Spring Arcade Building

Now that I am moved out, I wanted to write a review of my home for the last 4 years.
This is a great building, and the only reason I’m leaving is because I got an offer I couldn’t refuse to move somewhere bigger out of the city. There are pros and cons, but overall, I am sad to leave.
Pros:
Central location — the building is in the center of Historic Core AND within walking distance of all the spots worth going to.
Friendly staff — The cleaning ladies, the door guys, the people in the office are all super friendly and helpful. It’s worth getting to know them all. Things got fixed right away.
Friendly neighbors — I had moved out of Little Tokyo when I moved to Spring Arcade. The day I moved in, I had 3 or 4 neighbors come up and welcome me to the building. That’s rare.
The space — I really liked the whole lay out of mine and everyone else’s apartments I saw in the building. No, the cabinets are not the coolest looking, but that doesn’t matter to me.
The price — I won’t post how cheap my rent was out of respect for the management office, but I will say that ever time I did disclose my rent, people looked at me with the envy usually reserved for super models.
The Arcade — There’s a Guisados downstairs. Really what else do you need?
Cons:
Parking — It’s a bitch no matter where you go. The building parking is expensive AND has a wait list and is stacked. I parked across the street, it was $ 185 a month — I’m positive that price will go up.
Fire Alarms — In the last year this has been less of an issue, but for a a few months there, it was getting stupid common. This has been an issue in every building I’ve lived in downtown.
Noise — I lived in the arcade and I had no issues really with noise beyond some drunk jackass walking in the arcade after hours and purposely yelling to be a dick. However, a friend of mine lived in the Broadway tower and it was very loud as that street is the parade/​Isrealite/​crazy person side of the building.
Consolidated Smart Systems — These fuckers. Look, the building is dominated by these clowns who provide DirecTV and internet. They are awful and unorganized. The DirecTV was always shoddy, the internet bill was always questionable. This may be enough reason to stay away because it sucks to be forced to use a third party rather than deal with these companies directly.
Beyond those things, I overall loved living in this building. And I hope whomever rents my old apartment likes the curtains I left behind — they were expensive.

I’d like to give a quick «shout out» to LA Lofts Realtor, Kristina. Wow, what can I say? She is fabulous. What makes her fabulous you ask? Well, on a Friday, literally, just minutes before closing, Kristina agreed to walk us through several apartments. Our tour lasted close to an hour… and all through the tour, Kristina was friendly and very informative. Thank you, Kristina for your professionalism and being a good sport on a Friday night just minutes before closing.

Just moved in mid-​December 2012 and I love the location and apartment. Great place to live!
However, I would much rather have a cable provider than the ATT option we are forced to have at the moment. I currently live at the back of the complex and signed up for the 18 Mbps fastest tier they have. The fastest Connection I have been able to get is 13 Mbps on a good day.
The At&t technician told me that because I am at the back of the run, it’s the fastest I would be able to achieve due to distance from the main point of entry of the service. I would much rather have and pay for at least the 30 Mbps I am used to and need to use for work.
So if fast internet is important to you, this might not be the location for you, but in every other aspect, this place is amazing.
Maybe we could petition bringing in a cable provider to compliment the television and internet service options?

I would have just deleted this updated review when my (prior) complaints were kindly (and professionally) addressed by Lucia from the office, however, the owner of the building (little did I know prior to his rampage) stormed in cursing at me due to my prior (more negative) review here on Unilocal.Interesting. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone act as UNprofessionally as he did and seeing as I was the one who left a very detailed review in the first place, on this little thing called the WORLD WIDE WEB, wouldn’t you just avoid me like the plague? Knowing I have a mouth and use it when need be, why storm in and approach me yelling about my review, telling your staff not to help me, and then throwing F#@* bombs like nothing? Seems counterintuitive to me. Needless to say, I did not renew my lease and will no longer be helping to fill the pockets of that douchebag.

My girlfriend and I have live here since August of 2010 and have nothing but the best of time. The neighbors here are the friendliest we have found since our move here from FL. We have just moved into our 2^nd floor apartment with a patio and plan to stay for quite some time as long as the future sees fit. Parking is a little expensive but if you park at a parking garage down the street you can pay half of what the building wants you to pay and plus the exercise is good. It can get pretty loud but the apartments are soo quiet! The leasing agents in this building are nothing short of the best agent’s i have ever dealt with! Hands down the customer service is outstanding!

I have now lived at Spring Arcade Building for 2 months. I am very happy here and don’t plan to move until I purchase a house. Jeremy and Christa are excellent managers in terms of customer service and professionalism. They were both extremely helpful when it came to finding me the right layout in their building and I really appreciated their efforts. The owner seems really nice too… every time I’ve seen him he is very courteous and responsive. When I had a minor issue with my refrigerator and had gone down to the management office, the owner and managers took time out from a meeting to arrange an immediate service call. What a refreshing change from the SB Properties ownership and management!
With regard to the building, I think the building is tremendous in terms of the layouts and options available. Each unit I visited had its own character, floor plan and charm. I can’t say enough about the fact that the building has parking in the basement. No more walking 2 blocks with grocery shopping from SB Properties’ buildings to the parking structure. The parking is valet parking and the parking attendants in the building are very courteous. This is a major plus!
My apartment is fantastic! I have views in all 4 directions and plenty of space for my office and living areas. I love the views. The appliances are new, the apartment is well maintained, and the central air and heat is in perfect working order. There is plenty of lighting so I haven’t had to buy many floor lamps. The apartment is very bright and full of light so I’ve bought some blinds for the bedroom. I’m sure the service personnel will actually help me install the blinds. With SB Properties, I couldn’t get them to take care of service requests for months.
That brings me to the important topic of maintenance. The maintenance in this building is outstanding! So far I’ve only had a couple of minor issues but these guys have ordered parts and completed installations etc. in record time… I would even say their turnaround on service requests is lightning fast!
Last but certainly not least, most of the people I’ve seen in the building are normal, working folks who are respectful and friendly. The tenants here make an effort to have a community and organize pretty fun social events at places like the Los Angeles Athletic Club. I haven’t been to any of the mixers yet but I look forward to meeting some more of my neighbors.
All in all… this was the perfect choice for me. Jeremy and Christa make all the difference in the world and are a rare breed of professional and friendly building managers who in my experience have been hard to find here in downtown LA.

I’ve been in downtown los angeles for ten years. I as was pleasantly surprise when i walked into the Spring Arcade Building. The first thing i notice is how majestic the view is. Walking through the arcade to see the models is like walking back into the classy 1920’s. You can see the spanish and french influence in the architecture. But what was much nicer is inside the lofts. I actually have a seperate kitchen and seperate dining room. With granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, wood flooring and yes the doors have volts. Valet parking underground in same buildling which is a rare thing in dontown los angeles and a gym with new and working equipment. The building also has 24 hour security and cameras. So the feeling is safe. Thank you to the leasing staff and management staff they have been very helpful and pleasant. The neighbors have been very nice and welcoming. I look forward to coming home for a change now that i feel completely comfortable. thank you!
Please make no mistake the retail space on first floor has nothing to do with the beautiful architecture of the building and awesome living spaces. :-) Btw its nice to buy affordable tube socks… lol!

Moved in a couple weeks ago. The leasing staff (I dealt mostly with Jeremy and somewhat with Krista) were EXTREMELY helpful and responsive to my questions, calls and emails, while not putting any pressure on me. They made the move in process an easy and pain free one.
Security is always present at the building and valet staff always seem willing to help. Also, my only work order request up to this point was fixed the same day it was submitted. The rent is very reasonable in comparison to other places in the immediate vicinity and in other areas of Downtown. My 1-​bedroom unit has a good size kitchen and bathroom, as well as nice closet space. The 5 large windows offer nice views as well as light and ventilation. The area around the building includes easily accessible shops, restaurants and places to hang out.
Based on my first few weeks in the building, I believe I made the right choice and am very happy with the service I’ve received, as well as my living space.

Greetings! I have recently moved into the Spring Arcade Building and I love it. First let me say that I went all over downtown Los Angeles including the outskirts of downtown LA and by far, for the price range and square footage I was looking for they have some of the best layouts I’ve seen. As a business owner who looks for certain storage and usage of space, theirs by far works best for me. I am the type of person who visualizes things before I see them and when I walked into this place it was super perfect for ME. Hardwood floors whereas many lofts have concrete, huge windows with lots of natural lighting (because I am photographer) a great kitchen with fridge and dishwasher. Some have the two in one washer and dryer which is great as well. I went with the unit without, but the laundry room is only one door down from my unit. I knew right away that the architects put real thought into the units to make it easy for you to move in without the hassle trying to figure out how to partition things off.
Everyone in the leasing office is very nice and as far as work orders, all of my work orders were taken care of the day of within a couple hours or immediately.
Parking is very easy for our clients who come because the parking lot is adjacent to the building.
So far everyone I’ve meet in the hallways, elevators, and lobby have been really cool and nice.
Security is nice and on point as well.
That all!

Great place to live, but if you work from home WARNING: they are contracted to a fly-​by-​night middleman service that LOCKS you into DSL for internet and DishNetwork for cable. I would not have moved into a building where I couldn’t get cable internet or one of the fibers if I had known.
(max dowload speed like 5mbps, (cable’s 20) and 2mbps upload (cable’s 10)
otherwise love it.

Where the hell am I? This place is like any other downtown indoor swap meet. So few vendors and lots of junk. TJ without the heat.
Thankfully, I’m just passing through trying to find a place to eat.

Oh how the mighty have fallen… It’s really a shame that one of the most beautiful buildings in downtown gets turned into a place that you buy tube socks and cheap NES rom systems from.
The Spring Arcade Building was built in 1924, a local spot that Charles Bukowski wrote about in his poems. So you know it has to be essential Los Angeles. The building itself is pretty much the peak of beauty. It has two towers with a middle glass ceiling that can’t be beat. A lot of detail has been put into the actual insignia and sides of the building. You can really just tell how old and how much history this place has.
The building was designed by Kenneth MacDoanld and Maurice Couchot. Those names more than likely mean little to nothing to anyone. But I have to tip my hat to them. They designed one of the best buildings in Los Angeles that seldom anyone has ever seen.
It originally was known as the Mercantile Arcade Building and modeled on the burlington arcade in London. So it has some connections to the old world. The skylight when walking down the open ended building takes you from one street to another.
Even though it’s covered with people selling M.J. memorial t-​shirts, tube socks, cheap mexican toys and other crap like that, it’s worth a walk through from one end to the other. Look up to the skylight and look at the detail in the walls and just take it all in. This is Los Angeles history that you should soak in.