Financing has been announced for the transitioning of the Topaz office tower to residential units in San Pedro on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Developers have received entitlements to transform Topaz into a 244-unit multifamily building. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
By DONNA LITTLEJOHN | dlittlejohn@scng.com | Daily Breeze
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 22, 2024 at 11:01 p.m.
Rendering of the Topaz Tower exterior in downtown San. Pedro. The office tower will be converted to residential rental units. (Rendering Courtesy of Forbix and Urban Stearns)
An aerial view of the Topaz Tower after conversion to a residential development offering ocean views. (Rendering Courtesy of Forbix and Urban Stearns)
The ownership of the Topaz Building, Urban Stearns, is opening their parking garage to the community through a “Text to Park” Pilot program. This structure will provide almost 800 parking spaces for daily use and special event parking. The parking structure is located between 5th and 6th street on Centre street. (Photo by contributing photographer Chuck Bennett)
A $17.5 million loan that will help the developers and owners of the Topaz Tower, in downtown San Pedro, transition to an entirely residential development was announced on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
The planned conversion of the 12-story, 294,000 square-foot office building, 222 W. Sixth St., will feature rentals, some outdoor balconies with ocean views and a rooftop deck with a resort-style pool.
A second tower, 226 W. Sixth St., is dedicated to parking and retail, and that will remain its future use.
The two-tower property, which was built in 1990 and is known as the Logicon and Northrop Grumman building, occupies a full city block and includes 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail. It also offers an adjacent 650-space parking garage that is partially being used for some public parking.
The bridge loan comes from BH3 Management and F2 Capital to Forbix and Urban Stearns. The property was purchased most recently in 2019, with the new owners then suggesting at least part of the building could be transitioned to housing.
After the pandemic, the idea of renovating the whole office building with 244 rental apartments became even more attractive.
The project is expected to be finished by the end of 2025, said the lender’s spokesperson, Reilly Lockwood, and it will feature “beautiful” views of the waterfront.
The bridge loan, Lockwood said, will provide the money to launch the construction.
The building will offer a variety of unit types — including studio apartments along with one- and two-bedroom units — with an average size of 839 square feet. The building sits just two blocks from where the 42-acre West Harbor waterfront development, which is currently being constructed. Both the new building and West Harbor are expected to open in 2025. And they will both have views of the Port of Los Angeles.
The planned conversion is in keeping with a current trend of shifting underutilized office spaces into residential units.
“The location and market conditions in San Pedro make this an attractive project for us,” Jonathan Fhima, CEO of F2, said in a statement.
His firm, he said, has had a long-standing relationship with BH3 and had been looking for “the perfect deal to collaborate on.”
The real estate market, developers said, is still trying to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on work.
“There’s a big craze right now in metro markets for office to housing conversions, but few projects have gotten done,” Fhima said. “We’re proud to have the right partners and are excited to assist with delivering this type of product to the market in an area that’s already so unique with year-round ocean breezes and breathtaking views of the California coastline. It’s really a hidden gem of Los Angeles.”
Article from Daily Breeze