DTLA Office Building Slated to Become Boutique Hotel

Corona-based developer Shivom will convert a vacant DTLA office building into a 149-room boutique hotel to be run under the Mama Shelter brand, famous for its hip “urban refuge” hospitality offering.

The developer paid $18M for a vacant, 71K SF building at 124 East Olympic Boulevard in LA’s red-hot Fashion District, according to a report in Urbanize Los Angeles. The seller, Jamison Properties, Koreatown’s largest commercial landlord, entitled the site for a hotel prior to the sale.

The building was once an annex to the 1.8M SF California Market Center, which Jamison sold to Brookfield for $440M in 2017. Jamison received approval from the city to convert 134 Olympic into a hotel in 2019.

Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller in the transaction, Lee & Associates represented the buyer.

“This transaction is a key turning point in Downtown Los Angeles’ post-pandemic hospitality market. Many experts recognize the lifestyle and boutique hotel segment in DTLA has been recently setting performance records,” said broker Mike Condon Jr. of the C&W team, in a statement.

Shivom is partnering with Hospitality Solutions to convert the seven-story building, which opened in 1957.

The new hotel will include ground-level and rooftop restaurants. It will be the second US hotel for the Mama Shelter chain, which debuted in Paris in 2008. The chain also runs a 70-room hotel in Hollywood on Wilcox Avenue.

Mama Shelter boasts “simply appointed but stylish” rooms in the midmarket range.

According to a November report from the Downtown Los Angeles Business Improvement District, a group representing property owners and landlords, YTD occupancy in DTLA hotels has increased by nearly 40%–now approaching 68%–with the average daily rate at those hotels rising by about 34%.

The Fashion District continues to attract apparel retailers, with Sparc Group, the parent company of Forever 21, recently moving into 164K of office space at the California Market Center next door what will be the site of the Mama Shelter hotel.

Sparc inked the lease from Brookfield Properties, landlord of the 1.8M SF California Market Center, which is a trio of 13-story buildings. The space leased by the company will house Forever 21’s headquarters as well as West Coast employees of Lucky Brand.

Sparc’s space at the Fashion District landmark also will include a mock store that will be used to train store personnel.

Earlier this year, athletic brand Adidas agreed to lease 107K SF at the California Market Center, which recently completed a $250M renovation, which included replacement of a building façade with floor-to-ceiling windows.