Redcar Properties sells Chinatown development site for more than twice what it paid

The French are staking a claim in Chinatown.

Compagnie de Phalsburg, a Paris-based developer, paid $33 million to acquire a one-acre site in Chinatown, more than twice what the seller, Redcar Properties, acquired it for in 2016, The Real Deal has learned. The deal closed June 29.

Redcar Properties, a real estate firm based in Chinatown, had plans for a large residential complex on the site when they purchased it in early 2016 for $14.75 million, records show. Those plans ultimately fell through, and Redcar withdrew its application last fall.

The French developer is now planning a 26-story tower at 643 Spring Street that will include 300 rental units, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. A 149-room hotel operated by Paris-based MOB Hote would also be found on-site.

Compagnie de Phalsburg has tapped Studio Gang, a Chicago-based architecture firm, and Creative Spaces, a local real estate firm, for the largely residential project.

This marks the first project in the United States for the French firm, and the first in Los Angeles for Studio Gang.

Nearby, another group of out-of-state developers, Townline and Forme Development, are planning a 27-story mixed-use tower at Chinatown’s Central Plaza at 924 North Broadway. Dubbed Harmony, the project is slated to include 187 residential units and 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.