Brookfield’s Beaudry DTLA rents units with “exceptional” perks

After topping out in April 2022, Brookfield Properties’ Beaudry DTLA apartment tower was hailed as the post-pandemic recovery story for Downtown Los Angeles.

The imposing, 64-story tower at 960 West 7th Street with 785 units has become a notable feature of L.A.’s skyline and one of the city’s tallest buildings. It also completed Brookfield Properties’ Downtown portfolio, which the firm has built up for years, and stands out as its only residential tower in the market.

Still, the luxury apartment complex appears to have resorted to unusual concessions in an effort to lure tenants. 

A year after opening, the building is just over 70 percent leased. Registering for a recent weekend viewing of Beaudry prompted an email with a list of running discounts, including eight weeks of free rent, a $500 Apple gift card and three months of free valet services at the upscale complex. Another promotion offered a cash discount of $1,000 to $2,500 depending on the size of the unit if the prospect secured an apartment during the event.

Concessions have become typical across Downtown L.A. luxury apartment towers, according to agents familiar with Downtown and multifamily investment sales brokers. 

Rahim Amidi’s 376-unit TENTEN Downtown is offering up to 10 weeks free rent; Northland’s 685-unit THEA at Metropolis is offering up to eight weeks free rent; and Mitsui Fudosan’s 438-unit Figueroa Eight tower is offering up to 10 weeks free rent, according to Neema Ahadian, a multifamily broker at Marcus & Millichap. 

Ahadian noted Beaudry’s concession offering tenants three months of free valet parking could be an “advantage” and “help lure tenants there faster than comparable buildings nearby.”

About 13 percent of luxury residential units in Downtown Los Angeles are currently vacant, according to Ahadian, compared to a 17 percent vacancy rate in the second quarter of last year.

“Still not ideal but progressing towards normal rates for core L.A.,” he said. 

Before the pandemic, vacancy rates stood at between 5 and 6 percent. 

Even so, Brookfield’s concessions “sound pretty exceptional, even in this climate,” said Tyler Neale, a broker with Sotheby’s International Realty. 

Amenities, amenities, amenities

Even as other multifamily owners push financial concessions, Brookfield, which filed plans at the site in 2017, tries to go further. 

The Beaudry’s long list of amenities are quintessentially L.A. — monthly outdoor puppy yoga sessions, a recent tea tasting that attracted “over 200 tenants,” and free weekly grocery delivery, among other more traditional perks like a pool, a coworking space and a golf simulator.

Scott Gonzalez, a leasing agent who works for Brookfield Properties and a tenant at Beaudry, said the apartment building’s offerings are not limited to free eight weeks on any of the apartments with the 16-month lease or longer.

“We do offer additional promotions even if you don’t do a 16-month lease, so if you choose to do a 12-month, we offer one month,” he told TRD last month. 

Monthly rents at the Beaudry start from $2,605 for a 514-square-foot studio apartment, according to the building’s website. At the higher end, three-bedroom, 1,734-square-foot apartments range from $11,865 to $12,050. These appear to be the most popular, with only six currently available.

In total, about 238 units of the building’s 785, or 30 percent, are available, according to the building’s website.

A USC student from China who lives at the Beaudry said amenities were the main draw for moving into the luxury highrise from another DTLA apartment tower, but noted there were still a few glitches left to iron out given the building was still new. 

Car-free lifestyle

And the idea behind the building seems to be an antithesis to a typical L.A. lifestyle centered around driving.

The development was supposed to “appeal to those who want the option to live without a car and across the street from the train, or even down the street from their office,” Bea Hsu, a former development executive at Brookfield, said at the project’s topping out ceremony in 2022. 

But that hypothesis is now being tested at Brookfield’s Beaudry and other luxury high-rise apartments as safety and lack of downtown attractions continue to have an impact on rentals.

Brookfield’s effort to lease up Beaudry also comes as many of its office towers have landed in receivership, after Brookfield defaulted on more than $1 billion in debt tied to three DTLA buildings. 

“Downtown L.A. itself is unlike any downtown in America or the world — usually downtown is the hub where you want to be, but not downtown L.A.,” said George Azzi, a broker at Marcus & Millichap. “Aside from the stadium and the convention center, if you have something happening there, why else would you go to Downtown L.A.?”