Dwight Everest and Irving Bonios of NAI Capital Commercial say the six-story, 95,080-sf building located in the Historic Core area of Downtown Los Angeles will be converted into 35 lofts. Everest and Bonios represented the buyer, with the trust representing itself.Bonios tells GlobeSt.com that the Main Mercantile building, constructed in 1906, served a number of purposes over the years. It was a manufacturing facility in its early years, later converted to office use and then home to a number of office and retail uses before it closed, about 10 years ago.

The building, constructed in 1906, was vacant at the time of purchase. It will be renovated into lofts that average 1,250 sf, with occupancy estimated for mid-2004. In addition to the apartments, the property features underground parking and will include 12,000 sf of ground floor retail space.

The Main Mercantile lofts will join an estimated 1,900 new apartments that will have been created in the past several years from old Downtown office buildings by the end of 2003, according to the NAI Capital Commercial brokers.