Big Things Are Coming to LAFC Block

L.A. Football Club’s new soccer stadium Banc of California is expected to spur real estate activity. The stadium is located at Exposition Park next to the Coliseum, the Natural History Museum and the California Science Center. The area is likely to see more amenities, restaurants and entertainment options, as well as multifamily development. While it likely won’t compare to the L.A. LIVE complex across from the Staples Center, the concept will be similar. We sat down with Aleks Trifunovic, president of Lee & Associates West L.A., to talk about the growth expected to come to the micro market.

GlobeSt.com: What changes are coming to the area around the Banc of California stadium?

Aleks Trifunovic: The stadium will have a gastropub restaurant open seven days a week, and that will be a place where you can go grab a bite that is a higher-end dining option than most of the places in the area. USC has been there forever, and the area around USC, once you stepped off campus, has historically been rougher. Over the past 10 years, residences with ground-floor leases have come to the market as well as amenities to support the residents and the area. This was such a dead space for so long. Now, USC has its own basketball stadium that they have built, USC’s football team uses the Coliseum, which is undergoing its own renovation, which will be great for that stadium, and then you have LAFC. Thanks to the EXPO Line, families now can go down to the area to visit the Natural History museum or Science Center from the Westside. With the stadium building the gastropub and other amenities, people now have dining options when they are there for quality food. They are also going to concerts and other events, so the stadium will draw more than just soccer fans, and you will bring a population base into that area, which will lead to more development and more amenities and experiences near the stadium in the long-term.

GlobeSt.com: Will the development in the area be similar to the development activity around the Staples Center?

Trifunovic: When the Staples Center moved into Downtown Los Angeles in 1999, there wasn’t very much in the way of amenities and nothing like LA LIVE or what has been built. I don’t believe that the activity around LAFC will be at that scale, but I think you are going to see transitions taking place off of Exposition Park. The new stadium is bringing a different environment and life to the area. It is already built, and it should open in late summer.

GlobeSt.com: Staples Center is often touted as the catalyst to the activity in Downtown L.A., but it took decades to build. Will the development happen faster around the new stadium because of the momentum from DTLA?

Trifunovic: I think so. The market needs to be tested, and the restaurant at the stadium is a good test of the demand for the area and what will happen there. If people see the success and the demand in that environment, then you’ll see developers have more confidence to start sprinkling elements around the neighborhood.

GlobeSt.com: Why has the Banc of California been successful in attracting real estate attention?

Trifunovic: I think they did a very good job of capturing Los Angeles. The designed the stadium to represent Los Angeles. The casual soccer fan will go to the stadium for the experience and just to be there versus driving to Carson to see the Galaxy. With this team, you are going into Downtown L.A. versus going to the Galaxy game where you leave Carson following the game because there aren’t amenities or anything but the StubHub Center. Here, you might go grab dinner in downtown and then go to the game, and it really gives you a city environment compared to the alternative experience that people have had with the soccer experience in Los Angeles.