There’s more of them in Downtown LA than any other. Chances are, if you live in an affordable loft in Historic Downtown (remember that consistent branding - keep it up people), you live in one of Barry’s buildings. Mr. Barry Shy has the shittiest of shitty reputations in DTLA, and rightfully so. He has been sued by countless numbers of tenants (mostly in his for-sale buildings rather than his rental units), and is generally regarded as an impediment to DTLA retail (word on the street is he just won’t spend anything on ANYTHING).
But what’s it really like to live in one of his buildings as a renter. This is small town living and word gets around. You might be considering sending one of your friends to one of his buildings cause you want them to join the neighborhood, but at an affordable rate. But they’re your homie and you’re not looking to get involved in the drama if they get screwed. So lets bottom line it here.
One - the newer buildings are way better than the older ones. period.
Two - it’s really hard to beat their prices, but don’t trust their price per square foot, they’ve been sued too many times for it to ever be considered accurate
Three - service is not their speciality, don’t expect a building that gets involved, it’s like Southwest with BS buildings, no frills, low prices
Three - The hallways are weird and might smell, no idea why they do in these buildings more than others.. but they do
Four - if you’re young, and chill, and pretty no frills yourself, you probably wont ever meet Mr. Shy or notice anything wrong with your loft, you’ll pay your rent on time and party with your neighbors.
Five - if you’re not down with the above, move on.