Downtown Los Angeles is bustling with new residents. Not so much with office workers, though.

• Los Angeles' downtown has become a hot spot for residential growth in the city.
• The neighborhood's office market, however, continues to languish.
• Downtown LA is expected to be a major draw for residential living over the next few decades.

For generations, downtown Los Angeles was the region's nexus of commerce, as vast office spaces and old-line department stores made the neighborhood a business powerhouse.

But urban decay and suburbanization, which accelerated after World War II, made downtown into more of a 9-to-5 office hub. For decades, the city core was a destination for work but not much else.

That all changed after 2000 when there was sustained residential growth in downtown Los Angeles. And since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, that growth has only strengthened. The neighborhood is now a major draw for residential development.