The company says it already has a waiting list of 1,100 prospective buyers for the lofts, which are expected to sell for $350,000 to $750,000. Lofts for sale are a rare commodity in downtown Los Angeles, where a number of downtown office and industrial buildings have been converted to apartments, but hardly any for-sale housing has been built in decades.

The conversion of the three-story 111,150-sf UPS distribution center at 1140 S. Flower St., which was built in 1936, will include an exterior facelift as well as two new stories, increasing the building size to 150,000 sf.

Lee is building the project, which is adjacent to the Staples Center sports complex, in a partnership with Hollywood, Calif.-based CIM Group's CIM California Urban Real Estate Fund. Called the Flower Street Lofts, the development is being designed by the Santa Monica, Calif.-based architectural firm Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh. The contractor is Glendale, Calif.-based PCL Construction Services Inc.

The lofts will range from 1,315 to 2,410 sf, according to Lee Group principal Jeff Lee, who says the units will have ceilings of up to 20 feet high and "expansive windows similar to the original UPS Building." The conversion will include a landscaped courtyard between the two wings of the building.

Lee tells GlobeSt.com that likely buyers will be "all sorts of people, including young professionals, people in their mid-40s couples without children," those who want a second home downtown, and empty-nesters.

"These are designed as live-work, so people can run businesses out of them," he says.Lee says the company already is looking at "other downtown for-sale housing opportunities," in response to the demand the company has generated with this project, where the first homeowners are expected to move in May 2003.

The Lee Group principals have been developing residential projects since 1957, ranging from for-sale single family homes and condominiums for first-time buyers to luxury homes. CIM Group has been a major investor and redeveloper of properties such as the popular Third Street Promenade retail district in Santa Monica, Old Pasadena, Calif. and the Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego, Calif.

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Developer Starts $25M Downtown Lofts

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