Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Page 4
Lawyer-Developer Ira Yellin Dies; Restored Bradbury Building, Promoted Downtown
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Ira Yellin, a Harvard-educated lawyer who became known for the redevelopment of historic Los Angeles buildings and for promoting downtown urban life, died yesterday. He was 62.
Cause of death was not immediately available. Yellin was known to have been suffering from cancer.
Yellin was the owner, through the Yellin Co., of downtown’s Grand Central Market, a 1917 covered market and office building that he refurbished and invigorated by stripping away a 1970s façade and adding neon signage and new parking. The market forms part of Yellin’s Grand Central Square, which includes housing thanks to his renovation of the Million Dollar Theater building on Broadway and the 1893 Bradbury Building, one of the few Los Angeles structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
With partners Paul Keller and Dan Rosenfeld, Yellin owned Urban Partners, which took a role in the development of many more modern downtown residential and mixed-use projects. The firm is currently constructing a $75 million joint development project at the Metro Gold Line Del Mar Station in Pasadena.
The company was recently selected as the developer of the Caltrans Downtown headquarters and the vintage Los Angeles County Hall of Justice on Temple Street.
Before forming Urban Partners, Yellin was senior vice president of Catellus Development Corp., which also worked on downtown development projects.
Yellin’s projects included working with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese to select an architect for the new cathedral.
Yellin was born in Boston. He graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and became a member of the State Bar of California in 1966.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company