Vibiana-Adjacent Residential Complex Breaks Ground

Image: Togawa Smith Martin, Inc. via the Downtown News

Yet another mixed-use development is now pushing dirt in Downtown Los Angeles.

Earlier this week, Holland Partner Group broke ground on a new residential-retail complex adjacent to the deconsecrated Cathedral of St. Vibiana.  The eight-story development, located at 222 South Main Street, will feature 238 apartments above 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail or restaurant space.  The low-rise edifice will feature numerous amenities, including a 247-car garage and a rooftop pool deck.

The project, slated to open in early 2017, is being designed by architecture firm Togawa Smith Martin.  Their plan for the apartment complex are is a minor revision of an earlier proposal from the Weintraub Real Estate Group, which had called for a nine-story steel-framed structure on the property.  The minor height reduction will allow Holland Partner Group to utilize less expensive wood-frame construction for the development.

The new apartment complex will continue to improve connectivity between Downtown's Historic Core and Little Tokyo, which was once separated by a six-acre expanse of surface parking lots known as "Block 8."  Recent years have seen that gap fill in, thanks to new mixed-use complexes from developers Avalon Bay at the Sares-Regis Group.  A variety of new eateries, including the popular Redbird, have also improved foot traffic through the neighborhood.

Holland Partner Group is also an active player in other parts of the greater Downtown community.  In addition to their project on Main Street, the company is currently building a $200 million low-rise complex on the Westlake-City West border.  The Washington-based developer is also in the planning stages for a 24-story apartment tower at the intersection of Spring and Eighth Streets.

New Look for the Vibiana Lofts

The Vibiana Lofts, designed by Nadel Architects

Yesterday, the Weintraub Real Estate Group presented their revised plans for a mixed-use development adjacent to the Cathedral of St. Vibiana at a meeting of the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council's Planning and Land Use Committee.  The new plans for the Vibiana Lofts call for a nine-story structure designed by Nadel Architects.  The building will stand a maximum of 123 feet tall, containing 238 apartment units and 3,600 square feet of ground level commercial space.  The apartments would sit above a three-level, 303 stall underground parking garage.  As previously mentioned by the project's former developer, Tom Gilmore, the Vibiana Lofts are intended to be a "unified development," with the Cathedral.  This means that the two projects will share architectural features and a joint plaza to encourage pedestrian activity between the buildings.

Profile of the Vibiana Lofts seen from the south and the west.

A shared courtyard would allow pedestrian circulation between the Cathedral, the Vibiana Lofts and the Little Tokyo Library.

The new iteration of the Vibiana Lofts represents a substantial downsizing from the 41-story tower approved for the site in 2007, which was set to contain 300 residential units above a massive five-floor underground garage.  However, I imagine that many locals will applaud this revision, since a nine-story structure is much closer in scale to the existing buildings within the Historic Core.  With an attractive design and a relatively sane ratio between parking spaces and residential units (1.27:1), there isn't much to complain about here.

• 200 S Main Street (DLANC PLUC)
• Gilmore Planning to Sell Lot at Vibiana as Restaurant Advances (Downtown LA News)