South Park WELCOME HOME

With construction well underway on Chinatown’s long-stymied Blossom Plaza complex, developer Forest City has now turned its attention toward another mixed-use complex which straddles the border between South Park and the Fashion District. Earlier this month, the Ohio-based real estate firm broke ground on a residential-retail development near the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. The project, which is replacing two parking lots at 1108 Hill Street and 1201 Main Street, will include a total of 391 apartments and 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in a pair of seven-story structures designed by architecture firm Harley Ellis Devereaux.

With over one dozen high-rise buildings in various stages of development in Downtown Los Angeles, how’s a small adaptive reuse project supposed to get any attention? Time to remedy that. A four-story commercial building at 932 South Hill Street - built in 1923 - is currently in the midst of a transformation into a mixed-use complex that will feature 18 live-work lofts and 4,600 square feet of restaurant space. Designs from architecture firm Omgivning call for the low-rise structure to receive a new paint job and a steel canopy protruding above its ground floor.

For years, industry experts have cited a dearth of hotel rooms within a quarter-mile radius as the biggest obstacle to the success of the Los Angeles Convention Center. A recently proposed development, while small in scale, would put the city just a little bit closer to its goal of 5,000 new guest rooms in Downtown by the year 2020. The project, slated for a .17-acre lot at 1320 South Flower Street, would consist of a six-story building featuring 43 hotel rooms, 2 residential units and parking accommodations for up to 17 automobiles and four bicycles.

Earlier today, developer Shenzhen Hazens Real Estate Group and Starwood Hotels and Resorts announced plans for the W Los Angeles Downtown, slated to open early in 2019. The 250-room establishment - to be located across the street from L.A. Live and Staples Center - would be the W brand’s third location in Southern California, following Beverly Hills and Hollywood. According to a press release, the proposed five-star hotel would feature a wide array of guest amenities, including a spa, an outdoor pool deck with a bar and grill, stores, bars and destination restaurants.

With its former home above the squat Salvation Army building now woefully inadequate, crews from Webcor Builders recently moved the Metropolis construction camera to a new location atop the 1100 Wilshire condominium tower. Now perched nearly 500 feet above ground, the webcam displays the full extent of the 6.3-acre development site, which has been under near constant construction since June 2014. The $1-billion project, which is being developed by Greenland USA, will consist of a mixture of hotel rooms, residential units and premium retail space.

In late August, construction crews embarked on a 3,200-yard concrete pour at Circa, a two-tower mixed-use development now underway across the street from Staples Center. Check out the progress, as well as shots of South Park and the Downtown cityscape, thanks to drone footage shot by George Smith of concrete supplier Holliday Rock. Circa - which is being developed by a team lead by Jamison Services and the Hankey Group - will feature 648 luxury apartments and approximately 40,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial floor area.

San Francisco-based real estate firm Trumark Urban has unveiled new renderings for Ten50, a 24-story condominium tower currently under construction in the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. The $100 million development, located at the northeast corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue, will feature 151 one- and two-bedroom condominums above a five-level parking podium with approximately 5,900 square feet of ground-floor retail space. According to an official project website, designs from architecture firm HansonLA call for numerous residential amenities, including a resort-style pool, a fitness studio and yoga deck, a screening room and even a drone delivery pad.

This week’s Throwback Thursday showcases South Park’s newest residential tower: Onni Group’s LEVEL Furnished Living. The before image, taken in March 2014, portrays the 33-story building as it appeared approximately halfway through construction. The after image, from June 2015, shows the finished product at 888 S. Olive Street. Both images were generously provided to us by architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart. While the 375-foot tower is the first residential development for the Onni Group in Downtown Los Angeles, it will not be the last.

After a year-and-a-half of speculation, we have finally learned what developer Ben Neman is planning for the infamous Downtown Car Wash property. Yesterday, the prominent Downtown landlord filed plans with the City of Los Angeles to construct a mixed-use complex on the .83-acre site at the northwest corner of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street. According to a case filing from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, the proposed development would feature 374 residential units, a 373-key hotel, nearly 33,500 square feet of commercial office space, an approximately 10,800-square-foot conference center and over 65,000 square feet of commercial space.

At the request of Oceanwide Real Estate Group, we have removed the flythrough video which was previously featured in this post. With construction finally underway for the long awaited Oceanwide Plaza complex in Downtown Los Angeles, real estate brokerage Kennedy Wilson has gone live with an official website to help lease the $1-billion project’s 150,000 square feet of of commercial space. A two-minute flythrough video posted to the website showcases the RTKL-designed development’s two-level retail galleria, which will span the majority of the 4.6-acre property at 1101 S.