Brookfield takes over California Market Center, plans to convert showrooms to offices

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Jun 13, 2017

New York commercial real estate landlord Brookfield has bought a majority interest in the California Market Center and plans to convert showrooms in the downtown LA fashion building to offices for creative professionals.

Brookfield Office Properties closed the sale last week for approximately $440 million. Official terms have not been released publicly. Jamison Realty Inc. will continue to remain involved as a co-owner with Brookfield.

The California Market Center (CMC) has historically been an epicenter for fashion. The 1.8 million square foot building is an LA landmark in downtown LA. It houses thousands of designer showrooms and plays host to numerous trade shows. It opened in 1963 and designers spent years on lists waiting to be invited into the building.

Presently, the CMC spans three thirteen-story interconnected buildings between Los Angeles and 9th streets downtown. While CMC is the largest wholesale mart in the region, it has also suffered in these trying times for retail. It currently sits half vacant.

Brookfield views the CMC purchase as a way to get business from a new commercial real estate client who would not want to rent offices in other traditional Brookfield owned high rises in downtown LA.

Bert Dezzutti, head of the Western region for Brookfield’s office properties said that it's "an opportunity to take a historic building complex for LA fashion and apparel and trade events and make it a forward-thinking office and mart for creative users."

Brookfield plans to convert showrooms to office spaces. It will market those to creative professionals. This is a new market for Brookfield in LA who traditionally rents to lawyers and bankers.

Kevin Shannon of Newmark Knight Frank, the firm that negotiated the deal with Brookfield said of CMC that “This is a cooler, edgier product.”

Brookfield is currently the largest commercial real estate landlord in downtown LA. It owns 8.6 million square feet of Class A commercial real estate including the Bank of America building and the 777 Tower.

As part of the transformation, Brookfield will begin making cosmetic and mechanical upgrades on the building. The goal will be to capture the cultural renaissance going on in LA's Arts District as well as in downtown LA overall.