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Los Angeles Business Journal - Legacy plans condos behind landmark Wilshire building

THE Desmond's building, a Miracle Mile landmark, is being purchased by a developer who wants to include the Art Deco property in a high-end condominium project.

Legacy Partners Inc. is in escrow to buy the property at 5500 Wilshire Blvd. from Wilshire Dunsmuir Co. LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Completed in 1932, the 79,000-square-foot building was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood and has two stories of ground-floor retail and office space with a slender 12 story tower. Its signature tenant was Desmond's Clothing Store, one of the high-end merchants that set up shop in the Miracle Mile area in the 1930s.

Legacy plans to restore and refurbish the ground-floor storefronts and the tower, which will stay commercial. The new residential construction will take place behind the building, on a surface parking lot.

Legacy is planning three 12-story towers containing 125 condos and 41 for-sale live/work lofts, according to Dale Goldsmith, a partner at Armbruster & Goldsmith LLP, a land use firm representing Legacy. Also planned is a six-level parking garage.

Legacy executives have met with Renee Weitzer, chief planning deputy for Councilman Tom LaBonge, whose 4th District includes the site.

"We probably will support the project, but there are still some issues to be worked out," Weitzer wrote in an e-mail. "(Legacy is) going to restore the building to its original glory."

There has been some resistance, however. After meeting with residents last month, Legacy agreed to reduce the number of proposed units in the project to 175 from 190, and it's meeting again with the group to discuss traffic issues.

Legacy Partners didn't return calls. The Foster City-based developer is also set to raze a nearby Late Moderne building at 5570 Wilshire Blvd. to make way for a separate 197-unit condo project that includes nearly 34,000 square feet of ground floor retail.

Staff reporter Andy Fixmer can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 263, or by email at afixmer@labusinessjournal.com.