Boutique Hotel Hits DTLA Historic Core

LOS ANGELES—UK-based lifestyle group Hoxton has purchased the former Los Angeles Transit Building, a historic 1922 building located at 1060 S. Broadway, for $30 million from a private investment group. The buyer plans to convert the 10-story, 89,136-square-foot building into a boutique hotel development.

"We got an extreme amount of interest, and we actually didn't do a traditional marketing campaign," Mike Condon Jr., a VP at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. "We did a limited release to a few select buyers, and within two weeks of finalizing and offering memorandum, we secured a buyer."

The buyer's plans for the property have not been finalized, but former design plans included 150 guestrooms, a rooftop pool and a basement bar and nightclub. The seller had owned the property for two years, and decided to sell now because of the peak market conditions. "The seller secured the property almost two-years ago, and the market managed to reach an unparalleled high," says Condon. "We are at an all-time peak in the market, and the market factors dictated that now was a good time to sell."

The historic core is the latest Downtown Los Angeles submarket to garner investor interest, especially from redevelopment investors. "This is absolutely in the pathway to progress," says Condon, noting the Proper, another boutique hotel development nearby, and the redevelopment of the famed Herald Examiner building. "1060 Broadway is just another example of how much demand there is for boutique hotel keys in Downtown Los Angeles. We got a lot of interest locally and regionally, and this is helping to prove that this is a tourist destination with this group out of the UK making the acquisition."