Sunday, February 16, 2014

Meet 5-OH, Park Fifth's Downsized Replacement


When San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners announced their intent to purchase the former Park Fifth site, they indicated that their plans halved the square footage of the original proposal.  Now we actually get a look at what they have in mind, via a presentation to the DLANC.  Once intended to give rise to skyline altering towers of 76 and 43 stories, the surface parking lot across from Pershing Square will instead birth a 24-story residential tower and a low-rise apartment building.  The Harley Ellis Deveraux designed complex, dubbed "5-OH," would create a cumulative 615 residential units and 17,000 square feet of street level retail.  The 300-unit residential tower, standing 241 feet tall, would be clad in aluminum, sandstone, and cement panels.  Both buildings would sit above a semi-subterranean parking garage, with room for 657 automobiles and 624 bicycles.  Similar to South Park's 801 Olive Street, 5-OH would offer rooftop amenities including a clubhouse, an outdoor pool, a landscaped courtyard, and barbeque pits.  The project's 315-unit low-rise structure would offer similar rooftop facilities, with residential access via a private paseo between Hill and Olive Streets.  Of course, this all seems a bit underwhelming when considering what could have been.  The original Kohn Pedersen Fox project would have created Los Angeles' third tallest building, with a design that flawlessly integrated itself with the adjacent Title Guarantee Building.  Alas, like so many proposed developments from before the real estate bubble, it was not meant to be.







The original plan for Park Fifth, designed by KPF Associates

9 comments:

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    1. Definitely has a smaller price tag that Park Fifth, but probably not cheap.

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  2. an embarrassment. MacFarlane, use all your entitlements! This should be at least 50 stories tall and the secondary tower should be a min 35. WHAT A WASTE

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    1. I'd like to see something a little bit taller, but it is what it is.

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    2. Im never one to really bitch and moan about the shorter projects downtown, but this is land that is entitled for so much more and is a linchpin location. It would have been great if Greenland bought this prop as well, but i guess we are stuck with MacFarlane Partners. Hopefully Huizars office puts pressure on them to step up their game. I actually dont mind the look and materials used, but i sincerely hope that this is revised. Lastly, do you have an estimated timeline?

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    3. I don't know what the timeline is, but the Downtown News will probably have info next week. From what I can tell, they haven't filed for construction permits yet. It's not a bad...it's just not Park Fifth.

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  3. It's the O.J. Courthouse all over again.

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  4. There seem to be five architects in the world with imagination. One of them did not design this building. It looks like a first-year architecture-school model, if that. Yes, what a waste.

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    1. According to the LA Times, the project has been redesigned by Ankrom Moisan. I don't believe new renderings have been released, though.

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