Business News

Contrary to dire predictions of the demise of urban centers in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Downtown Los Angeles has weathered the storms of 2020 and 2021 with characteristic grit and passion.

From being possibly the first theater to screen "The Jazz Singer" to an opening day as an Apple Store that brought out Finneas and Hollywood luminaries as well as Tim Cook, the theater has rebounded from 33 years of near-constant darkness.

After originally opening in July 2020, British Designer Paul Smith will reopen his second shop in downtown Los Angeles on June 30. The shop was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Planted in the snug, ground-level space of the O Hotel on South Flower in the financial district, Il Fiore quietly began its brunch service in the middle of April. Dinner service commenced a bit later in the month, and that menu continues to evolve. Il Fiore is still operating in “soft opening” mode, though that is due to change this week. Notably, Il Fiore is helmed by two chefs with distinctive pedigrees, Joel Stovall and Clay Cassis.

Resilience is a word used during the last year to describe Downtown restaurateurs who have simply refused to give up. The word implies a combination of qualities: steely perseverance, unshakeable confidence and a patient, tireless faith in one’s talents and abilities. Then there is Natalia Pereira and her tiny bastion of Brazilian deliciousness, Woodspoon.

During the past 13 years, the Nickel Diner has established itself as a tentpole community fixture in its Downtown neighborhood bordering Skid Row. It also garnered an enthusiastic and loyal following among local foodies. May’s now-iconic maple bacon doughnut and her handmade artisanal pastries were the initial standouts on the menu, when the restaurant opened as a neighborhood breakfast joint in 2008.

Chef Ria Dolly Barbosa had attuned Petite Peso’s menu to the moment. A sly French dip chicken sandwich with adobo jus for dipping cast a palliative spell; so did rice bowls of kare kare vegetables, coconut-rich adobo and braised pork belly. As 2020 wound down, she ventured into more traditional recipes: a centering stew of boiled beef and vegetables called nilaga, and sinigang, a sour, umami-revved soup hearty with pork belly and shoulder.

Kwang Uh and Mina Park are doing Korean lunch boxes, banchan, home pantry staples, and more from the former Valerie space in the thick of Downtown LA. Shiku will begin life as a pared-down takeaway focusing on comfort food of a sort, particularly doshirak, or Korean lunch boxes.

The sale will encourage a struggling L.A. office market haunted by coronavirus shutdowns. The Downtown L.A. submarket has a 15.7 percent vacancy rate and an average rent of $3.91 per square foot for Class A office space, according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District’s third quarter report.

Teriyaki Madness will open its first Los Angeles shop on December 10. The Seattle-style teriyaki restaurant offers huge, satisfying bowls of addicting flavors made with high-quality ingredients like all-natural marinated chicken, steak, salmon or tofu with fresh, stir-fried veggies and a base of steamed white, brown or fried rice or Yakisoba noodles.

CoreSite, a data center firm focusing on major metropolitan areas, launched the first phase of a major development in Downtown Los Angeles called LA3. The development, once complete, will be a 160K SF facility with 18 megawatts of capacity. CoreSite said this week that Phase 1, encompassing 51K SF and 6 MW of capacity, is open for business.

Ditroit’s opening menu will feature the chilango street food standard, suadero tacos, a Mexican steak cut from the belly. And they will be experimenting with their trompo (vertical spit), maybe al pastor, tacos árabes, or a vegetable-based taco roasted on the spit. “It’s a taquería concept, fast and flavorful,” said Ditroit chef de cuisine, Jesús Cervantes.

Committing to diversity isn’t just the right thing to do. It can make business sense, according to Leah Stearns, CBRE’s Chief Financial Officer. On CBRE’s “The Weekly Take” podcast, Stearns said that it is important for companies to identify and see how diversity can yield tangible benefits from a financial perspective. She cited a study from Boston Consulting Group that found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues due to innovation.

The most highly anticipated restaurant opening in Los Angeles is here: Damian, the most recent effort by widely acclaimed Mexican chef Enrique Olvera and partner Daniela Soto-Innes. Located in a radically revamped warehouse space designed by architect Alonso de Garay and just across from Bestia on the bustling ministrip of East Seventh Place in the Arts District, Damian presents a series of fresh menu takes delivered by chef de cuisine Jesus “Chuy” Cervantes.

Flying Embers, one of the more intriguing, better-for-you alcohol brands out there, is opening up Flying Embers Brewery & Social Club in a reconstructed 100-year-old warehouse building in DTLA's historic arts district. The focus of the tap room and bar is a unique range of hard kombuchas and hard seltzers on tap, specialty cocktails, and beers.

Waterbridge Capital and Continental Equities have asked $425 million — roughly $395 per square foot — for the vacant Broadway Trade Center in Downtown Los Angeles. The nine-story building includes approximately 1.1 million square feet on 2.7 acres at 801 South Broadway. It covers half a city block, with frontage on Eighth Street, Hill Street and Broadway, and it’s completely vacant.

Angry Egret Dinette’s got all the trappings of a Wes Avila concept: a laid-back atmosphere, big dreams and colorful, farmers’-market–driven dishes that lean Mexican but could take cues from all over the world—and usually take them from the flavors of L.A. specifically, because really, we’ve got it all.

AECOM, a Los Angeles-based engineering and design company, said it plans to move out of its current global headquarters office at 1999 Avenue of the Stars in Los Angeles' Century City district and merge it into another office about 13 miles away in downtown Los Angeles. AECOM said it plans to make its new headquarters One California Plaza, where it occupies about 121,000 square feet through a lease that expires in 2032.

When you think of Grand Central Market, you probably think about food. But the coronavirus pandemic is changing the items now being sold there. Business owners are taking advantage of a new "Bazaar" format by teaming up with local artists and vendors who hope a little creativity can turn things around. The market helped some legacy vendors pivot to take-out. But then it also got creative and shifted gears.

Zankou Chicken plans to replace Koja Kitchen, at 611 W 7th Street, in DTLA. The company signed a 10-year lease for the 3,527-square-foot retail space and is expected to take the space in December. The Mediterranean restaurant serves rotisserie chicken with a secret garlic sauce, shawarma, chicken tarna, kabobs, and falafel with sides like hummus, tabbouleh salad, and pita bread.

The crowd-pleasing street taqueros known for selling $1 tacos on Avenue 26 are jumping the curb and moving into a brick and mortar downtown. This is now their third location, the first being the original taco stand in Lincoln Heights, the second is their enormous tour-bus-sized taco truck in Eagle Rock. Their latest location on 8th Street will feature lengua and chicken tripas, as well as burritos and quesadillas.

The craft beer scene was already dense when Creature Comforts Brewing Company began but the upstart found separation by focusing on a set of quality-driven, true-to-style flagships. It was a recipe for success. And so it grew—substantially. Over the six years since, sales have skyrocketed some 2675%. To satisfy swelling demand, Creature Comforts today announces its first ever expansion: the opening of a taproom and production facility in Downtown Los Angeles, expected by summer of 2021.

Paul Smith is opening a new store at 844 S. Broadway in the heart of historic Downtown. To celebrate the opening of the new double-height, 1,250-square-foot shop, British artist John Booth designed it. His work includes graphic window displays, large-scale pieces and brightly colored antique furniture. He drew inspiration from the art deco-styled building of the area, like the Orpheum Theatre.

Owners Grant Smillie and David Combes of The Botanical Group—of E.P. & L.P. fame—are bringing Strings of Life to DTLA’s forthcoming Halo development in The Wells Fargo Center. A spokesperson with Halo confirmed the news saying S.O.L.’s plans to open in the downtown mixed-use center had not yet been announced. The website for the restaurant’s parent company states “S.O.L. DTLA is set for a Q1 debut in 2021.”

So much about L.A.'s dining scene has morphed over the decades, particularly downtown, but the Grand Central Market endures. Most of us have never lived through a global pandemic. But downtown’s Grand Central Market has. It opened in 1917, the year before an influenza pandemic killed 50 million people worldwide. But although the market is an institution, it’s no immutable relic; it, like nearly all businesses, has been forced to grow and adapt during the last several months.

Downtown LA’s doughnut game is about to get a whole lot better. Starting tomorrow, fans of the historic 48-year-old Donut Man way out on Route 66 in Glendora can get the shop’s signature fruit-stuffed delicacies from a brand new stall inside Grand Central Market, the century-old open-air marketplace that spans half a city block between Hill and Broadway.

“Landing zone” might sound more at home on an Air Force base, but at Faith & Flower restaurant in downtown L.A., there are now 17 of them. On Saturday morning, about 90 minutes before the restaurant planned to reopen its doors for the first time since closing in mid-March, owner Stephane Bombet and his staff were busy setting up the special zones by adding an additional table to every two-person table and placing an ornate bar cart next to each larger booth.

Ria Barbosa is a longtime Angeleno who has spent years working in kitchens like Sqirl and Forage, and ran the culinary programs for multi-unit spots like Go Get Em Tiger and Paramount Coffee Project. Now she’s doing her own project (along with partners Robert Villanueva and Tiffany Tanaka) with last weekend’s opening of Petite Peso, a surprise Filipino takeaway in the tiny former Ricebar space at 419 W. 7th Street.

The high-end cosmetics and skincare brand, Kiehl’s, has leased a space at 8th and Broadway directly across from the future Apple flagship store. According to CBRE commercial broker, Andrew Turf, who represented both the landlord and tenant, Kiehl’s will open an approximately 1,200 square foot store at the corner of the Chapman Lofts. The skincare brand will replace an existing jewelry store adjacent to Hashtag Coffee and Tea.

Johnny Lee, previously chef of the Hainan chicken restaurant Side Chick in Arcadia, has opened Pearl River Deli in Chinatown. The Far East Plaza takeout spot offers dishes such as fried pork chops on pineapple buns, char siu over rice, and shrimp-egg scrambles. Lee says the concept is a casual offshoot of his Pearl River Delta pop-up, which promotes “the preservation, appreciation and evolution of Cantonese cuisine.”

It’s hotel heaven in Downtown Los Angeles these days, with name after name dropping in to the rebuilt urban center with big new projects. The next expansive property to hit the scene is the Wayfarer at 813 S. Flower Street, opening tomorrow. Pacifica Hotels (Wayfarer Santa Barbara) group is behind the 156-room hotel, with its multiple dining options, rooftop lounge, and bar.

It’s finally open! The massive Los Angeles Vans flagship store celebrated its grand opening today on Broadway, sandwiched between the future Apple flagship store now actively under construction and the pioneering clothing retailer, Urban Outfitters, which opened inside the historic 1917 Rialto Theatre in 2013.

As a Los Angeles native who treasures my 1936 home and makes every effort to lovingly maintain its vintage style, I just adore seeing other buildings that reflect the city's vibrant, aesthetically stunning history, updated for modern comfort. So, I was eager to check out Hoxton Hotels' new location in downtown Los Angeles.

Over the past ten years, Downtown Los Angeles has become many things: A hub for high-end residential developments; a haven for new out-of-town hoteliers; a destination for diners eager for new experiences and willing to spend. The neighborhood has also become home to many of the city’s most beautiful restaurants, though few glow as gracefully as the brand new Red Herring.

Halo at the Wells Fargo Center, a food-hall-esque complex in DTLA’s Bunker Hill district, at 330 S. Hope St., Monday announced—by way of Developer Brookfield Properties—five planned restaurant tenants. It is the first batch of tenants announced for the under-construction project.

Famous Arizona chef Chris Bianco is opening an outpost of his world-renowned restaurant Pizzeria Bianco in Los Angeles. The Italian restaurant will open at the Row in Downtown in a matter of weeks, taking over the closed (as of today) Tartine Bianco space at the Manufactory.

After almost 50 years, the Donut Man is opening a second location. Starting in February, the Donut Man will occupy a stall in downtown’s historic Grand Central Market, finally extending its sweet, sticky reach into Los Angeles proper.

Williamsburg restaurant Sunday in Brooklyn is just about ready to open its West Coast restaurant Sibling Rival on October 11 at the ground floor of the Hoxton hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Channeling all the good stuff of an all-day diner with plenty of seats and lounge space, plus a long cocktail bar with snazzy fixed stools, Sibling Rival is a nice one-up to its more low-key Brooklyn counterpart.

Over by the historic 1914 Herald Examiner Building located at 11th and Broadway, which is actively being converted into a large satellite campus for Arizona State University, one of the most successful Southern California-based retailers has decided to open their first Downtown LA flagship store nearby. Anaheim-based casual streetwear brand, PacSun...

Things could be getting wild soon in Downtown, thanks to the new V DTLA. The upcoming all-day restaurant on 7th Street is leaning into technology to turn tables faster and engage guests inside the restaurant, and may even offer a multi-sensory dining experience complete with “scent strategy” and sound engineering when all is said and done

Seventh Street in Downtown LA has become one of the most active streets in Los Angeles with vibrant pedestrian activity taking place from morning to late into the evening (especially on a weekend). The historic east-west pedestrian corridor, linking the Financial District to the Historic Core and beyond, was one of the first main thoroughfares in Downtown LA to experience urban revitalization with the opening of the popular Bottega Louie restaurant in 2009.

Gleeful film buffs and indie filmmakers came together Thursday for the grand-opening bash for Alamo Drafthouse’s new theater in downtown Los Angeles’ the Bloc shopping center.

Downtown’s long-gestating Bloc development has almost reached its final form. The open-air mall and marketplace already contains a number of restaurant and retail options, but now comes the newest member of the team: Joey, a sprawling casual chain that comes by way of Canada.

Co-working is coming to one of Downtown's most historic building, made famous in films like "Blade Runner" and "500 Days of Summer." NeueHouse, a cow-orking firm based in New York, has leased 28,000 square feet at Bradbury Building for its third L.A. location, The Real Deal has learned.

Despite the daunting nature of trying to rehabilitation and remodel an entire historic building in Los Angeles, Dustin Lancaster (Bar Covell) and partner Tyler Stonebreaker have done just that with the new Arts District Firehouse Hotel, opening Monday, April 15. Part of a nine room boutique hotel, with most of the rooms situated on the second floor where firemen used to reside, the restaurant portion will take over the ground floor and a significant patio space of the 1927 fire station.

The Washington, D.C.-based coworking company has signed a lease and is partnering with National Real Estate Advisors to occupy 24K SF of office space at The Bloc in downtown. The coworking space is slated to open in June

The arts district at the eastern edge of downtown Los Angeles picked up its name in the 1970s, when visual and experimental artists flocked to the once industrial area. In the ’80s and ’90s, emerging acts like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and Beck performed at the legendary punk-rock venue Al’s Bar.

For its first foray into the U.S., Stockholm-based modern furniture retailer Hem is opening its newest showroom in downtown Los Angeles. Best known for its unique and colorful furniture, lighting, and other home furnishings, the brand first dipped a toe into the U.S. market last fall with a pop-up in Manhattan.