OverviewPressLinks Back to Press page Living the High Life Publish Date: 12/29/2003 California Real Estate Journal By Michael Gottlieb L.A.’s adaptive-reuse residents congregate on rooftops, often the only available urban center open space For the intrepid residents of the adaptive reuse projects breathing new life into underused commercial buildings in downtown Los Angeles, much of their social lives will take place among the rooftops. Many old downtown office and industrial buildings were built property line to property line without open space – or space in general – for pools, gyms or other communal living amenities. Tight margins make developers loath to lose rentable residential space going at an average rate or $1.80 to $2.25 a square foot. So developers are taking a cue from, the vibrant bar scene on the rooftop of the downtown Standard Hotel, and are turned their rooftops into amenity-rich community spaces for residents. Besides bars, downtown’s adaptive reuse projects’ sky-high amenities include swimming pools, hot tubs, basketball courts, putting greens, exercise rooms, gardens, lawns and recreation rooms, among others. And, as an added bonus, there are some spectacular views to be had. Wade Killefer, principal if Killefer Flammang Architects, has designed a total of 4,000 adaptive reuse units and half of the buildings they’re in have rooftop amenities. “The benefits are the terrific views and good light,” he said. “It is also the only real estate we have. We are building units everywhere else.” While rooftop amenities present design and permitting challenges for old commercial buildings in need of seismic retrofits, the trend is gaining popularity. “There are a lot of buildings in planning, and they are trying to differentiate themselves from others, “Killefer said. “Also, when you are going about your budget and you are running out of money, it is the easiest thing to cut.” To date, 1,183 residential units and hotel rooms have been created under Los Angeles’ adaptive reuse ordinance, which has just been expanded citywide. Another 1,819 units are under construction, 430 are permitted and awaiting financing, 1,205 are under plan check and 1,803 are under consideration, according to Hamid Behdad, director of adaptive reuse for the city of Los Angeles. Unlike other large, dense cities such as New York, London or Paris, Los Angeles has never been known for its green space, so using the roof may be the only alternative for urban recreation. “We as a city really welcome open space on the rooftop,” he said. “Even though we don’t require it, we like it.” People who move to a high-rise building from the suburbs give up their backyards, so the rooftops may provide their only recreation space near home. “If I were to live in one of these buildings, this is where I would meet some of the people to have a social life,” Behdad said. Streetscape Versus Rooftop For decades, the streets of downtown Los Angeles would empty after 5 p.m. each workday as the central business district’s more than 300,000 workers headed off on their daily commutes to suburban homes. With billions of dollars being invested in landmark projects and new adaptive reuse projects, much of the focus of the downtown residential resurgence has been on bringing new vitality to the streets. Putting communal spaces on the rooftops seems to run contrary to the vision of creating a 24-hour streetscape downtown. Not so, according to those who have developed new housing downtown. In fact, they say that cafes, restaurants and other services meeting the needs of downtown residents may be even more important than the rooftop amenities. Santee Court, a nine-building adaptive reuse assemblage in the Fashion District, shows how much can be done on the ground and in the air. The three-phase mixed-use development by MJW Investments will use 110,000 square feet of ground-floor retail to create a communal plaza with restaurants, a dry cleaner, a specialty market, a drugstore and food court. The landscaped promenade in the middle of Santee Court also will feature specialty retail carts. To aid in its effort to create a sense of community at Santee Court, MJW President Mark Weinstein enlisted retail developer Rick Caruso and his staff to help with the retail design of the promenade area. “He has taken unnatural environments and made them natural,” Weinstein said. “We already have the environment.” They are working to get entitlements for restaurants that can serve alcohol, although they may not be part of the initial retail leasing. “We have room to grow as the demand and needs change,” he said. MJW also is working with the city to create a pocket park out of a nearby 23,000-square-foot parking lot. Still, the dynamic ground floor environment might pale in comparison to the scene on the project’s nine rooftops. Residents of Santee Court’s 578 loft apartments and condominiums will be able to practice their golf, play basketball or relax in the swimming pool n different rooftops. Alan G. Epstein, MJW’s chief operating officer, said the amenities are important to show prospective tenants that they don’t have to give up their lifestyle to move downtown. And Santee Court has one feature that the suburbs can’t compete with. “The most important amenity of our project is the views,” Epstein said. “The views from our rooftops are breathtaking.” With construction expected to be complete on Santee’s 165-unit first phase in mid-March, pre-leasing interest has been healthy. “We have offers on all 40,000 square feet of retail [in the first phase] and signed deposits on multiple units. We are getting a lot of interest,” Weinstein said. Amenities are just part of the package that downtown residential pioneers expect. Paul Solomon, managing partner with LinearCity, which is developing the Toy Factory Lofts, a condominium project with 119 live-work lofts downtown, doesn’t think people are moving downtown just because of the amenities developers put in their projects but it helps. “A lot of people who do move downtown are lifestyle driven,” he said. “They are looking for something different. As a result, I think, they are looking for amenities, too. It is the whole package.” Because of the high demand for affordable homeownership opportunities in Los Angeles, Solomon said that from a pure market standpoint the Toy Factory Lofts project could just sell its units – which range from 780 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet and are priced from mid-$200,000 to more than $600,000 – as “white boxes.” “We are, in fact, providing some fantastic amenities,” he said. With tow roofs to work with, one will have a pool while the other will have a landscaped rooftop garden. The project also includes ground-floor retail, Solomon said. Robert E. Hart, senior managing director of Kennedy Wilson Properties, which co-developed the Pegasus project just south of the Standard Hotel, said amenities provide a competitive advantage for downtown Los Angeles residential projects competing against other more established residential areas throughout the region. Pegasus features a rooftop recreation area, business center, garden walkway, pool deck and gymnasium. Open since June 15, Pegasus is about 75 percent occupied. Hart said people are attracted to live downtown for deeper reasons than amenities. “I don’t think it is the about amenities, it is about the whole urban lifestyle.” “If the units are dysfunctional – If there is a lack of light and the area is unsafe, all the amenities in the world aren’t going to make up for it.” Yet there must be something inherently interesting in attractions such as the view of the bathing suit-clad revelers sunning themselves on the roof of the Standard Hotel immediately to the north of Pegasus. “It’s no coincidence that the entire north side is rented,” Hart said. Indeed, the ultimate downtown Los Angeles recreational activity may soon be spying on other urbanities. For example, the Santee Court development team plans to install rooftop telescopes for tenants. Amenity Challenges and Expenses An extra $250,000 was added to construction costs to build a larger gymnasium than was originally planned for the roof or Pegasus so it could overlook the Standard, Hart said. But putting such amenities on the roof of a 50-to 100-year-old commercial building is an expensive proposition from the start. Load factors, seismic issues, historic preservation and permitting can all present challenges that cost more money. “Swimming pools, fitness rooms and Jacuzzis have never been anticipated for these areas,” Behdad said. These technical issues can often be resolved more readily than the question of permitting, however. “Rooftops have not been permitted conventionally and traditionally for these types of activities,’ he said. The biggest problem for adaptive reuse developers arises when they seek to create a rooftop space for more than 50 people to gather at a time creating an assembly area. The city’s adaptive reuse law allows older buildings to use fire escapes along with a staircase as a second means of egress to conform to life safety requirements. When o rooftop assembly area is created, however, a fire escape is no longer sufficient and another staircase must be accessible from the roof. “That is not necessarily easy in a 100-year-old building,” Behdad said. Behdad said most buildings have been able to add the second stair shaft by punching through the roof. Others work with the city to avoid the assembly classification by limiting the square footage of the rooftop community space. “We help them do as much as we can,” he said. If not, we help them classify nonassembly areas.” Despite the challenges, more and more adaptive reuse projects are planning rooftop amenities. “It didn’t use to be the trend, but is has become the trend,” Behdad said. And now with the citywide adaptive-reuse ordinance, rooftop amenities are finding their way into projects outside of downtown. For example, Upside Investments plans to create an “over-the-top” rooftop facility at the 22-story, former J. Paul Getty office building residential conversion project, called Wilshire at Western. Twenty-three stories in the air, residents of the 260 luxury units will have access to a garden deck with pool, sauna, a fully equipped fitness room, tow conference rooms and a restaurant and martini bar according to Sean Baker, president of the Calabasas-based real estate owner and developer. The rooftop could be opened to the public on weekends. “Our concept for the roof is to make it exclusive and ‘the place to be,’” Baker said.