Next week, the DLANC's Planning and Land Use Committee is scheduled to take a closer look at Fig South, the glassy high-rise project slated for the (other) parking lot across the street from Staples Center. The twin 36-story towers are being designed by architecture firm Harley Ellis Devereaux; artistic renderings depict glassy, elliptical shaped buildings with swooping rooflines. Both towers would rise 400 feet above street level, the maximum height allowed for the property at 1200 S. Figueroa street. Altogether the project comprises 648 condominium units, situated above 48,000 square feet of sports-themed retail and restaurant space.
Designs for Fig South feature a prominent 100-foot tall podium, containing 1,770 parking spaces on seven above-grade and two below-grade levels. Renderings portray a landscaped outdoor deck atop the podium, offering amenities such as a swimming pool, fitness room, and barbeque pit. Additional open space would be included within each tower, specifically in the form of two rooftop terraces.
Fig South takes advantage of the generous signage allowed within the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District. Podium levels would be clad with large LED screens, looming over both Figueroa and 12th Streets. These video screens, in combination with decorative metal paneling, would work to obscure the towers' above-grade parking accommodations.
Renderings also show non-animated signage wrapping podium levels on the Flower Street side of the project site. While perhaps less regionally significant than its neighbor one block west, Flower Street would in fact be the main access point for Fig South, both on foot and by automobile. Pico Station already provides a steady stream of pedestrians through the immediate area, while vehicular ingress and egress to the project's garage would be located at the southeast corner of the property. Accordingly, multiple retail and restaurant stalls would line the prominent corner of Flower and 12th Streets.
Fig South is being spearheaded by David Lee, the founder and president of Jamison Services, one of Southern California's largest private landlords. Although an exact timeline for the project has not been announced, the website of structural engineering firm Cary Kopczynski & Company suggests that construction may begin before the end of 2014.
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That stretch of Figueroa is going to be lit up like a x'mas tree 24/7. But it is probably the right place to try out something visually like this in LA.
ReplyDeleteVery surprised to learn the building is oriented towards Flower St... I've been saying that is such a wasted/under used real estate with a Metro station right there. Looks like the building developer agrees with me ;)
I don't know of any other place in LA that is deliberately zoned to encourage video screens, so they might as well take advantage of it. Flower Street is shaping up very nicely, between the Macy's Plaza redo, the low-rise project at Pico, and multiple high-rise towers between 11th St. and Olympic Blvd.
DeleteThe next frontier is to start moving south of Pico. Plenty of vacant buildings that could be converted to office space, or demolished for residential/hotel uses. I think pretty much everything will require TFAR to even get to seven stories, though.