Lofty Ideas -- Part III

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. In Part II we got off the event itinerary and visited the Molino Street Lofts. This time out we are back on track with a visit to the Biscuit Company Lofts, a conversion of a 1925 Nabisco factory that once made Fig Newtons.

Like the other lofts we have discussed so far, the Biscuit Company Lofts are in the Arts District of Los Angeles, in this case at 1850 E. Industrial Street, right across the street from the Toy Factory Lofts. They will join with the existing LACE Lofts and the soon to be built Mill Street Lofts to create a new community along Industrial Street. BCL is a product of Linear City LLC, the same group that put together the Toy Factory Lofts. In fact the sales office for BCL is across the street in the Toy Factory.

Like a few of the Lofts we saw, BCL threw together a single model loft for the event, but what a beauty. At almost 3,000 square feet and spread over three stories of the building with a private patio on the third floor that held a breathtaking view of the downtown skyline, it was a marvelous space. At 1.37 million it was more than we would think of spending, but it showcased the best that the building offers; one of the nicer of the 104 lofts in the project.

Sixty of the lofts will sell in the very affordable $395,000-$649,000 range (boy, ten years ago that would have never been deemed affordable) and they offer a number of unique floor-plans. Of all the projects we looked at, this was my wife's favorite and the one she feels the most attuned to. She bases this mainly off of the extensive floor-plans we picked up that day and the overall feel of the neighborhood. Another thing my wife liked is that Industrial Street will eventually be turned into a pedestrian zone, creating an urban piazza.

I too am very interested in seeing where the Biscuit Company Lofts and the community it is joining end up in a year or two or ten. This is a beautiful old building with a lot of character and charm and I will be watching to see where it goes.

After we stopped for a bite to eat at Royal Clayton's Restaurant and Bar in the Toy Factory Lofts we headed off for our last stop in the Arts District, the 2121 Lofts. More on this next time in Part IV.