July 24, 2008

Downtown’s Deco Developer

Today’s LA Times has a great profile of developer Wayne Ratkovich, who has redone a number of architecturally-significant buildings downtown, including the Art Deco Wiltern Theater. Here’s a bit:

Ratkovich is regarded as one of the pioneers along with Yellin and Gene Summers, setting the tone for sophisticated restorations of historic buildings in L.A. starting in the 1980s, even when it wasn’t always profitable. Developer Tom Gilmore revved up the market again early in this decade with his successful conversions of old downtown office buildings to apartments……

Many of downtown’s older buildings had already been knocked down when Ratkovich bought the Oviatt Building in 1977 because they were considered obsolete. A similar fate was perhaps in store for the Oviatt, which the Los Angeles Archdiocese wanted to sell after receiving title in a parishioner’s will. Ratkovich acquired the former department store turned office tower for $450,000 and spent about $5 million to restore it before selling it for $13.5 million.

And here’s a bit of movie trivia hidden at the end of the piece:

One of the bigger risks was to put a top-drawer restaurant on the ground floor of the Oviatt. Yet Rex Il Ristorante was a glamorous success that lured limousines to a dodgy stretch of Olive Street. When the wealthy lawyer played by Richard Gere took Julia Roberts to a fancy dinner in 1990’s smash movie “Pretty Woman,” he took her to the Rex. More recently, scenes from the movie “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and the television show “Mad Men” were filmed in the restaurant now known as Cicada.

The area around Cicada is still one of the rougher sections of downtown—it’s the 90014 zip and basically runs between 5th and 9th and Grand and San Pedro. I think its a tough sell right now because it’s not as hip as other parts of downtown, and still has a gritty, “where am I” feel to it. But two loft buildings have a number of lower-priced units for sale right now—part of Santee Village and the Bartlett Building, both renovations of older spaces. Here’s a sample of the listings:

• $379,900 in Santee Village, a corner unit with just under 700 square feet. On the market for 168 days.
• $499,00 in Santee Village (the Textile Building), with just under 900 square feet. On the market 290 days.
• $269,000— a short sale in the Bartlett Building. 736 square feet, and on the market 27 days.
• $399,000 in the Barlett Building. Hating the short seller right now, probably—this one has 650 square feet and has been on the market 244 days.
• $449,000 gets you the Bartlett Building penthouse—1,040 square feet with a giant deck.