OverviewPressLinks Back to Press page Downtown News: Swinerton Swings Publish Date: 02/21/2005 Swinerton Swings Company Known for Building Downtown Office Towers Now Rides the Residential Wave by Chris Coates When Santa Monica-based developer Mark Weinstein was preparing plans for Santee Court, his conversion of nine former garment factories in the Fashion District, he knew that selecting the appropriate general contractor would prove as important as picking the right architect or lender. After all, Weinstein was taking a $130 million gamble on his renovation of aging properties into state-of-the-art housing and retail space. If his contractor failed to deliver or costs went way over budget, Weinstein knew he could be in big trouble. San Francisco-based Swinerton Companies is at the helm of several high-end residential construction projects, including Metropolitan Lofts (shown here), Metro 417 and Santee Court. Photo by Gary Leonard. In the end, he said, he made his selection based on experience. "Swinerton is a recognized company in the Downtown market," said Weinstein, who tapped the firm for the second phase of the development; they are also in talks for the third phase. Together, the phases represent about 387 units and $98 million of the total. "They're a large company, which gives us a lot of flexibility. They know the market." San Francisco-based Swinerton Companies is one of a handful of powerhouse Downtown contractors whose huge banners have been noticed by Downtowners in recent years as the firm tackles new residential projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars (Clark Construction and Keller Builders are other big players). As a general contractor, Swinerton is in charge of the breadth of a building's construction - from creating months-long timetables to scheduling crews to taking material inventory. Contractors also undertake the complex task of securing subcontractors. With pressure to deliver a project on time and on budget, a developer and contractor can sometimes clash. "It can be a fairly contentious relationship," said Kevin Ratner, vice president of development for Forest City West, which hired Swinerton Builders for the 217-unit Metro 417 at 417 S. Hill St. and the 270-unit Metropolitan Lofts at 950 S. Flower St. Like Weinstein, Ratner said the multimillion dollar investment means trust in a contractor is vital. "It's a question of where the risk is placed - on us, as the developers, or on Swinerton's shoulders. There are usually disagreements about it. But Swinerton has proven to be fair and things have gone well with them." While projects such as Santee Court, Metro 417 and Metropolitan Lofts dominate Swinerton's current Downtown portfolio, it's not their first time riding the area's construction wave. The company was instrumental in building office towers in the 1970s and '80s. Only within the past few years has Swinerton, like many other real estate players, turned to the area's residential recovery, which is rooted in converting vacant office buildings into condominiums and apartments. "Due to the loft conversion, it's really creating a transformation of how we live and work in Downtown Los Angeles," said Raymond Polidoro, senior vice president and general manager of Swinerton Management and Consulting. "It's really never been an urban setting for residential-type use." Spokeswoman Tammy Lundgren said the company has about 75 workers from the management and consulting division and 150 workers from Swinerton Builders on Downtown projects (the developments actually employ hundreds or thousands of construction workers through the various subcontractors). In total, the company is supervising seven projects in and around Downtown, three of which have yet to be announced by the developers. License No. 92 Swinerton's roots go back to the days when brick and mortar were the materials of choice for new construction. The company was founded in 1888 by a Swedish immigrant, Charles Lindgren, who partnered with two Los Angeles builders to create "Boyd, Sharples and Lindgren, Brick-Masons and Contractors." With California Contractor's License No. 92, the company got its feet wet in residential construction. In the 1930s they began tackling bigger projects such as the construction of the Santa Anita Racetrack and portions of the 1939 World's Fair in New York. Fifty years later, the renamed Swinerton and Walberg was a key contractor in the construction of many of the Downtown landmarks that came to symbolize the 1980s office tower boom. They built the Home Savings Tower (now known as Figueroa Tower), the International Tower (now 888 South Figueroa), 1000 and 1100 Wilshire Boulevard, Union Bank Plaza, the Wilshire Grand and the United California Bank Plaza (now Figueroa and Wilshire). In 1994, Swinerton consolidated some of its services, creating Swinerton Management and Consulting. The division is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Swinerton. A few years later Swinerton Builders started dabbling in adaptive reuse, the conversion of former office and industrial buildings into residential spaces. "It's been a dramatic swing in the marketplace from office space to adaptive reuse," said Frank Foellmer, vice president and division manager for Swinerton Builders. He said after a dearth of Downtown construction in the 1990s, adaptive reuse changed how Downtown was perceived by developers. "It cast a new real estate climate," he said. By 2003, Swinerton had started construction on the $48 million Gas Company Lofts, the first element of Hollywood-based developer CIM Group's $247 million South Village mixed-use project in South Park. Plans called for converting the 380,000-square-foot former office building into 251 apartments. The project opened last year. Now, Swinerton's slate includes the two Forest City projects, which together total more than 500 apartments and represent an investment worth more than $100 million. Ratner said Forest City picked Swinerton because the company proved itself in the past. "We used to be our own general contractor. We did a project in San Diego [the 230-apartment Heritage] where the costs ran out of control and we brought them in to finish the job," he said. "They did a phenomenal job." Ratner said Swinerton's size - about 1,200 employees nationwide - doesn't prevent attention to detail. "We like to deal with large players," he said. "We like to know they're going to be there if something is wrong with the building and they'll have the wherewithal to deal with it." Polidoro knows that Swinerton's current heavy workload in Downtown is a result of the firm's track record as well as the local economy and the residential boom. "We're seeing the type of project that we like to see in a Downtown setting," he said. "The growth of mixed-use is a positive sign." The attention on Downtown, though, isn't always welcomed, especially for those tackling the rather complicated task of coordinating dozens of work crews. Polidoro said most of Swinerton's current Downtown projects - whether ground-up or adaptive reuse - present the same types of challenges. Typical conditions on urban projects, he said, include "zero lot lines," meaning the property is hemmed in by other buildings. The tight conditions mean there is no margin of error. He said thin alleys and bustling streets also present a problem when it comes to getting trucks loaded with materials to the site. It's the contractor's job to orchestrate the trucks, the materials and the crews, which often have overlapping schedules. "Whenever you have an urban setting, the challenges are really centered around the logistics," Polidoro said. "As a result, you have got to work really closely with the city to obtain necessary permits for lane closures and how you move equipment and people in and out of the site." Even after 117 years of putting up buildings, Polidoro said there's a lesson in each project. "On every single job, we learn something, even after all these years in business," he said. "We're constantly re-evaluating." Swinerton's RecentDowntown Projects Swinerton has worked on numerous Downtown projects in the last 117 years, from office towers to a current slate of residential efforts. Coming up for the firm are three deals that the developers have yet to announce. Swinerton's work as the general contractor on the below recent developments total 1,298 units and $281 million. Historic Gas Company Lofts 800 S. Flower St. Developer: CIM Group Size: 251 apartments and 22,500 square feet of retail Cost: $48 million Opened: May 2004 Toy Factory Lofts 1855 E. Industrial St. Developer: Linear City Size: 119 condominiums Cost: $25 million Opened: September 2004 Metropolitan Lofts 1030 S. Flower St. Developer: Forest City West Size: 264 apartments and 11,500 square feet retail Cost: $50 million Opening: March 2005 Metro 417 417 S. Hill St. Developer: Forest City West Size: 277 apartments Cost: $60 million Opening: June 2005 Santee Court 315 E. Eighth St. and 824 S. Los Angeles St. Developer: MJW Investments Size: 387 apartments and condominiums and 52,000 square feet of retail (part of the three-phase total of 578 units) Cost: $98 million Opening: December 2005 and September 2006 Contact Chris Coates at chris@downtownnews.com. page 12, 2/21/2005 © Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to redistribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.