CLEANING UP ON URBAN CLEANUP?

摘要

He was called "Magic" for his deft ball-handling skills and ability to turn plodding teams into champions. In a 13-season Hall of Fame basketball career, Earvin Johnson Jr. helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships. But even those exploits pale alongside the 43-year-old superstar's latest ambition: turning Los Angeles' down-and-out downtown into a vibrant, 24-hour community. Johnson took his big shot on May 21, when an investment fund he co-founded closed on a $100 million purchase of the Transamerica Center. The 38-year-old office complex―surrounded by parking lots and warehouses―is only 54% leased, but Johnson and his partners think they can change that by spending $50 million more to convert some of the space into 2,000 residential units. The project may be the toughest in Johnson's 10-year history of opening movie theaters, coffee shops, and restaurants in urban markets. Rooting from the stands will be Johnson's financial backers: retirees at Coca-Cola, Verizon Communications, and the City of Detroit police and fire departments, whose pension funds are among the 21 big investors in his $272 million Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund LP. "Three or four years from now, downtown is going be the place to be," Johnson says.