Ross Stores Signs 115,000 SF Lease at Row DTLA

Ross Stores has signed a 115,000 square foot lease at Row DTLA, Atlas Capital Group’s 32-acre adaptive-reuse campus in Downtown Los Angeles’s Arts District. The deal, first reported by Commercial Observer, includes about 110,000 square feet of creative office space plus 5,000 square feet of exclusive rooftop space. Ross is moving its West Coast merchandising hub out of DTLA’s traditional central business district to the former industrial campus.

Why it matters

The relocation signals that the Arts District’s adaptive-reuse office stock, built from the 1920s-era LA Terminal Market buildings and reopened in 2017, is now pulling established corporate tenants out of Downtown LA’s conventional CBD towers, not just creative and retail firms. For other landlords sitting on older CBD office stock, a retailer the size of Ross choosing a converted industrial campus over a traditional high-rise is a data point worth watching. Wade Haddad, Ross Stores’ senior vice president of corporate properties, said in a statement that “finding the right space is about much more than square footage.”

Ross said the move supports vendor collaboration and its nationwide retail expansion, pairing its merchandising team with the kind of creative-office environment more associated with media and fashion tenants than big-box retail.

The numbers

The lease totals 115,000 square feet, split between roughly 110,000 square feet of creative office and 5,000 square feet of rooftop space exclusive to Ross. Row DTLA spans 32 acres across the Arts District. The deal follows a run of leasing activity at the property: Pistola Denim signed for 17,900 square feet, Fashionphile leased 32,300 square feet last year, and Revolve recently renewed 48,000 square feet, underscoring Row DTLA’s pull with creative and retail tenants. Lease term and rent were not disclosed.

JLL’s Jaclyn Ward, Cassie Trosclair and Sarah Hancock represented Row DTLA and Atlas Capital Group in the deal. CBRE’s John Zanetos and Kelli Snyder represented Ross Stores.

What’s next

Ross’s relocation adds another large corporate user to Row DTLA’s tenant roster alongside its retail and fashion names, reinforcing Atlas Capital Group’s bet that adaptive-reuse space in the Los Angeles Arts District can compete directly with traditional Downtown LA office product for tenants with real scale. Watch whether other legacy CBD office landlords respond by repositioning older towers toward the same creative-office playbook.