| Commercial Exchange Building | |
|---|---|
-July_2022.jpg) | |
 Interactive map of Commercial Exchange Building | |
| General information | |
| Location | 416 West 8th Street,Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Completed | 1924 |
| Owner | Sydell Group |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Walker and Eisen |
TheFreehand Los Angeles Hotel, formerly theCommercial Exchange Building, is a historic structure inLos Angeles, California, United States.
The building is located on the corner ofOlive Street and8th Street inDowntown Los Angeles,California.[1]
The 13-story building was completed in 1924. It was designed by the architecture firm ofWalker and Eisen. The building has the distinction of having been vertically split to permit widening of Olive Street. The building's exterior also holds one of the tallestneon signs in Los Angeles.[2]
To allow the widening of Olive Street in the mid-1930s, a "10-foot slice" was removed from the center of the Commercial Exchange Building and engineers rejoined the remaining halves by sliding the western portion eastward.[2] Total cost of the removal and realignment was $60,000, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1935.[2]
Edgar Rice Burroughs operated his publishing company from offices in the Commercial Exchange Building. The structure also once housed the offices ofOwl Drug Company.[2]
In early 2013 the building, which had been vacant for two decades, was put on the market for $14 million.[2] A year later, in 2014, it was acquired by theSydell Group, with financial backing fromAllianceBernstein andYucaipa Companies, an investment firm owned by billionaireRonald Burkle.[1] The owners remodeled it into the Freehand Los Angeles Hotel,[1] which opened in June 2017.[3] The building was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 2019.[citation needed]
34°2′40″N118°15′23″W / 34.04444°N 118.25639°W /34.04444; -118.25639