Lofty Ideas -- Part II

This past weekend my wife and I drove into downtown Los Angeles to participate in the Downtown Living 2007 Weekend. We have discussed moving to a loft in downtown LA and this was our opportunity to see what was available and get a glimpse at how it might fit in with our lifestyle. In Part I we looked at the Mosaic Apartments at Union Station and the Barker Block Lofts. It was while awaiting the shuttle outside the Barker Block that we decided to wander across the street, off the event itinerary and visit the Molino Street Lofts.

Molino Street was the first loft conversion built by The KOR Group, the same company that is building the Barker Block across the street. Molino Street is two two-story buildings, 1920's warehouses, merged together as one complex of 91 lofts. It has a small weight room, a sun deck and a very nice rooftop pool and spa area. The building has a spectacular open atrium entryway featuring indoor palm trees and a beautiful wall of 90-year-old brick, and hallways wide enough to drive two fork-lifts down. Outdoor parking is on the roof or indoor parking can be purchased in a multi-story lot across the street. We looked at four units in Molino that ranged from the small to a very nice almost 2,000 square-foot beauty with private street-level patio and a wall of windows.

The Molino Lofts are all resales, some have been customized and some are pretty bare-boned. The area is currently pretty spartan, but with Barker Block and a new bar/restaurant going in a block or two away, the area is becoming a community. That's one of the things that excites me about a number of these loft conversions is the idea of being in on the creation of new communities in the middle of Los Angeles. And since the idea of loft living is that of shared work/living space I think that opens up the possibility of a unique communal structure to the neighborhood.

Next time we will be back on the itinerary and looking at the National Biscuit Company Lofts, once known for Fig Newtons, now a beautiful new loft conversion. That's in Part III.