New Owner of California Mart Vows Revamp : Real estate: Equitable Life hopes to draw tenants to the building in the once-thriving Downtown garment district.

The California Mart, which has been home to apparel wholesalers in Los Angeles’ historic Downtown garment district for years, will be revitalized in an attempt to attract new tenants, the building’s new owners said Friday.

The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, which foreclosed Tuesday after the previous owners defaulted on about $250 million in outstanding loans, said it will begin making improvements immediately.

The 30-year-old building anchors the garment district but has seen tenants leave in recent years as the apparel industry underwent a severe recession and conditions in the neighborhood deteriorated.

“We fully understand that the property is really a business,” said Tino Argimon, a senior vice president for the insurance company in Irvine. “The mart . . . has witnessed declines in buyer traffic . . . and we know it needs to be repositioned in the marketplace. It also needs more tenants.”

Among other things, the insurance company promises to refurbish public areas, install tenant lobby displays and paint the underground garage within the next 60 days. Argimon said he foresees no immediate change in building rents.

The foreclosure was announced to tenants in the 3-million-square-foot building’s 1,400 showrooms Wednesday in a letter from Calmart President Maurice (Corky) Newman. It brings to an end the uncertainty over the building’s ownership, which had been in question since the previous owners, led by the Sidney Morse family, defaulted last year on four loans related to a refinancing in the late 1980s.

Argimon said officials of Equitable and the previous owners had tried unsuccessfully to renegotiate terms of the loans since August, 1993. Morse could not be reached for comment.

Tenants became unhappy with rent increases in 1992 and with worsening crime, graffiti and other problems that were keeping buyers from retail chains away.

Argimon said occupancy of the California Mart has fallen to about 80% from more than 90% in the late 1980s; mart spokesman David Stamper said the peak was closer to 87%.

In any case, after tenants complained, rents were reduced, parking rates were cut and steps were taken to refurbish the building’s structure and decor.

In addition, Morse and other landlords in the area formed a property owners association to pool money to hire additional security and clean up the district.

For some tenants, it wasn’t enough. Jeans maker Levi Strauss pulled out of the mart in 1993 and moved to Long Beach, citing a need to be closer to its employees and customers.

Other tenants continue to search for a place to move, said Jeffrey Krinsky, an apparel wholesaler in the mart and co-director of the 110 E. Ninth Street Tenant Assn., which claims a membership of 400.

“Sid Morse did more than everything that could have been done by one individual to upgrade the building and its immediate vicinity, and his efforts are appreciated and saluted by everyone here,” Krinsky said. But “our plans to move out never hinged on who the owner of the building was.”