Fig Central Revises Plans, Adds Third Tower

In early September, rumblings from the Department of Building and Safety hinted that the stalled Fig Central development was about to become much more active.  Now, a recent case filing from the Department of City Planning has revealed developer Oceanwide Real Estate Group's updated vision for the mixed-use complex.

The revised proposal for Fig Central plans for three high-rise towers, containing 504 residential units, 183 hotel rooms, and nearly 170,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.  Those figures are reduced from the earlier, RTKL-designed iteration of the project, which called for two towers with 1,200 condominiums, 500-to-700 hotel rooms, and 250,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses.  However, quick detective work by Skyscraperpage forumer (and ancient historian) Flavius Josephus indicates that the overall square footage of the project will remain the same.

An exact timeline for the project - previously budgeted at $700 million - is uncertain at this point in time.  Construction will first require the removal of several existing structures at 1101 South Flower Street, including an underground bank vault that has previously been cited as a detriment to the property's potential.

Fig Central is part of a recent trend in which Chinese investors have snatched up high-profile U.S. properties in gateway markets, with emphasis on New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  This includes Shenzen Hazens Real Estate Group's $105 million purchase of Downtown's Luxe Hotel and adjacent parking lots, located across the street from Fig Central.  A few blocks northwest, the Shanghai-based Greenland Group has already broken ground on the first phase of the 1.65 million square foot Metropolis development.

• Oceanwide Group Finally Getting Active on Fig Central (Building Los Angeles)

• DIR-2014-3673-SPPA (LADCP)