South Park Condo Project Gets a (Slightly) Different Look

Image credit: Harley Ellis Devereaux

As the long-awaited revival of Fig Central finally starts to rev its engines, architectural firm Harley Ellis Devereaux has retooled the look of a neighboring high-rise proposal.  1200 Fig - revealed in July by Curbed LA - will feature a pair of elliptical, 36-story towers with 648 condominium units and 50,000 square feet of ground-level retail and restaurant space.  Updated renderings of the project portray the twin buildings with horizontal window patterns, giving them an appearance which would be right at home in Downtown Miami.  The towers are adorned with swooping roof lines, inspired by the architecture of the adjacent Staples Center.

While the towers may look straight outta' Brickell, their podium structure has a lot more in common with Times Square.  Six levels of above-grade parking will be wrapped with LED signage, displaying advertisements and public art above Figueroa, Flower and 12th Streets.  Similar video screens are also utilized on neighboring tower developments, including Fig Central and the recently completed double-Marriott on Olympic Boulevard.

The mixed-use complex is being developed by a team of investors, including Jamison Services and the Hankey Group.  At 400 feet, the twin towers will reportedly be the tallest reinforced concrete structures ever built in Los Angeles.  According to the website of structural engineering firm Cary Kopczynski & Company, 1200 Fig is anticipated to break ground in late 2014.

Introducing 925 La Brea: Hollywood's Latest Office Development

Resurgent demand for quality office space in Hollywood has revived a slew of commercial developments throughout the submarket, including 1601 Vine Street and the sprawling Columbia Square campus.  Now, a recent environmental report provides a glimpse of the neighborhood's latest project, intended for a property which straddles the Hollywood/West Hollywood border.

925 La Brea Avenue, a six-story mixed-use complex, would rise from a mid-block parcel between Willoughby Avenue and Romaine Streets.  Designed by Santa Barbara-based Shubin + Donaldson Architects, the project would feature nearly 50,000 square feet of office space on its upper three floors.  The structure's three bottom floors would be devoted to a 175-car parking garage and 15,000 square feet of street-fronting commercial space.  A 4,800 square foot outdoor garden would occupy a fourth floor amenity deck, providing tenants with much needed open space.

Oceanwide Group Finally Getting Active on Fig Central

Image credit: RTKL

Nine months after purchasing the comatose Fig Central development for $200 million, Oceanwide Real Estate Group is finally taking the plunge in South Park.  Last week, the Beijing-based developer issued $320 million in bonds that will reportedly be used to finance the construction of the mixed-use complex.  Simultaneously, the developer has applied for the first in a series of LADBS approvals that will allow the long-delayed project to move forward.

The recent LADBS filing describes Fig Central as a two-building development, offering a mixture of apartments and hotel rooms above ground-level commercial space and a health club.  Towers will ascend to heights of 53 and 38 stories, seated atop a an eight-floor podium structure.  Seven stories of the podium will be devoted to a vehicular garage, supplementing three underground parking levels.

More information can be garnered via a series of renderings, drawn up years ago by architectural firm RTKL.  Fig Central, originally envisioned as the retail component of the LA Live complex, greets its namesake street with storefronts and a mid-block public plaza.  From there, a ground-level paseo cuts straight through to the eastern side of the property, helping to mitigate the inherent walkability issues that come with such a large development site.

The glass-clad towers would directly abut the Flower Street side of the project, creating a formidable street wall along the path of the Blue and Expo Lines.  Upper levels of the mid-rise podium would feature outdoor dining space and a residential amenity deck.  Additionally, a large LED ribbon would wrap the western perimeter of the property, bombarding commercialism upon all passersby between 11th and 12th Streets.

Fig Central joins more than a dozen new and revived high-rise projects that have sprung up throughout Downtown within the past two years.  North of LA Live, the Shanghai-based Greenland Group is currently building hotel and condominium towers as part of their Metropolis development.   On parking lots surrounding the Fig Central site, Mack Urban and other local investors are scheduled to break ground on multiple high-rise buildings before the end of this year.

Beverly Hills-Adjacent Condo Tower Pulls Permits

Image credit: Genton Property Group

According to a series of permit filings with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, the long delayed Wetherly Luxury Residences are finally exhibiting signs of life.  The $230 million development, in the works since prior to the global recession, calls for a mid-rise condominium tower at the corner of 3rd Street and Wetherly Drive.  Renderings from the website of developer Genton Property Group portray a boxy, 12-story structure containing 55 for-sale units and more than 100 parking stalls.  The proposed building, reportedly designed by architectural firm RTKL, would feature a stout, 152-foot height profile.

Originally approved at a 16-story, 132 unit development, a combination of neighborhood resistance and market realities gradually whittled the proposed building down to its current size.  However, even the substantially reduced development program has still engendered outcry from neighbors large and small.  In addition to run-of-the-mill complaints of blocked views, overpopulation and traffic congestion, the project also brought Genton Property Group into conflict with the adjacent Four Seasons Hotel last year.

Redesigned Bixel & 6th Development Rendered

Bixel & 6th.  Image credit: LoopNet.

Take another look at Bixel & 6th, the fortress-like mixed-use development currently sprouting next to Good Samaritan Hospital.  Designed by Togawa Smith Martin, the six-story complex will offer 606 studio to three-bedroom apartment units, seated above 25,000 square feet of commercial space and a 762-vehicle parking garage.  The $200 million development also entails the adaptive reuse of an A.C. Martin-designed office building, located at the corner of 6th Street and Lucas Avenue.  The eight-story edifice, built in the 1920s, will contain a total of 42 apartments (including 27 affordable units).

Planned amenities will include rooftop decks, an outdoor pool, a fitness center and new landscaping.  Designs call for a pedestrian paseo to bisect the newly constructed buildings, running north to south from the project's 6th Street frontage.  The paseo would provide open space for residents and potentially outdoor seating for ground-floor commercial tenants.

The approximately 900,000 square foot complex is being developed by Holland Residential, a subsidiary of the Holland Partner Group.  The Vancouver-based organization is no stranger to City West, having previously developed a smaller residential-retail project immediately south of Bixel & 6th.  That project, known as 1111 Wilshire, has helped usher a new wave of development into Downtown's westernmost nabe.

More on Hollywood and La Brea's Upcoming High-Rise Complex

All images credit: Horizon Hollywood and GMPA Architects

With an official website up and running, we can now take a closer look at the latest tower project slated to realign Hollywood's low-slung skyline.  The $150 million Horizon Hollywood - to be developed by a partnership between by Kennedy Wilson and the LeFrak Organization - would create 410  residential units and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space just a short walk from Hollywood/Highland Station.

Designed by Santa Monica-based GMPA Architects, Horizon would erect a trio of modern buildings on a two-acre property currently occupied by Mosaic Church.  A 26-story tower known as the La Brea Building would be the centerpiece of the development, rising 275 feet from the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and namesake La Brea Avenue.  Renderings portray a white color scheme for the high-rise, similar to that of many nearby historic structures.

Moving northwest from the busy intersection, Horizon's buildings would step down in height to match the scale of adjacent developments.  The eight-story Boulevard Building, to be located in-between the aforementioned tower and an existing residential mid-rise, would stand 88 feet above street level.  The six-story Courtyard Building, the smallest of the proposed structures, would rise 65 feet at the northernmost corner of the development site.  All three buildings would be served by a wide array of amenities, including roof decks, a fitness center, conference and media rooms, and an outdoor pool.

Another Mixed-User Headed to Santa Monica Boulevard

11852 Santa Monica Boulevard

Just as one of West Los Angeles' abandoned car dealership prepares for a mixed-use conversion, a similar development plan is emerging at the same intersection.  According to a recent case filing from LADCP, a quarter-acre lot at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Westgate Avenue is slated for a new residential-retail development.  Plans call for a four-story building, consisting of 39 apartments and ground-level commercial space.  The apartments and retail stalls would be served by a three-level subterranean parking garage.

The low-rise complex would rise directly across the street from a larger mixed-use development, proposed by the Hollywood-based CIM Group.  Their plans, recently discussed with members of the West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, would create a four-story, 157-unit apartment building on the former site of Beurge Ford.

Adding to this momentum, other development schemes are percolating on properties further east.  CIM Group owns a second vacant car dealership nearby, although exact plans for the property have yet to crystallize.  Surprisingly, Curbed LA reports that development rumors have also surfaced at the former site of West Los Angeles' "Ghetto Vons."