Historic L.A. Building With Banksy Mural for Sale Following Tarina Tarantino Bankruptcy Filing

For sale: A seven-story historic building in the heart of the Los Angeles Fashion District with one special feature — a Banksy mural on the side of the building.

The 108-year-old structure, known as The Sparkle Factory and owned by jewelry designer Tarina Tarantino and her husband and business partner, Alfonso Campos, is part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing made by Tarina Tarantino Management.

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The couple, with other partners, acquired the 26,000-square-foot edifice in 2007 for $4 million at a time when the Los Angeles Fashion District wasn’t so fashionable.

At the time the building, located on a street filled with 1920s-era movie houses, was struggling with retail vacancies and little foot traffic. But in 2013, several hip retail pioneers arrived in the commercial desert, including Acne Studios, Aesop and, more recently, A.P.C., Ganni and Paul Smith.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many restaurants, stores and offices have closed their doors.

Tarina Tarantino Management filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Los Angeles, facing an $8 million secured loan claim from Wells Fargo Bank.

The management company is 41.5 percent owned by the pink-haired jewelry designer, known for her colorful, candy-like designs, and 41.5 percent owned by Campos. They believe the building is worth $16 million, not including the Banksy mural, which in court papers they said is valued at $10 million alone. The famous street artist, who uses a distinctive stenciling style on common spaces, painted the mural, called “Girl on a Swing,” in 2010 when he slipped into a parking lot on the side of the building late one night.

Campos wrote in an email that the management company “is seeking to reorganize given the impact of COVID-19 on its building and unreasonable positions taken by the lender. We have spent substantial efforts and resources in renovations to make The Sparkle Factory the impressive building that it is today. … We are committed, with the assistance of the bankruptcy court, to working to return from bankruptcy and continue to maintain and always improve The Sparkle Factory and its valuable contributions to Los Angeles for generations to come.”

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The building’s sale has sparked a lot of interest from buyers with pent-up cash to spend in a hot real estate market.

Recently, Phillip Sample, senior vice president of CBRE’s Urban Investment Group in downtown Los Angeles, was showing the building to a prospective buyer. They walked through the gated alleyway that protects the Banksy mural, which is covered in Plexiglas, and then inside the building.

He said the building, which was renovated by the management company, has seen lots of interest. “This is an A-plus location in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles,” he noted.

Up the street is a new Apple store located inside the historic Tower Theatre, built in 1927 in a Renaissance Revival style. It was empty for 33 years until it was extensively renovated and opened last year.

A Whole Foods grocery is another few blocks away. And across the street from The Sparkle Factory is the Ace Hotel, a hip boutique hotel next to the United Artists Theatre, now called the Theatre at the Ace Hotel. It is a heavily ornate Spanish Gothic venue once owned by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith.

The Sparkle Factory building at 910 South Broadway was built in 1914 and has an interesting history. Portions of the 1923 Harold Lloyd film comedy “Safety Last” were filmed there. For many years it was home to the Western Costume Company, which supplied costumes to the film and entertainment industry.

After Tarantino and her husband renovated the building, they moved her jewelry boutique in 2014 from Melrose Avenue to the top floor of the historic structure, which also houses creative offices, ground-floor retail and a space for a basement bar. Current tenants include IXperiential Media and Mira Labs.

Story by Deborah Belgum