Old Bank District

We have not lived in Continental Building for long and so far i do not have any comment for it besides that it is great. But i do want to say how wonderful Regina and Justin are, super helpful and wonderful. They helped us to move in right away. literally in 3 days they fixed up apartment and let us move in. We could not be more appreciative for all you help.

looks like someone was able to remove my review. I am reposting. Why to speak out against what I feel is greed. This establishment represents what I feel is too much taking not enough giving. If people don’t speak out things will never change. If people accept sub standard living conditions with high rents that will be the norm. This building overcharges for substandard conditions.
Removed Content:
Stay away there are much better places to live in DTLA. I lived in San Fernando building for three years. The place is overpriced and is dirty and rundown. The AC/​heater units are old expensive and barley work. Expect an oversized electric bill. The management uses fear and intimidation to constantly tell you this is standard. Expect threats and dirty snobby looks from management if you speak your mind about your concerns and try to ask for better service. The only people that are nice are the custodians. I spoke with them and they informed me after twenty years they were happy to be making minimum wage with the company. Shit ! Tom Gilmore owns this building and his stinginess bleeds into the quality of life here. Also there are bars surrounding the building the noise is loud. There was a cockroach infestation and they told me not to call anyone because they didn’t want it out in the public. Same when the heating didn’t work it was a shh. I asked if others had a problem they said never… mean while the guy down the hall told me in the laundry room same problem. Same with toliets. There were three months you had to plunge our toilets at least 4x a week yeah gross. they tried everything to not get us a new toliet. Again the quality of life. for the rent being paid does not match.. And they said no one else had the problem meanwhile maintenance told us many were having the same problem. There is poor air quality in this building it is dingy dirty and dusty. In the winter the heater is old and messes with lungs. its a very old system. I lived at Santee Court and had a much much much better experience. Central heat air amenities nice management. ect. all that a loft should be.

Hellman Building
I have been renting a space in the Hellman building for my small office for about 8 years now. In an effort to try and solve some of the problems we have been having in the building and receiving no help, I am here to warn the downtown community and any possible interested parties looking for space in the downtown area.
Between the barking dogs, the ridiculously slow elevators and the non-​responsive manager, avoid renting in this building. Yes the rent is reasonable but you are on your own once you are in. There’s no community between the management and the tenants. There is also a lot of filming on 4^th street that is typically loud and interrupts the day. The maintenance crew is nice and helpful but the problem lies in the management, which seems to just «paint over» the problems within the building.
Other than the reasonable rent, there’s not much praise that can be said about the efforts of the holding company to make the living experience for it’s tenants better here in the Hellman building.

Have had our office here. The management is better than when LaTanya was running the office; Justin and his team puts in the effort to try to make things right, but there’s no budget to fix anything that really needs it. They love painting the elevator but it keeps breaking down. The walls are paper thin so all you hear is street noise. The halls sound like a dog kennel and they smell like pot and trash. Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t live here.

I have to agree with Mary E., Management sucks, (specifically Justin). Look to have an electric bill in the 1000’s during summer months (we did 2x). What can I say, living in the San Fernando bldg has been my worse experience ever.

I have to give a shout out to the «Snow Fall» lights hanging above 4^th Street, in between S Spring St and S Main St. From an angle, it almost seems purple and soothing. This area is called the Old Bank District, located in the core of historic Downtown LA.
It’s just a bunch of commercial buildings, residential lofts, and a few neighboring restaurants and bars (like Bar Amá or Bar 107). I’m sure most people pass thru the area like nothing else. However, it’s not a bad sight to see the glowing lights during the holiday season. I had to stop and take a picture. Damn you Unilocal!
Anyways, they used to hold an annual Old Bank District Block Party in December a few years back. I don’t believe they do that anymore, but they would close off two blocks near 4^th and Main to feature music, some food, an art bazaar, and charity booths. It would be nice to do something like that for New Year’s Eve, but with LA and all its rules and ordinances, I highly doubt that we would ever see anything like that.
Just passing through DTLA my friends. Thought it was worth mentioning.

I am continually sad that I can’t live here again. The prices for the apartments are very reasonable. Any time you have a maintenance issue, they are on it as fast as possible. I never waited for anything. When I was in a car accident and we paid rent late and had to turn in our 30 day notice later than expected they were completely understanding and fine with it. They will take and hold your packages if you aren’t at home and keep them safe.
I loved living here partially because of how great it was to work with this management company.