Downtown L.A. makes its pitch to apartment seekers with perks

View of downtown Los Angeles from a balcony at Figueroa Eight, a 41-story apartment tower in downtown Los Angeles.

May 5, 2024 6:30 AM PT

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday, May 5. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

Apartment L.A. thrives, while commercial L.A. flounders.
Are college encampments living on borrowed time?
LGBTQ+ people in Huntington Beach feel a growing hostility.
And here’s today’s e-newspaper

Plenty of perks and cheaper than Santa Monica, downtown L.A. makes case to renters

A stroll through downtown Los Angeles presents a study in contrasts.

The city’s homeless community is on stark display with the population jumping by 10% in the latest annual survey. Office buildings once filled with thousands of employees are seeing vacancies skyrocket. The pandemic demonstrated to corporate America that “work from home” was possible and profitable.

Yet, while one side of the street is bleak, the other is chic.

Apartment towers and complexes along Figueroa, 7th, and Olive streets and other crucial thoroughfares are enjoying their own Gilded Age.

The recently completed Figueroa Eight skyscraper features limestone quarried from the same stone that built the Colosseum (the original one), New York City’s Lincoln Center and the Getty Museum. The building’s exterior is also brushed in aluminum, stainless steel and lightly tinted glass.

The nearby Beaudry and Atelier apartment towers are also ornately wrapped in metal and glass with tall tainted windows.

The decision to go big on Figueroa Eight, which opened last month, reflects an unusual disconnect playing out in the neighborhood: While downtown as a place to work still struggles to find its footing post-COVID, downtown as a residential center is thriving.

Canadian real estate company offers ideal case study

Downtown has about 90,000 residents, said Jessica Lall, head of real estate brokerage CBRE’s downtown office. They live in 47,000 residential units, most of which are apartments rented at market rates.

One quirk about that group is most of L.A.’s downtown residents don’t work there.

The successes and struggles of Brookfield, a Canadian real estate company that owns downtown residential and office properties, illustrates this divide.

Little more than 15% of the tenants in downtown apartments owned by Brookfield worked in nearby office buildings before the COVID-19 pandemic, managing director Mike Greene said. The percentage today is about the same. Occupancy in Brookfield’s nearly 2,400 downtown units fell to nearly 80% early in the pandemic, he said, but soon rebounded to about 95%, where it remains.

CBRE reported that only 65% of downtown office space was filled in the first quarter this year. Brookfield, meanwhile, which also owns offices through a separate entity, is among downtown landlords who have defaulted on office building loans in recent months and lost their properties to their lenders.

Prices, benefits and perks that attract renters.

Part of downtown’s appeal is its price, at least compared with the Westside’s choice rental markets.

“If you compare Santa Monica and Marina del Rey, it’s 38% more expensive to live there than it is to live downtown,” Lall said.

Upmarket apartment complexes have dramatically ramped up their amenities such as dog runs, golf simulators and maid service. And coming out of the pandemic, Mitsui Fudosan America and other landlords pivoted to making their buildings friendly to tenants who work from home.

There is dedicated co-working space for people who want to work outside of their apartments without leaving the building and other lounging spots such as poolside cabanas and outdoor spaces where tenants can set up a laptop.

Figueroa Eight’s indoor and outdoor “fitness studio” includes free classes and a hot-yoga room. Socializing zones include a poolside lounge with an outdoor bar, fire pits, grilling stations and the 41st-floor Sky Lounge with entertaining areas including a bar and dining room looking out on the skyline. There is also an outdoor hammock garden if you prefer to relax alone.

The Beaudry has a bocce ball court, putting green, golf simulator and poker game room among its tenant lures.

If downtown is to undergo a revival, it may be luxury rises that lead the way. For more, check out the original reporting from journalist Roger Vincent.

The week’s biggest stories

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment was created on the campus of Cal State University Los Angeles.

University encampments and protests

LAPD arrived at USC’s campus early Sunday to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment
Encampments spread across California universities. Are they living on borrowed time?
UCLA police chief, accused of security lapses before mob attack, defends his actions.
Police report no serious injuries. But scenes from inside UCLA camp, protesters tell a different story.
UCLA struggles to recover after 200 arrested, pro-Palestinian camp torn down.
After canceling commencement, USC announces it will host a graduation event at L.A. Coliseum, while rolling out new campus security measures.
Gazans thank U.S. campus protesters. Israel condemns what it sees as ‘Nazi-like behavior.’
Congressman praises heckling of Gaza protesters at University of Mississippi that included racist jeer.
As protests roil college campuses, young voters’ support for Biden hangs in the balance.

Education

Superintendent fired after allegedly investigating students for not applauding her daughter enough.
Mill Valley teacher suspected of sexual abuse is found dead near Drakes Beach.

Politics

Biden’s big move on marijuana: Will voters give him credit?
Hope Hicks, ex-Trump aide, testifies in hush money case on 2016 firestorm over ‘Access Hollywood’ tape.
Watch your step, Democrats. O.C.’s purple shine hides a red underbelly.
Biden awards the Medal of Freedom to Nancy Pelosi, Medgar Evers, Michelle Yeoh, Al Gore and others.

International affairs

‘I’ve been terrified.’ Student fears triggered by Israeli-Palestinian conflict skyrocket.
With oil funds and Formula One, Saudi Arabia steamrolls its way onto sports’ hallowed grounds.

Lakers, Clippers postmortem

Patrick Beverley hits fan in stands with ball, kicks ESPN journalist out of interview.
Eliminated by Mavericks, Clippers have a number of offseason questions to address.
Lakers’ next coach? Here’s a rundown of the potential candidates.
Column: Hasty firing of coach Darvin Ham is more Lakers madness.

Environmental, conservation issues

As dismantling of largest dam begins on Klamath River, activists see ‘new beginning.’
How a ‘death trap’ for fish in California’s water system is limiting the pumping of supplies.
San Gabriel Mountains National Monument expands by more than 100,000 acres.
Are Tesla Superchargers really open to other EVs in California? It’s complicated.

Crime, courts and policing

Three friends drove from California to Mexico for a surfing trip. Then they disappeared.
LAPD detective charged with hit-and-run after off-duty crash on 5 Freeway.
He drove his family off a cliff in a Tesla. Now his wife wants him freed.
People can’t be detained just for trying to avoid police, California Supreme Court says.
‘Folks, it’s bad’: Merced sheriff warns of public safety crisis as deputy vacancies mount.
As court overturns a lot-splitting law, SB 9, one early adopter asks why.
LAPD website goes offline; officials give no cause but say it’s ‘not ransomware’.

Entertainment news

Mick Jagger sounds off at New Orleans Jazz Fest, starting a feud with Gov. Jeff Landry.
Deal or no deal for Paramount? Here are the options on the table.
Find your ‘Love Shack’ in the Mojave Desert. The B-52s singer’s Airstream park is for sale.

Transportation

At least 40 Metro bus routes faced delays as drivers angered by violence stage a sick-out.
California roads damaged by storms could get help with Newsom’s emergency declaration.
LAX People Mover gets $200 million more to resolve claims between contractor and airport.
Boeing faces critical launch Monday ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

More big stories

Long Beach health officials declare tuberculosis outbreak a public health emergency.
A year later, racing is still trying to make sense of Churchill Downs deaths.
A new falafel stand in Koreatown stays open so late it also serves great breakfast.
Palos Verdes Peninsula landslides can tell us a lot about L.A. history.
Meow Wolf supercharged the way we experience art. Is L.A. ready for the wild ride?
Tommy Dorfman wed ‘private’ person Elise Williams in a secret Santa Monica ceremony.
$6.1 billion in student loan debt canceled for enrollees at for-profit Art Institutes.
Latinx Files: The Turkish dramas taking over señoras’ lives.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

Robert Prokosh lives out of his car at the safe parking lot operated by Jewish Family Service in Mission Valley.

Is your co-worker sleeping in their car? You may never know. I had three jobs in the time I lived out of my car. Good jobs, too — serving $100 steaks and $1,000 bottles of Cabernet. No one ever knew. During that time, I found a job at a restaurant making $5,000 a month. Yet I remained in the Toyota. It was what I needed at the time to become the healed and whole father I am today.

More great reads

Jailed students, a canceled commencement, angry parents: USC’s Carol Folt takes on critics.
Fears about ‘Ozempic babies’ show how woeful U.S. women’s healthcare really is.
An ambulance, an empty lot and a loophole: One man’s fight for a place to live.
Tiffany Haddish just can’t quit. Even when she knows she should.
Ditch the car, catch the train: 7 day trips you can take by Amtrak from L.A.’s Union Station.
Sam Ash, iconic retailer to musicians, plays its last notes.
These L.A. foster kids defied the odds when they aged out: ‘This isn’t the end of my story.’

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

Eliot Jackson, a pro mountain biker, right, rides the Inglewood Pumptrack with pro BMX riders.

Going out

🚴 Los Angeles’ first pump track opened in Inglewood’s Edward Vincent Jr. Park and is worth a visit.
🎟️ Visit one of five or all five Arroyo Seco Museums for free during Museums of the Arroyo Day, from noon to 4 p.m.
🍿 It’s opening weekend at the L.A. County Fair. Enjoy some Norteño music with singer, accordionist Ramón Ayala, beginning at 11 a.m.

Staying in

🐐 The NFL’s all-time winningest quarterback is under fire one more time as Netflix is debuting “The Roast of Tom Brady.”
🦈For those who love shark encounters, the movie thriller “Something in the Water” was released to streaming.
🧑‍🍳 Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with Puebla’s most famous dish. Here’s a recipe for Mole Poblano.
✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.