A $17.5 million loan that will help the developers and owners of the Topaz Tower, in downtown San Pedro, transition to an entirely residential development was announced on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
The planned conversion of the 12-story, 294,000 square-foot office building, 222 W. Sixth St., will feature rentals, some outdoor balconies with ocean views and a rooftop deck with a resort-style pool.
A second tower, 226 W. Sixth St., is dedicated to parking and retail, and that will remain its future use.
The two-tower property, which was built in 1990 and is known as the Logicon and Northrop Grumman building, occupies a full city block and includes 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail. It also offers an adjacent 650-space parking garage that is partially being used for some public parking.
The bridge loan comes from BH3 Management and F2 Capital to Forbix and Urban Stearns. The property was purchased most recently in 2019, with the new owners then suggesting at least part of the building could be transitioned to housing.
After the pandemic, the idea of renovating the whole office building with 244 rental apartments became even more attractive.
The project is expected to be finished by the end of 2025, said the developer’s spokesperson, Reilly Lockwood, and it will feature “beautiful” views of the waterfront.
The bridge loan, Lockwood said, will provide the money to launch the construction.
The building will offer a variety of unit types — including studio apartments along with one- and two-bedroom units — with an average size of 839 square feet. The building sits just two blocks from where the 42-acre West Harbor waterfront development, which is currently being constructed. Both the new building and West Harbor are expected to open in 2025. And they will both have views of the Port of Los Angeles.
The planned conversion is in keeping with a current trend of shifting underutilized office spaces into residential units.
“The location and market…
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