Project May Put Blighted Area on a Brighter Path

Developer Medallion Inc. plans to build 370 rental units in two 11-story buildings on top of stores facing Main and Los Angeles streets between 3rd and 4th streets. The apartments are expected to rent for $2 to $2.50 a square foot, in line with other new downtown units, or $1,500 to $1,900 a month for an average 770-square-foot unit.

The apartments are among the 11,000 units proposed or approved for construction downtown, according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. Since 1999, nearly 4,000 apartments and condominiums have been added to the market; an additional 4,500 are under construction. There are about 7,000 market-rate apartments and condos downtown, an increase of 53% since 1998, district staffers say.

New development at the Medallion location will fill in a key piece of the urban landscape, said City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who calls it "one of the gateways to downtown."

Medallion bought the property less than a year ago with the intention of building retail space to serve wholesalers branching out of the nearby toy and garment districts, company President Saeed Farkhondehpour said. But city officials wanted more residential units in the area, he said, so his project is now 70% apartments.

"We want to resurrect Main Street," said city staffer Greg Fischer, who is also a historian.

Consequently, Medallion's ground-floor space on Main will be devoted to shops and restaurants. On Los Angeles Street, Farkhondehpour plans to rent the first level to toy and garment companies that have wholesale and retail operations. There also will be eight-story and four-story parking structures and some underground parking.

The property is across 4th from the Old Bank District, a 230-unit complex in three former office buildings that were built around the turn of the last century and converted to housing in 2000.

The design of the L-shaped Medallion building at 4th and Main will make a stylistic nod to the Old Bank District's San Fernando Building, completed in 1906, said architect Alex Ward. His Omaha-based firm, Leo A Daly, is designing the Medallion complex with M2A, a Los Angeles architecture firm.