Home to most of downtown’s tallest skyscrapers and the city’s latest big redevelopment project, the Central Business District has been in the process of tear-down and rebuild for more than 50 years.
Once the site of stately Queen Anne houses and fashionable hotels, the Bunker Hill neighborhood that makes up the northern section of the district had fallen into disrepair by the 1950s, its mansions converted into rooming houses.
In response to calls from the business community, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency decided to raze the area and start from scratch, and by the late 1960s the hill was nearly bare.
Since then, Bunker Hill, and the adjacent Financial District to the south, have become home to the tallest towers in the Western United States, starting with construction of the First Interstate Tower in 1974 (now US Bank Tower).
Developer Robert Maguire has played a big role in the transformation. His publicly held Maguire Properties Inc. is now the biggest landowner in the district, according to CB Richard Ellis Inc., with seven properties totaling 11 acres and 7.4 million square feet of office space.
Maguire helped kick off the building boom when his Maguire Thomas Partners in 1982 completed Crocker Plaza, now called the Wells Fargo Center, with its two buildings of 44 and 53 stories.
He also developed the Library Tower and Gas Co. Tower. And earlier this month Maguire announced his company’s purchase of 777 Figueroa St.
“The market downtown doesn’t (need) additional office space. If there was a reason to build more office, we would,” said Bill Flaherty, Maguire’s senior vice president of leasing and marketing,
Maguire plans to develop property next to the 777 Tower for residential, retail or hotel uses. Recent conversions of other empty office buildings include the Standard Hotel and the 322-unit Pegasus apartment building.
The second largest property owner in the district, Thomas Properties Group Inc., has in its portfolio City National Plaza, which covers a block and includes two 51-story office towers. Another property it holds is 800 South Hope, an eight-story commercial property targeted to telecom tenants.
Efforts are under way to transform the area into a more compelling regional attraction, with additional residences, shops and other attractions to complement the Museum of Contemporary Art and nearby Music Center.
That effort got a boost two years ago after the completion of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Then there is the Grand Avenue Project, which calls for adding 3 million square feet of mixed-use space starting at First Street and moving south almost to Fifth Street.
Plans calls for more than 1,000 new housing units, as well as a 16-acre public park that would slope to City Hall and create a central gathering place boosters say the city has not had.
Related Cos. is in negotiations with the Grand Avenue Committee, a public-private partnership directing the $1.2 billion effort. Related would not become one of the area’s biggest landowners, since the county now owns the property and would negotiate a long-term ground lease.
Flaherty believes the revival of the area extends as far south as Staples Center. “Now, when you walk down for a basketball game, you no longer have to listen for strange footsteps. You hear people having fun,” he said.
