DTLA Renaissance Hits Chinatown

The project has 19,000 square feet of retail space and 237 apartment units.

LOS ANGELES—The Downtown Los Angeles renaissance is heading to Chinatown. The neighborhood has been nearly untouched by the development boom, until now. Developer Forest City Realty Trust is building Blossom Plaza, a $100 million mixed-use complex with 237 apartment units and 19,000 square feet of retail. To handle the retail leasing, Forest City has tapped JLL VP Lorena Tomb and associate Danielle Cornwell, and Tomb talks to us exclusively about the burgeoning retail market.

“Chinatown is witnessing a major revitalization with an influx of new F&B operators and art galleries,” Tomb tells GlobeSt.com. “These changes are in line with the initial transformation we saw happening in the Arts District just a few years ago. Chinatown, relative to other submarkets of Downtown Los Angeles, is still at the earlier stages of its gentrification but has shown very promising signs with an increased number of acquisitions, new residential developments like Blossom Plaza and the Jia Apartments, and the restoration of older buildings into creative offices along North Main and North Spring street.”