Packard Lofts

I love Packard Lofts! Truly a gem in downtown LA where you have so many cookie cutter large apartment buildings! The apartments have high ceilings and plenty of natural light and are built very well. And those penthouse units — woah! They are two stories and have plenty of space for hosting, living, and working!
The location is also amazing! You are just a walk away from ALL the amenities downtown LA has to offer, including Staples Center and great restaurants! Great place to live!

Lived here for about a year now and I can honestly say that I have no complaints.
What makes Packard so great is that it has a «homey» feel to it. It’s a much smaller apartment complex than the neighboring housing options, which to me is fantastic. It’s a great feeling to head to work in the morning and the staff continuously greet me by my first name. Also, whenever I have a problem, the property managers do their best to solve it within a fairly quick turnaround.
The two coolest things about this place is the atrium that is the centerpiece of the complex and that the building used to be a Packard car dealership, hence the name «Packard Lofts» (Didn’t know about this fact till after I moved in lol).
Location is as good as you can get in DTLA. It’s right in between all the hotspots like LA Live, Bottega Louie, Fig & 7^th, and a new Whole Foods just opened up. For people who are in need of a gym, Equinox is just a couple blocks up as well (I usually jog there and back as my form of cardio).
Hope this review helped any of the apartment hunters out there.

Want a full-​service grocery store (Ralph’s and soon Whole Foods), multiple Starbucks, a fantastic park (although no dogs allowed), tons of great eateries, and Staples Center /​LA Live all within about a 3 block radius of your apartment? My husband and I did and it made us happy to call Packard Lofts home for almost 4 years. Aside from being in a great downtown LA location, Packard is a quality building with well-​designed, modern apartments. For being in the heart of an urban area, the units are very quiet. My only complaint with the unit was lack of closet space. This meant a few trips to Ikea/​Plummers for wardrobe and storage solutions but other than that, the 5^th floor units especially offer the most space for the dollar that you will find in this part of downtown LA. Our daughter spent the first year of her life at Packard and while there aren’t a lot of families in the building, the game room, 5^th floor patio, and 2^nd floor atrium with fountain make perfect spots for a little one to explore safely.
What made Packard more than just an apartment building for us was the people that work there — from Myra and Annie in the leasing office who always addressed any concerns we had promptly, to Marlon and the maintenance and security crew who went above and beyond to help out whenever we needed it. Even when I had an emergency and had to call 911, the security guard who knew us and knew I was pregnant made sure the EMTs got into our unit quickly.
Storage and the limited access to visitor parking are more only negatives about the place, but even those issues never really felt like a big deal.

This review is for the ridiculous service (or lack thereof) I received from Annie and her assistant.
I called this morning and scheduled a 3:00pm appointment. I arrived on time and didn’t see a side entrance so I called the listed number. A man with horrible English skills answered the phone and after 10 minutes of trying to explain to him all I needed was instructions to the entrance for the lease office, he told me to «go to the alley by Shell gas station.» As I was walking, he told me to wait on Hope street. After waiting for 5 minutes, he opened the gate.
Once in the lobby, he told me Annie was going to be late by 30 mins because «an emergency» came up. No worries, I decided to be calm and wait the 30 minutes. At 3:40pm, I get a call from Annie explaining to me see is having lunch and she can’t get her bill. I asked when she could make it and she replied, «I don’t know.»
I guess lunch is more important for her than keeping an appointment with a client who is ready to sign a lease on the spot.
I advised her she should have notified me that she would be late. «I didn’t have your phone number.» After telling her if my number didn’t show up on the caller I.D. she should have asked for my number, she replied, «I don’t have caller I.D.»
What a nightmare of an operation this management is running. Needless to say, I will not become a tenant.

I have lived in the Packard Lofts for 2.5 years and have been incredibly impressed with the staff. Myra, the leasing/​office manager has been fabulous at addressing every question or concern I’ve had, truly going above and beyond to find a solution. Having owned for several years prior to leasing, I was a bit hesitant having heard horror stories regarding building management at other DTLA locations. Luckily, I would be hard-​pressed to find anything negative to say about the staff and my experience at Packard Lofts.

Oh, one other «con»:
the tenant’s parking garage opens out to an alley which has quite a few potholes and the occasional homeless person. On the other hand, the police often hang out in the alley between Packard Lofts and the 7-​Eleven.

I have to agree with the poster below me who discussed her experience with the leasing office as being quite negative.
I was excited to view the Packard Lofts today, but the two Filipino women downstairs were quite unprofessional and rude. The first thing they said was you know these apartments start in the $ 1600s as if passing judgement and trying to dissuade us from viewing the apartments because my friend and I were young students. Already we felt uncomfortable, but we decided to view the apartment since we were already there. The model studio we saw was a nice space and the leasing agent informed us it was 3 months free rent if rented in June and about $ 2000 per month after that. I forgot if that was for a 1 year lease. However, as the poster below me discussed, first impressions are lasting ones and after the tour ended I forgot I was holding the pen of the leasing agent and she snapped before I left saying «Aren’t you going to give me back my pen?!» in a rude tone, as if I was some sort of poor pen klepto student.
Essentially, even if I loved the space, which I did not, I do not think I could deal with having to see these two women everyday in the leasing office who just so overtly did not seem to judge me fit enough to live there. Plus, I’m Filipino and our culture and people are usually quite happy and welcoming, I guess not in these ladies cases. Also, 3 months free rent is a good deal but I think too good of a deal to be true/​there must be a lot of vacancies… and for a good reason in my opinion. I would recommend looking at the Equity Apartments in Downtown, we visited 3 after without appointments and all the leasing agents were very open, professional, and helpful, plus the apartments were lovely and better priced with greater amenities as compared to Packard Lofts.

The experience I had with Packard Lofts (begins and ends with the leasing office) and it was not a positive one. They did not notify me when the loft (s), I was scheduled to view were no longer available. I drove downtown to view the loft and not only were my phone calls not returned during my scheduled appointment time, they didn’t even bother answering the door at the time of my scheduled appointment time. (After a few minutes, a tenant was leaving and I entered the building to find the leasing office — not only open — but a leasing agent sitting at her desk.)
I was really looking forward to viewing the Packard Lofts. However, first impressions will always have an impact on my decisions (big or small). The leasing office was unprofessional and the least they could have done (besides answering the door or phone) is acknowledge and apologize the inconvenience they caused me.

This is a great place to live. It is a little pricey, but with all things considered (the location, security, parking, amenities etc.) it is well worth it.
Occasionally you will hear a loud homeless person yelling obscenities as they walk by, but other than that, it is surprisingly quiet.
The parking garage could use some sprucing up, but that is not a big deal.

Love this place! My friend lives here and there’s always guest parking, and the door man is super nice!
Her loft is huge! and it’s quiet and a lot of young people live there! always running into guys and all her neighbors are so friendly!

BEWARE!
I lived here for a year and let me tell you it is FAR from pleasant. A+ for location, F for management, staff, and amenities.
The washer and dryer they give you in the units are a joke. Mine broke once and was so tiny. The staff is rude and nasty and always had an attitude.
I find it funny when you call that the voicemail is an american because every person who works here is asian. The Jacuzzi was broken on and off ½ the time I lived here, there is no pool.
The only thing you are paying for is the great location, but there are MUCH BETTER PLACES to live in downtown LA for your money. My boyfriend and I moved to the Orsini after I left the horrible Packard Lofts and couldn’t be happier. (:
Don’t get fooled by the great location this place is one of the worst places to live in downtown LA!!!

Packard Lofts delivers on its promise to provide an ultimate urban living experience. I was a tenant here for three years and sorely miss the attentiveness of the building staff and management team. Also, considering that downtown Los Angeles is quickly becoming the city’s center, the rates are more than reasonable for what you get. I’m not surprised that Packard Lofts is one of the highest rated apartment complexes on Unilocal

Perfect location, nice building without all the blingy nonsense of the surrounding high rises. Exemplary management. Do you want to party all night and then get your freak on by the pool on the umpteenth floor? Don’t live here. Are you looking for a refuge from types who answered yes to the previous question? Check it out.

After living here for 3 months I feel confident enough to review my new loft home! I love it! Yesterday we were treated by management to a continental breakfast & got to meet some of our neighbors. A cool and fun bunch of people. A nice mix of people… Business, families, and lots of FIDM students, as it happens, I too graduated from FIDM! The Packard lofts are in the best location of all the downtown lofts. We looked at the Met and the Reserve since we had already narrowed it down to South Park. We have a DECK! Neither the Met or Reserve have decks and ours is nice and big. Even the Sky lofts don’t have decks! The Packard is also magnificently landscaped with bamboo, a fountain and rock pathways, it feels more open than the met or the reserve where the hallways are all narrow, dark and inside. We also have a bulldog and have found that walking her around downtown is quite fun! We’re making all kinds of new friends!
The third floor facing Grand ave offers a great morning sunrise view. It is remarkably quiet around here. Friday and Saturday nights go off at the Crash Mansion across the street, but you don’t hear the music or anything. A washer/​dryer combo is in the unit which has changed my life! There is also a large laundry room on each floor for big loads. Parking is underground and great! We walk to Casey’s bar up Grand! We walk to one block up Hope to Ralphs, which I love! We also walk over to the mart area, 9^th & Los Angeles; Grill Table, New Moon, Tiara & more. Having worked (and commuted) many years in the Mart I’m familiar with the area & appreciate the direction downtown is going! And best of all my hubby can walk, or should I say skate, to work! It takes him under a minute to get to work! We moved from Huntington Beach, so the non-​commute makes this a perfect move! I could go on and on! Go Packard!

I would probably give this place three and a half stars if I could. The Good: I have a washer and dryer in my unit. That is a wonderful luxury. The appliances are new and work well. I have a lovely zen garden outside my door, a huge bathroom and closet. The staff is nice, they have parties for the residents every few months, and everything gets fixed in a timely manner. The Bad: You have to pay for guest parking– LAME. You have to live in downtown. The building always seems fairly deserted. It’s expensive. The Ugly: The view from my window is of a gas station and homeless people. Overall, it’s a decent place to live, just too isolated for me. You can’t really go outside and walk to places, at least not yet. Maybe once they finish LA Live downtown it’ll be a different story.