One year after the first phase of the project, Brookfield Properties continues to work on the remaining components of its $170-million revamp of the California Market Center complex in Downtown Los Angeles.
View of new plaza at 9th and MainKilograph
Built in the 1960s, California Market Center spans a fully city block wrapped by 9th Street, Main Street, Los Angeles Street, and Olympic Boulevard. The 1.85-million-square-foot complex, consisting of three mid-rise structures, has long served as a hub for the wholesale apparel industry.
Brookfield, which purchased a controlling interest in the property from Jamison Services, Inc. in 2017, is renovating the exteriors and interiors of each of California Market Center's three buildings, adding new glass windows and skybridges, and converting unused rooftop space into amenity decks. Additionally, a standalone building at the corner of 9th and Main has been demolished, and will be replaced by a 13,700-square-foot landscaped plaza.
In the first phase of the Gensler-designed project, which was completed in March 2020, Brookfield consolidating all of the property's fashion tenants into a single 600,000-square-foot building, with each floor dedicated to different product types. As of last year, occupants included FILA, PUMA, Little Marc Jacobs, and Native Shoes.
Atrium and bridges connecting CMCKilograph
The company is now in the process of renovating the remainder of the property as offices for rent, while also activating the California Market Center's street frontage through the addition of 150,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
Since its acquisition of MPG Office Trust in 2013, Brookfield has emerged as the largest office landlord in the Downtown area. However, it is only more recently that the New York-based developer has invested in ground-up developments and renovations to its properties, such as the conversion of the Wells Fargo Center atrium on Bunker Hill into a food hall and the construction of an apartment tower next to the Figat7th shopping mall.
The renovation of California Market Center, which is located at the western edge of the Fashion District, follows the conversion of several nearby historic buildings into hotels - including the Hoxton and Proper hotels at 11th Street and Broadway - as well as the construction of the Broadway Palace apartments on the opposite side of Main Street.
View looking southeast from 9th and MainUrbanize LA
South across Olympic Boulevard, Jamison Services, Inc. has approvals to convert an annex to the complex into a hotel.
- California Market Center (Urbanize LA)
