The downtown L.A. housing market is red hot. (Leo Wu/Photo)

If you’ve been to the Staples Center, you’ve probably seen the huge surface parking lot next to the stadium. But you probably did not know that this $200 million parking lot has been purchased by a Chinese company — a company expecting a housing market renaissance in downtown L.A.

As the effects of the Great Recession took its toll on the region, the housing market in downtown L.A. spiraled into a downturn. However, both developers and buyers seemed to regain confidence recently.

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Alex LiMandri is a real estate agent, who works for LA Lofts Realty in downtown L.A. He has experienced the peak of the housing market in 2007 and the burst of the housing bubble from the Great Recession of 2008. But things have changed in recent years. “A lot of properties got sold and inventory got shorter,” LiMandri said, with the Ritz-Carlton Residences as an example.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences is a very special property in downtown. “The only one of this kind,” LiMandri said. A furnished two-bedroom unit at the Ritz-Carlton can cost more than $3 million. Now, the luxury complex is almost sold out. “I have seen some people are renting at Ritz, and waiting for something to come back to market,” LiMandri said.

“It took them years to make this,” said Richard Green, director of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. The spike in sales happened in the recent two years. However, this high-end property complex opened for sale in 2007, a year before the housing bubble market burst.

“It wasn’t a cost-effective deal to invest millions in downtown,” Green said.

A few miles away from Ritz-Carlton Residences, at the southeast corner of 11th and Figueroa Street, there is a 4.2-acre surface parking lot, which was purchased by the New York-based Moinian Group. Moinian reportedly paid $80 million for the lot seven years ago. Now, it is owned by Oceanwide Real Estate Group, a Chinese property developer. According to an announcement released by Oceanwide Group, the price of this acquisition was “no more than $200 million” — more than two times of the price that Moinian paid.

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Demand has exceeded supply at the Ritz-Carlton Residences. (Leo Wu/Photo)

Before Moinian Group sold the huge parking lot to Oceanwide Group, the property has been approved by the city to build a high-end, mix-used complex called Fig Center. The official webpage of Fig Center describes itself, “a natural extension of that singular energy and dynamism that is L.A. Live and the surrounding Sports & Entertainment of Los Angeles.”

Now, the Chinese developer is ready to activate this “natural extension of L.A."

“This project has a unique cultural environment and advantageous location. It has a good market both for operating by ourselves, and reselling, ” wrote Oceanwide Group in a Chinese press announcement.

“The market in downtown is different now,” Green said. A population boom has made real-estate investment more viable. The population surged to 52,400, according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District’s demographic study, with nearly 7,000 new residents since 2011. “Downtown is a small area. There are more people coming, that means it needs more houses,” Green said.

It comes at a time when the United States economy is beginning to inch back to life. The Federal Reserve has begun to make moves indicative of a county on the mend and investors are taking note. “Companies feel comfortable to put money here that they would be able to get it back,” Green said. It is especially true for international companies.

But there are some lingering side effects of the housing downtown. “The neighborhood in downtown is not where you can charge premium,” Green said. Moreover, the luxury skyscrapers in California are built under a strict earthquake code. “This makes them costly,” Green said. Therefore, these condos mainly target the high-end buyers.

For many, investing millions of dollars into the downtown real-estate market is not a practical option. Local resident, Joan Parker, who lives in Northridge Valley with a big family, thinks it doesn’t make sense to spend that amount of money on housing in downtown. There are other better options. “Raising a family, I think suburb area, like San Fernando Valley, would make more sense than downtown. If you have kids.” Joan Parker said.

Maria Telleria shares the same thought. She used to live in downtown, then moved to Pasadena, after she found the area to be too crowded. “Unless, you are single for a really long time, and you want to be out here for $3 million dollars. Then, go for it,” Telleria said.

But, LiMandri has different opinion. “People have a misconception that the housing is cheap in downtown. But, it is not cheap,” LiMandri said. Downtown is becoming the second most expensive market in L.A. “It has great potential,” LiMandri said.

“Los Angeles has its advantage,” Green also admits. It is the first destination for most of the investors who come from the other side of Pacific Ocean, such as China, Korea and Russia. “They think L.A. is an international city, which it is,” Green added.

“The international buyers have to be careful,” LiMandri said. Some international buyers, who are buying property for immigration purposes, should be aware of certain scam. “You can’t buy a property for trading a green card,” LiMandri said. According to the immigration policy of American government, the immigration department would only issue the EB-5 visa to investors, who invest in commercial project, such as hotels, shopping malls and etc.

However, while housing prices are trending upward in downtown L.A., sales are decreasing at the same time. Many buyers are dissuaded when they see astronomical prices for the downtown region. “It’s weird,” LiMandri said

It's a Catch-22 for LiMandri, because while customer confidence about the downtown market is sky-high, they are waiting for lower prices and a good deal - which only happens when the market has problems.

And there's only so much room in the Ritz.

You can reach contributor Leo Wu here.