Downtown Eyesore Gets a Fresh New Look

If there was a contest for Los Angeles’ ugliest piece of real estate, the Higgins Building would surely be a top contender.

The 10-story building in downtown Los Angeles had been in such bad shape that even neighboring landlords on dingy skid row considered it an eyesore. Decades of soot and dirt covered the exterior walls, and broken window blinds twirled in the wind.

But in recent weeks, the Higgins Building--built in 1910 by namesake Thomas Higgins, a copper tycoon--has begun a dramatic make-over. The exterior is being painted in hues of mustard yellow, gold and forest green. Workers have hauled out tons of debris from the interior of the building at the southwest corner of 2nd and Main streets.

The new owner wants to “make it presentable on the outside,” said leasing broker Kevin Housman at real estate firm Charles Dunn Co. “The building has some real nice points . . . high ceilings, charming wrought-iron elevator doors.”

The cleanup is part of a plan by the owner, Albion Pacific Properties of San Francisco, to attract tenants to the building, which has sat empty for about two decades. There has been some interest from government agencies that want to be near the Civic Center and from investors seeking to convert old office space into loft housing, Housman said.

The Higgins Building was designed in part by famed Los Angeles architect and engineer A.C. Martin. Its grand size and elaborate interior were supposed to attract the city’s top professional and corporate tenants. But the building fell out of favor as the downtown business district moved west and Main Street emerged as the city’s skid row. Its last tenant, Los Angeles County’s Bureau of Engineers, moved out in 1977.

After so many years of decay, the Higgins Building’s new paint job has been warmly received by local city and business officials, who are banking on a turnaround in the downtown historical core. Down the street, developer Tom Gilmore is converting several old office buildings into trendy lofts.

“I actually called up to see what’s happening there,” Gilmore said of the Higgins make-over. “It’s a good first step of improving the image from the outside. It can show the possibilities.”