Carmel Partners Revising Plans for South Park Tower

The now outdated design of 801 Olive Street, by GMP Architects

Nine months after revealing plans for a new residential tower in South Park, Carmel Partners is switching up the playbook.  According to a memo issued earlier this month by the Department of City Planning, the San Francisco-based developer's proposed high-rise building at 801 Olive Street has been redesigned by a new, unspecified architect.  Although the fundamentals of the project remain the same (363 apartments above 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a four-level parking podium), the retooled development plan calls for a tower that is both taller and slimmer than previously approved.  The now rectangular-shaped building is set to rise 33 stories (352 feet), representing a six-floor increase from the previous design by GMP Architects.

801 Olive Street is one of several skyline-altering developments planned for the northern section of South Park, including a 50-story condo project from the Onni Group and a 33-story apartment tower from CIM Group.  However, it is a more vertically challenged neighbor that has arguably generated the biggest news for the neighborhood.  Carmel Partners' seven-story G8 development is slated to bring 700 apartments to the Downtown market, a larger total than any of its sky-scraping neighbors.  More importantly, the low-rise building will feature a 42,000 square foot Whole Foods Market when it opens in 2015.  The high-end grocer has been listed amongst the most sought-after retailers for Downtown residents in recent years, perhaps second only to the elusive Trader Joe's.

Glassy New Look for 801 Olive Street

Courtesy of the DLANC Planning and Land Use Committee, I offer you updated renderings of Carmel Partners' proposed tower at 801 Olive Street.  Set to rise 27-stories, the GMP Architects designed tower would contain 363 residential units above a four-story podium.  The building activates the corner of 8th and Olive Streets with 10,000 combined square feet of retail and restaurant space.  Not a bad complement for the future Whole Foods Market across the street.  The tower's accessible rooftop would feature an outdoor pool, a fire pit, and an enclosed lounge with incredible views of the city (check out a rendering after the jump).  If you want to take in the view a little bit closer to the ground, 801 Olive Street would also feature outdoor sky decks on its 6th and 20th floors.  Other residential amenities include a fitness room and a landscaped terrace atop the building's 389-vehicle garage.  However, Carmel's proposed tower may wind up being overshadowed by more ambitious plans coming out of Canada.  The Vancouver-based Onni Group recently filed plans with the city for multiple Downtown high-rise projects, including a 50-story tower on a surface parking lot at 820 Olive Street.  It's difficult to imagine this current pedestrian dead zone as a thriving mixed-use corridor, but all of these projects currently in the pipeline could make it happen.

Meet South Park's Newest Tower: 801 Olive Street

801 Olive Street.  Image from GMP Architects and Carmel Partners.

San Francisco based Carmel Partners made headlines when they restarted the 8th and Grand development, and now they have plans to give their 700-unit monolith a glassy high-rise neighbor.  801 Olive Street, which was first spotted moving through City Planning back in October, would stand 27-stories and approximately 317 feet tall.  The GMP Architects designed tower would contain 363 apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground level commercial space.  Residential units would rise above a five-story parking podium, which stretches south from the intersection of 8th and Olive Streets.  801 Olive would feature an accessible rooftop, offering residents an outdoor pool, a fire pit, and a lounge with spectacular views of the Downtown skyline.  Other amenities include a landscaped courtyard and a fitness center, both located atop the 389-car garage.  While critics will almost certainly point out the conspicuous podium, 801 Olive does offer a reasonable 1:1 ratio between residential units and parking spaces.  Slowly but surely, developers are figuring out that people actually will walk in LA (and pick up a $250 jaywalking ticket in the process).  Carmel Partners' newest project sits at the center of South Park's recent development boom, with several other mixed-use projects under construction nearby.  Hollywood based CIM Group also has a residential tower in the pipeline at the northeast corner of 9th and Hope Streets, although a timeline for that project has yet to be specified.