The Conga Room, a Miracle Mile hotspot that ended its eight-year run on Wilshire Boulevard in 2006, will reopen at L.A. Live in November.
The Latin music nightspot, owned by a group of investors that includes singer Jennifer Lopez, actor Jimmy Smits and comedian Paul Rodriguez, has a 20-year lease with L.A. Live owner Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is developing the massive project across the street from Staples Center.
Real estate developer Brad Gluckstein, co-founder of the club, said that the new L.A. Live location is an upgrade from the Miracle Mile space. L.A. Live includes the already opened Nokia Theatre, a 6,350-seat concert venue, and will feature a slew of restaurants and shops along with a massive hotel.
“The demographics that we will have downtown run the gamut from Conga Room destination patrons to tourists to sports and music enthusiasts, and people who live downtown,” Gluckstein said.
Gluckstein said that construction of the club, which will include a restaurant, multiple bars and a stage for live music, should begin in April. The Conga Room will include a ground-floor lobby entrance on Nokia Plaza and 14,000 square feet of second-floor space. The value of the lease was undisclosed.
Gluckstein described the venue as a “Latin House of Blues” and it will be able to accommodate about 1,100 guests.
The old Conga Room hosted concerts by acts including Celia Cruz and Buena Vista Social Club.
Lights, Condo, Action
Whether accommodating the Budweiser frogs or the reptilian beast in “Cloverfield,” the buildings and streets of Los Angeles have long been a stage for film and TV location shoots.
Now, a resurgent downtown has become a popular backdrop for productions, too. Inventive developers and property managers are getting in on the business, finding ways to generate revenue from location shoots at their buildings.
Metro 417 developer Forest City Enterprises Inc.’s apartment property near Pershing Square has been used in several projects, including the films “Blow” and “Primal Fear,” and television programs “Fear Factor” and “NYPD Blue.”
Because of its eerie basement, which once housed Los Angeles’ long-gone Red Line trolley system, film scouts seek out the building when a production calls for dark, creepy scenes, said Renata Simril, an executive at the development company.
While Forest City does not seek out production, there is at least one property management company that defers homeowners’ association fee increases by courting Hollywood.
Prime Association Services, which manages the 1100 Wilshire condo building, another Forest City development, reaped nearly $100,000 last year for its residents by renting out the common areas of the property, plus whatever each homeowner was able to negotiate personally for the use of a condo unit.
The ancillary income for residents can be significant: Condo owners can get between $5,000 and $10,000 for a day’s shoot.
“We had some people balk at first,” said Sam Blum, regional general manager at Prime. “But when association fee increases came up, everybody was on board.”
With its scenic rooftop, 1100 Wilshire played backdrop to a Budweiser commercial shot last Wednesday and has been used for Bally Fitness and Skinny Jeans commercials.
This year, 1100 Wilshire has generated over $10,000 in location fees for its homeowners, Blum said. Now she is more actively reaching out to location scouts and has created a database of residents willing to rent out their homes for shoots.
Incentive Wars
The Pegasus Apartments at 612 S. Flower St. upped the ante in the downtown residential incentive wars when it started offering $1,000 referral incentives to residents March 21. In the midst of the slumping real estate market, owners and operators of both rental and for-sale properties have taken to offering gaudy incentives to generate business.
For-sale properties have advertised thousands of dollars in free upgrades and even free leases of cars. The $1,000 enticement currently being offered at Pegasus is the largest referral incentive for all of the downtown rental properties.
But according to Legacy Partners Inc., the company that manages Pegasus for owner Kor Realty Group LLC, the move doesn’t mean that it has been difficult to fill the 322-unit building. In fact, the property is 97 percent occupied, said Virgil Flowers, a leasing consultant for Legacy.
Demand for rental units in some areas is increasing. And that demand is being welcomed by some loft and apartment building owners, who are not offering hefty referral incentives or any at all.
Gillmore & Associates LLC, which owns three rental buildings on Main Street, does not offer its residents referral incentives.
Meanwhile, the Historic Gas Company Lofts rental development on Flower Street, owned by CIM Group Inc., has a $300 referral incentive.
Staff reporters Alexa Hyland and Brett Sporich contributed to this column. Staff reporter Daniel Miller can be reached at
[email protected]
or (323) 549-5225, ext. 263.
