A major national food market developer is taking a bite of Downtown L.A., and the move tastes sweet for Brookfield Properties.
Since the 1970s Urbanspace, a New York-based company, has developed dozens of food halls and seasonal markets, including the Union Square Holiday Market and Lexington Food Hall in Manhattan and the recently opened West Washington Food Hall in downtown Chicago.
Now Urbanspace is coming to Downtown L.A. The food hall will be located inside the California Market Center, the 1.8 million-square-foot wholesale center in the Fashion District that’s undergoing a $170 million redevelopment.
Brookfield Properties acquired a controlling interest in the long-struggling downtown marketplace in 2017, a deal that valued the complex at $440 million. Brookfield began a renovation in 2018, replacing the building’s facade and adding outdoor decks and landscaping, among other upgrades.
The developer completed its first phase of the redevelopment in March 2020, only to run into pandemic-related challenges, eventually suing multiple tenants at the marketplace for nonpayment of rents.
Urbanspace expects to open its food hall at the property in late 2022. The plans call for the company to operate 15,000 square feet of food and retail stalls as well as an open-air plaza.
The remake of the California Market Center is a linchpin for the Fashion District, an area of LA’s downtown that’s been hit hard by the pandemic but is expected to see a flurry of coming development.
[Eater Los Angeles] — Trevor Bach
Read more
Commercial
Los Angeles
Brookfield Properties makes $55M industrial buy in La Mirada
Residential
Los Angeles
Downtown LA’s biggest rentals set for Fashion District