The Bloc (stylized as THE BLOC), formerly Macy's Plaza and Broadway Plaza, is an open-air shopping center in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

at 700 South Flower Street, in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

. Its tenants include the downtown Los Angeles

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

store,

LA Fitness LA Fitness (doing business as LA Fitness International LLC) is an American gym chain with more than 700 clubs across the United States and Canada. The company was formed in 1984 and is based in Irvine, California. History LA Fitness was founde ...

, Nordstrom Local, UNIQLO, and the Sheraton Grand Los Angeles hotel. The shopping center has its own entrance to the

7th Street/Metro Center station 7th Street/Metro Center station is an underground light rail and rapid transit (known locally as a subway) station on the A, B, D, and E lines of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station also has street level stops for the J Line of ...

of the

Los Angeles Metro The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angeles ...

system. This shopping square is a vibrant, open-air

urban center An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

, a growing, inclusive community in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, which Encompassing a full city block along LA’s iconic 7th Street corridor, The Bloc tends to connect the financial,

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry ( U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a w ...

, and theater districts and the 7th Street Metro Center Station, meaning where four Downtown Los Angeles lines converge more.

History

The Original Broadway Plaza (1973–2013)

The original ''Broadway Plaza'' opened as an enclosed shopping mall in 1973. The structure claimed to be the first enclosed "suburban" type shopping center in a downtown area in the United States. The original enclosed mall included the downtown

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

store, the Hyatt Regency Los Angeles, and an Oshman's Sporting Goods, along with an underground food court and several smaller non-chain shops. The mall was renamed ''Macy's Plaza'' in 1996 due to the bankruptcy of ''The Broadway'' chain being bought out by Macy's. In 2005, the Hyatt Regency was renamed the Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown.

Bally Total Fitness Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation was an American fitness club chain. At its 2007 peak, prior to the filing of the first of two Chapter 11 bankruptcies, Bally operated nearly 440 facilities located in 29 U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, South K ...

(which occupied the Oshman's space) closed and re-opened as

in 2012. In 2013, Macy's Plaza was acquired by Ratkovich, who developed plans to replace the imposing 1973-vintage "monolithic" red brick fortress-like architectural style, with a more open plan.

Renovation (2015)

A majority of the Macy's Plaza closed in early-2015 for the conversion into a new open-air plaza, given the name ''The Bloc.'' The renovation forced many long-time tenants, including Bath and Body Works, Express, Lady Foot Locker,

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ...

, and original 1973 opening tenant

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in the underground food court to close. Many of these tenants, including Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works, moved to the nearby newly-renovated

FIGat7th FIGat7th is an open-air shopping mall located in the Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles. It is nestled between two office skyscrapers, 777 Tower and Ernst & Young Plaza. Some of its current retailers include Target, Starbucks Coffee, Mor ...

outdoor mall.

, and the Sheraton hotel remained open during the renovations.

and the

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branch at the mall remained operational but were forced to move to street level. In May 2015, the large "Macy's" sign was taken down and the large glass atrium roof was removed, officially opening the atrium of the once enclosed mall to the sky.

The New Outdoor-Plaza

''The Bloc Los Angeles'' was officially opened in October 2015. By design, the outdoor plaza was the first development in the Los Angeles area to have its own access to the LA Metro (as was planned when the subway line was constructed under Flower Street in 1989). The new plaza contains Los Angeles' first

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an American cinema chain founded in 1997 in Austin, Texas, which is famous for serving dinner and drinks during the movie, as well as its strict policy of requiring its audiences to maintain proper cinema-going etiq ...

, an Austin-based movie theatre chain, and Starbucks Evenings, a Starbucks store concept that serves alcoholic beverages, along with a Macy's flagship store, GNC, and

. Other restaurants include Hatch, Urban Oven, CoffeeWalk YogurTalk, Everytable and District DTLA. In 2016, following a renovation, the Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown was renamed the Sheraton Grand Los Angeles. Due to delays in construction, The Bloc for a while had trouble finding tenants, but once Alamo Drafthouse officially signed their lease, more tenants started signing leases. The Bloc now has 60 percent of the office spaces leased and 76 percent of the retail space leased. Since in 2017, much of these pop=up stores continue to open in this shopping complex after the renovation. In the slight past, that includes Joachim Splichal’s wine, All Flavor on Melrose, Yorkshire Square Brewing, and even Tony’s Darts Away, with then, this center has been transformed into walkable, indoor-outdoor mall akin to the nearby

or condensed version of

Americana at Brand The Americana at Brand is a large shopping, dining, entertainment and residential complex in Glendale, California. The property was built and is owned and operated by Los Angeles businessman Rick J. Caruso and his company Caruso Affiliated. Ca ...

. In 2018, retailer Uniqlo opened its store in Downtown LA.

Proposed Residential Tower

A 53 story, 710 foot tall tower addition was proposed above the parking podium in 2021. Currently through the planning phase.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloc Los Angeles Shopping malls in Central Los Angeles Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Commercial buildings completed in 1973 Downtown Los Angeles Shopping malls established in 2015