Dennis RomeroAs we've been telling you for, oh, about 10 years now, downtown L.A. really is gentrifying right before our very eyes. Besides the Downtown L.A. Art Walk revelry, a forthcoming Whole Foods, and more lofts than Ann Taylor, you can look forward to a new mall in DTLA.
See also: L.A.'s Downtown Job Market is Booming.
The Ratkovich Company, known for its high rises and retail projects, this week sent us some new artist's renderings of what the circa 1973 Macy's Plaza property will look like after a $160 million renovation. Pretty cool:
A Ratkovich spokeswoman says that when it's finished, The Bloc, as it will be known, will be “the single largest mixed-use property in L.A.”
Credit: Courtesy The Ratkovich Company
We're talkin' 1.8 million square feet of retail, office and hotel space at 7th and Hope streets downtown. Construction will start right after the holidays and the whole place is scheduled to open in the fall of 2015, Ratkovich says.
The spokeswoman promises that “once our renovations are complete, it'll be an open, pedestrian-, bicycle-, and commuter-friendly complex.”
The project will include a luxury office tower and a 485-room Sheraton Hotel, the developer says.
Credit: Courtesy The Ratkovich Company
Of all the new stuff happening in DTLA, including proposed high rises, Ratkovich says The Bloc is the largest development in the pipeline right now.
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