FASHION—Downtown Landlord Capitalizes On Changes at CaliforniaMart

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Mark Weinstein is working on fast forward.

With tenants moving into the CaliforniaMart this week as part of a deal to lease 1 million square feet to gift and home accessories sellers, displaced apparel showroom occupants are contacting him for new space in his art deco building next door.

“We’re hitting the ground running,” he noted.

The lawyer turned developer and property manager already had plans to renovate the 54-year-old Gerry Building at 910 S. Los Angeles St. into a complex of about 100 to 150 new apparel showrooms.

But then things heated up. Last month the CaliforniaMart and the Dallas Market Center and partners struck a deal to convert one of the mart’s three buildings into gift and home accessories showrooms. Weinstein is now speeding up his timetable to accommodate displaced apparel showroom tenants.

“I think they are seeing the writing on the wall,” Weinstein said of the tenants in Building C, who are gradually being moved to the mart’s two other buildings.

About 30 showroom tenants have been asked to leave the 11th, 12th and 13th floor of the mart’s Building C as new occupants begin moving in this week, said CaliforniaMart spokeswoman Trish Moreno. The old tenants have been offered available spaces in the other two buildings dedicated to apparel.

Right now, there is no lack of space in the elephantine California Mart, which has 1,200 permanent showrooms and for decades has been the center of L.A.’s downtown Fashion District. “Most want to be in our building.” Moreno said.

There is a new buzz at the mart, which has had its ups and downs over the years. But some of the fashion-forward clothing designers and manufacturers have been eager to move to other more provocative venues that sometimes offer cheaper rents.

That is true across the street at the New Mart, built in 1928 as one of the city’s first high-rises. The 12-story brick structure was converted in the late 1980s to 95 showrooms for contemporary women and men’s clothing. It has been fully occupied ever since it underwent a major renovation four years ago that gives the showrooms the look of New York lofts with brick walls, exposed ceilings and big windows that let sunlight flood in.

That is the look Weinstein wants to recreate in the nine-story Gerry Building, which for years has been occupied by apparel manufacturers who design, manufacture and warehouse garments there.

Weinstein, president of MJW Investments, bought the building three years ago, one of 10 buildings he purchased in the area for $18 million. The fa & #231;ade of the Gerry Building, once owned by Arthur Gerry, is wrapped with curvy art deco windows that afford a view of downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding Fashion District.

Joyce Eisenberg Keefer, who renovated the New Mart in 1997, encouraged Weinstein to convert the property into apparel showrooms. She saw a need because she has a waiting list of more than 100 prospective tenants.

Sales people want to stay close to the California Mart to capitalize on the buyers who come for fashion shows and fashion weeks.

Plans to renovate the Gerry Building started earlier this summer when tenants on the 6th floor were cleared out to make way for new showrooms. With building permits in hand, construction work began last week.

Standing in the middle of a vacant floor that has been stripped down to bare walls and ceilings, Weinstein envisions a dozen showrooms ranging in size from 500 square feet to 1,200 square feet. They should be finished in two months and rent for $1.50 to $1.75 a square foot.

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