South Park WELCOME HOME

In the past year, Olympic Boulevard has become a major epicenter of Downtown’s resurgent development scene. On the western edge of the neighborhood, the boulevard is host to a slew of new and proposed hotel projects in the shadow of LA Live. One mile east in the Fashion District, Olympic dead-ends near the center of the potentially transformative City Market development. However, the greatest concentration of new investment along the Olympic corridor can be found on a two-block span between Grand Avenue and Hill Street.

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.

Later this week, the DLANC Planning and Land Use Committee is scheduled to take a close look at details of the Greenland Group’s plans for Metropolis. The first stage of the $1 billion project, which quietly began site preparation last week, will create 350 hotel rooms and 308 condominium units in towers of 19 and 38 stories. Buildings will surround a ground-level automobile courtyard, lined by more than 7,000 square feet of pedestrian-oriented retail space.

In early September, rumblings from the Department of Building and Safety hinted that the stalled Fig Central development was about to become much more active. Now, a recent case filing from the Department of City Planning has revealed developer Oceanwide Real Estate Group’s updated vision for the mixed-use complex. The revised proposal for Fig Central plans for three high-rise towers, containing 504 residential units, 183 hotel rooms, and nearly 170,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

Six months after breaking ground in South Park, construction has gone vertical at Olive & Pico, a new residential-retail complex from the Wolff Company. The seven-story edifice, designed by Downtown-based TCA Architects, will consist of 293 studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments above 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space. The low-rise building will sit atop a three-level underground garage, which will accommodate up to 75 vehicles and 342 bicycles.

Late last year, a joint venture between AECOM and developer Mack Urban announced plans for a $750 million mixed-use complex on six acres of South Park real estate. The first phase of the development - a pair of low-rise structures on Pico Boulevard - was revealed in April to consist of 360 condominium units and roughly 6,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. Now, take a look at phase two of the mega-project, courtesy of a presentation to the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee.

In October, Oceanwide Real Estate Group finally revealed their new three-tower plan for the long-awaited Fig Central mega-development. Just two months later, the Bejing-based developer is already moving ahead with an important first step in the construction process. Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety issued demolition permits for the existing structures at 1101 S. Flower Street. The 4.6-acre property, purchased by Oceanwide in late 2013, is currently developed with a pair of low-rise mechanical buildings and an underground bank vault.

Earlier this month, puzzling news emerged from Downtown Los Angeles. Figueroa Central, the long awaited mixed-use companion to LA Live, was simultaneously upsized and downsized. Revised plans from Oceanwide Real Estate Group added a third tower to the development, but also featured less than half of the 1,200 residential units permitted under the original project. Now, a document from the DLANC’s Planning and Land Use Committee is here to answer all of your burning questions.

Next week, the DLANC’s Planning and Land Use Committee is scheduled to take a closer look at Fig South, the glassy high-rise project slated for the (other) parking lot across the street from Staples Center. The twin 36-story towers are being designed by architecture firm Harley Ellis Devereaux; artistic renderings depict glassy, elliptical shaped buildings with swooping rooflines. Both towers would rise 400 feet above street level, the maximum height allowed for the property at 1200 S.

In what amounts to an excellent Christmas for Downtown boosters, work will soon begin on multiple new high-rise buildings in the South Park neighborhood. Earlier in December, Oceanwide Real Estate Group started clearing the large surface parking lot at 1101 Flower Street, future site of Fig Central. Now, after much speculation, the Los Angeles Times reports that the long-stalled mixed-use complex is on track for an early 2015 groundbreaking date. The $1-billion development will feature a trio of skyline-altering towers designed by architecture firm RTKL.