Downtown Los Angeles home prices have stabilized in a normal upward trend for the last couple of years.
The average recent sold home price in DTLA is $724,049 according to MLS statistics. The Arts District stands out with an average recently sold price above $945,000. The average Downtown loft owner has now gained about $300,000 of equity in the last 4 years. Owning a Downtown L.A. home has been recently more profitable than the average full time job in the U.S.
The Los Angeles Business Journal last week reported that the technology giant has chosen the Tower Theater on Broadway as the location of its future Apple Store. The L.A. Loft Blog has received several reports of rumors that Apple is negotiating a lease for the ornately decorated structure. Apple and its real estate agents have not given public confirmation of the upcoming store. The world is still only beginning to get a grip on the powerful changes happening in DTLA. Even the local newspapers are not able to keep up with reporting on the lightning-fast improvement of Downtown Los Angeles. The L.A.
Business Journal said that the Apple’s move “could spark dramatic changes along a corridor that has long been in flux.” That’s not an accurate characterization of Broadway. The “dramatic changes” have already occurred, and the “flux” has long ago given way to a locomotive pace of improvement of the Historic Core’s Broadway Theater District over the past 5 years. The street has already transformed from nearly 100% cheap tchachke stores to almost 50% upscale restaurants and retails. The arrival of the Apple store will surely accelerate Broadway’s gentrification process as other retailers follow and the slow learners finally catch on that DTLA is THE place to be. Downtown is, in fact, the largest employment center in the Los Angeles area, with more than 500,000 jobs.
The Tower Theatre, a movie theater, opened in 1927 with a seating capacity of 1,000. It was the first of more than 70 theaters designed by S. Charles Lee, who described the Tower as a “modified French Renaissance” design. It was the first movie theater in Downtown Los Angeles equipped to accommodate talking pictures. The spot provides some great challenges and creative opportunities of transforming the sloping theater into a retail store.
Along with new stores such as Urban Outfitters and Gap, many pedestrian outdoor dining and sitting areas have recently been added to Broadway. These are soon to be followed by a new street car system centered in the Broadway district. Here are the loft and condo buildings that will benefit most from their proximity to the future Apple Store.