Landmark downtown apartment tower faces foreclosure 37%

By Roger Vincent0%

6/19/2026, 3:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Halo Effect, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 30.5% saturation with 163 hits. Analysis detected 1,038 faulty-reasoning hits from 535 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.6% and a BS Rank of 37% (13,820 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 63.10% of the article peer group.

A landmarked downtown Los Angeles apartment building designed by famed Los Angeles architect John Parkinson is on the market as its owners face foreclosure. 
Residences in the Metropolitan, a 10-story tower built in 1913, are nearly filled with tenants but its ground floor retail spaces on Broadway and 5th Street are unoccupied, as are other street-level stores in downtown’s Historic Core. 
The historic building was once considered one of the best in the city and is owned by the Fallas family, which operated a chain of value-priced clothing stores based in Gardena including one called Fallas Paredes in the Metropolitan. 
Around 2011, Michael Fallas, who once worked in family’s downtown store as a stock boy, converted the upstairs floors from offices to apartments while continuing to operate Fallas Paredes. 
The store closed more than five years ago in the wake of a 2018 filing by its parent company for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 
Earlier this month in state Superior Court, a special servicer representing Fallas’ lender asked for a judicial foreclosure of the property, alleging that Fallas had stopped making payments on a $32 million loan dating to 2017. 
After leasing the property for years, Fallas bought the building in the 1990s. 
Fallas didn’t respond to requests for comment. 
The location of the Metropolitan where the buildings stands was hailed in a Times story in 1912, saying “it is regarded by many realty men as the most valuable piece of real estate in Los Angeles.” 
The building today is recognized as a city historic-cultural monument because “Broadway became the commercial center of the Southland, a title it retained until well after World War II,” with its development, the city said. 
One of the architects who designed the Metropolitan in the Beaux-Arts style was John Parkinson, who is credited with designing such well-known local structures as City Hall, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Union Station. 
Notable tenants in the Metropolitan have included the Los Angeles Public Library, Owl Drug Co., variety store J.J. 
Newberry and real estate company Janss Investment Co., which sold the land where UCLA is built and developed Westwood Village, among other Los Angeles neighborhoods. 
In recent years, the buildings around the Metropolitan have struggled to keep retail tenants after a spurt of residential conversions of historic buildings starting in the early 2000s brought commerce to the neighborhood. 
Many downtown businesses have struggled since the pandemic reduced occupancy in offices downtown and reduced the flow of visitors. 
“The lack of bodies on the street is generally hurting downtown, and that’s one of the reasons that the building has problems,” said downtown real estate broker Hal Bastian, who lives in the Historic Core. 
There are close to 1,000 residential units in historic buildings at the intersection of Broadway and 5th Street, Bastian said, but all the ground floor stores are closed. 
Drug stores there suffered substantial losses from shoplifting he said, and now, “our challenge on Broadway is leasing.” 
The 88 apartments in the Metropolitan are 91% rented, according to a listing for the property by the Zacuto Group, which also touts its roof deck with pool, fitness center and barbecue grills. 
No sale price is set. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 3.0%Daily Pilot: 2.9%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 1.7%Daily Pilot: 1.2%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 6.5%Roger Vincent: 4.0%Daily Pilot: 3.5%Availability Heuristic6.5%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 1.3%Daily Pilot: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.7%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 2.3%Daily Pilot: 1.9%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 5.6%Roger Vincent: 6.6%Daily Pilot: 7.5%Framing Effect5.6%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.5%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.2%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.2%Roger Vincent: 7.2%Daily Pilot: 3.6%Optimism Bias6.2%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 1.0%Daily Pilot: 1.4%Pessimism Bias0.0%This article: 22.1%Roger Vincent: 6.9%Daily Pilot: 7.8%Negativity Bias22.1%This article: 5.4%Roger Vincent: 5.3%Daily Pilot: 2.2%Self-Serving Bias5.4%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.6%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.2%Daily Pilot: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.3%Daily Pilot: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.6%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 20.6%Roger Vincent: 8.8%Daily Pilot: 5.1%Halo Effect20.6%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 1.4%Daily Pilot: 1.3%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 7.3%Roger Vincent: 0.6%Daily Pilot: 0.4%Primacy Effect7.3%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 1.3%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Ad Hominem1.3%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 30.5%Roger Vincent: 5.3%Daily Pilot: 4.9%Appeal to Authority30.5%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 1.2%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.6%Daily Pilot: 0.7%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 5.2%Roger Vincent: 4.1%Daily Pilot: 4.4%Hasty Generalization5.2%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.6%Daily Pilot: 1.0%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 3.3%Daily Pilot: 5.7%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 6.7%Roger Vincent: 1.9%Daily Pilot: 0.7%Begging the Question6.7%This article: 17.6%Roger Vincent: 5.1%Daily Pilot: 2.6%Post Hoc (False Cause)17.6%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 6.7%Roger Vincent: 0.2%Daily Pilot: 0.4%Burden of Proof6.7%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.9%Daily Pilot: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 6.5%Roger Vincent: 3.3%Daily Pilot: 2.8%Anecdotal6.5%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 6.7%Roger Vincent: 1.7%Daily Pilot: 1.6%Ambiguity (Equivocation)6.7%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.3%Daily Pilot: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.1%Daily Pilot: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 15.1%Roger Vincent: 3.2%Daily Pilot: 1.3%Unattributed Quote15.1%This article: 6.7%Roger Vincent: 1.1%Daily Pilot: 0.8%Quote-first Misdirection6.7%This article: 4.5%Roger Vincent: 1.7%Daily Pilot: 6.0%Biased Writer Voice4.5%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 1.2%Daily Pilot: 1.5%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.9%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Roger Vincent: 0.0%Daily Pilot: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 12.7%Roger Vincent: 2.9%Daily Pilot: 4.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…12.7%

535 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers21%attributed speech425writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 6 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 39 words • 100.0% coverageMichael Fallas • 29 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 7 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 35 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 35 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageHal Bastian • 35 words • 0.0% coverageHal Bastian • 28 words • 0.0% coverageHal Bastian • 18 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 33 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Hal Bastian

100%flagged-word coverage
81 attributed words74% of attributed speech81% writer coverage
0%10.0%20.0%Unattributed Quote-19.1 ptsWriter: 19.1%Hal Bastian: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -16.0 ptsWriter: 16.0%Hal Bastian: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-8.5 ptsWriter: 8.5%Hal Bastian: 0.0%0.0%Biased Writer Voice-5.6 ptsWriter: 5.6%Hal Bastian: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…

Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.