Grading/Shoring Permits Issued for Palmer's Broadway Palace

Broadway Palace (Image: Loopnet)

One month after the massive blaze which destroyed half of the unfinished Da Vinci apartments, developer Geoff Palmer is preparing to begin work on yet another Downtown residential-retail complex.

Earlier this month, grading and shoring permits were issued by the Department of Building and Safety for the second half of Broadway Palace, a mixed-use development planned near the border between South Park and the Historic Core.  The project, located at 928 South Broadway, would create 439 studio, one-and-two bedroom apartments in a low-rise and mid-rise.  Plans call for a ten-story building along Broadway, lined with 35,000 square feet of street-level commercial space.  On the eastern side of the property fronting Main Street, the building would stand six stories tall above ground-floor live-work units.

The design of Broadway Palace forges a stark contrast to Palmer's other Central City developments, all of which feature Italian-Renaissance-themed architecture.  Instead, the building will feature a terra cotta brick facade tailored to resemble the appearances of nearby historic buildings.  The project's ten-story height is also informed by the Broadway Design Overlay, which seeks to maintain the neighborhood signature mid-rise street wall.

Lots of Activity at G.H. Palmer's Broadway/Olympic Site

Downtown stakeholders breathed a collective sigh of relief last February, when developer G.H. Palmer - he of freeway-adjacent, "fauxtalian," infamy - revealed more contextually appropriate plans for a mixed-use development near the Ace Hotel.  That historically-themed design will soon be put to the test, as the Beverly Hills-based developer has finally begun work on the the project known as Broadway Palace.  Crews are currently demolishing an existing building and surface parking lot at the southeast corner of Broadway and Olympic Boulevard, clearing the way for the first of the complex's two buildings.

The low-rise and mid-rise project, designed by Nelson/Boivin Architecture & Planning, calls for a cumulative 686 apartment units and over 50,000 square feet of ground-level commercial stalls.  The buildings, which will be clad in brick veneer, are to rise on opposite sides of Olympic Boulevard.  Planning documents indicate that the project may be linked together by a pedestrian bridge, an amenity which became a controversial issue for a different Palmer development earlier this year.

Plans Filed for Four New Mixed-Users in Downtown

One year after announcing ambitious Downtown expansion plans, Barry Shy is officially putting his money where his mouth is.  Over the past several weeks, SB Properties has filed plans with the city for four new residential developments, including multiple high-rise towers and an adaptive reuse project.  The four mixed-use complexes are being designed by Los Angeles-based DT Architects, and will invigorate current pedestrian dead zones along Broadway, Main and Hill Streets with approximately 1,000 market rate apartment units and street-level commercial space.