Building is two blocks north of the Old Bank District where developer Gilmore Associates has attracted many tenants to a cluster of recently restored historic office buildings.
Across Main Street from the Higgins Building, Gilmore and his partners are reclaiming the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral property. A nonprofit company created to renovate the cathedral is raising money to transform it into a performing arts center for Cal State Los Angeles, said Gilmore official Bob Jones. A groundbreaking is scheduled for late this year.
Another section of the property will be sold to the city for the construction of a 12,500-square-foot public library. On an empty lot immediately south of the cathedral, Gilmore plans to build 180 units of loft housing, which will include apartments for low- and moderate-income residents. The developer is securing financing for the $22-million project, Jones said.
Other portions of the former cathedral property, which takes up most of a city block, are slated to be transformed into a boutique hotel and a university extension site.
