7 For All Humanity and the Graceful Few Fashionistas in a Row DTLA – WWD

Lowe’s DTLA tenant list looks like a who’s who of creative types at the 32-acre complex in a well-worn industrial district near downtown Los Angeles.

Among the first tenants in the Warren of Warehouses were 7 for All Humanity and Splendid, which moved back in 2013 before much of the project was fully unveiled five years ago. The two labels are housed in 40,000 square feet of office space in a former warehouse structure.

“The location offers a central location, beautiful natural light, creative spaces, unique shops and restaurants in the streets and many places to gather and access,” said Francesca Toninato, Global CEO of 7 For All Mankind. “All this is important for the creativity of fashion brands.”

Other fashion entities include Shein’s large-scale presence and Shopify, which has a selection space attached to a photo studio on the other floor of the building. Adidas has been in the building for four years and Athleta has held events there. On the entertainment side, Kimmelot is a tenant of the media company created by Jimmy Kimmel & Associates.

Row DTLA, eight warehouse buildings like a mini city in a big city, is attracting tenants not only for its creative atmosphere, but also for its safety.

With crime in Los Angeles on the rise, security is becoming increasingly important. A big advantage of Row DTLA is that it has a large parking structure located in a walled-out courtyard. Also, private shuttles take employees about two miles to Union Station, the downtown Los Angeles train station, which is a light rail transit hub, and Metrolink commuter rail to the suburbs.

Atlas Capital Group, a New York-based real estate investment, development and management firm, launched the project in a complex that originally contained a produce market, warehouses and railway terminals. 10 years ago, Atlas became interested in industrial buildings when Jeffrey Goldberger, principal of Atlas Capital, came across a complex built between 1917 and 1923. He considered the area the LA equivalent of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

In the year In 2015, Atlas Capital purchased six warehouse structures, which formed the backbone of the property. Later, before filing for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016, the t-shirt company purchased two additional buildings formerly occupied by American Apparel, which housed a massive factory and headquarters.

One of the first things Atlas Capital did was build a nearby 4,000-space multi-level parking garage, providing two hours of free parking for shoppers and diners and daily secure parking for employees. It is one of the largest parking garages in Los Angeles and provides a sense of security for those who don’t want to walk far from their car to their office. The complex is bordered by the Grati neighborhood, which is home to the Greyhound bus terminal, another large produce market, and several one-room residential hotels with tents for non-pedestrian residents.

As part of the redesign of the complex, a central plaza was established by moving a power station to one corner of the development. A 40-foot ficus tree was then uprooted from another part of the property and moved to the new square, where a circular wooden bench was built around the greenery. This is now the focal point of the complex, and a fun place to hang out.

Complementing the creative offices are independent restaurants and retail outlets selling clothing, furniture, ceramics, furniture, wine and beauty products. All face a tree-lined avenue that a visitor can feel walking through the tree-lined part of Soho. On Sundays, there’s the Smorgasburg food market at the 7th Street Produce Market, originally called the LA Terminal Market.

“There’s a lot of content opportunity here because people can control the space,” said Karen Yee, Row DTLA’s director of product marketing and events. We do a lot of photo shoots on campus.

After Row DTLA opened, it started to fill up nicely. But the pandemic hit, and things got really tough, said Chris Kitchen, DTLA’s director of asset management. Even before the outbreak, one of Rowe’s major tenants, San Francisco-based Tartine Bakery, closed its 40,000-square-foot, LA-based bakery and restaurant at the end of 2019 after 11 months.

And J Brand emerged as the label diverged from wholesale operations to direct-to-consumer sales. “It was brutal,” Yi said. “A lot of the activity here is people coming down to their offices. It makes it difficult for our small, independent tenants.”

Agreements have been reached with some tenants, Yee said. But the economy has bounced back, and now nearly 80 percent of the complex is leased, and new people are still moving in.

Earlier this year, Revolve, an online clothing company launched in 2003, called for a spacious office space.

The Revolve team now occupies the former J Brand space and some 48,000 square feet, where designers, photographers and staff work in offices with polished concrete floors, large square windows and high ceilings.

Before the move, Revolve had a subsidiary office less than a mile away in Los Angeles’ Fashion District, where employees worked on four floors of the Geary Building, a 1940s streamlined modern structure for showrooms and offices. But it needs a large and connected space to coordinate activities.

Mitch Moseley, CEO of Revolve’s proprietary brand division, says the company is looking for office design that inspires innovation and values ​​safety. “Our priorities are realized in a safe campus and a vibrant culture on the row is the driving factor behind the move,” he said.

Fashionphile, which sells luxury handbags and accessories, made the move a few years ago after looking at locations for a regional tech office.

“We looked at a couple of places and then we walked up the aisle and said, ‘This is home,'” said Sarah Davis, co-founder, president and chief creative officer of Fashion, which also had a pop-up shop last year. Row. “We thought this was the perfect place for us. The energy here is the kind of energy we need for our digital and creative team.”

Today, fashionable tenants occupy 187,000 square feet of the complex.