South Park WELCOME HOME

In response to the resurgent Downtown Los Angeles condo market, a new wave of for-sale housing is quietly taking off in the South Park neighborhood. On Thursday, workers installed protective fencing around the half-acre parking lot at 1050 South Grand Avenue, future home of a $100 million condominium tower from developer Trumark Urban. The 24-story building, designed by local architecture firm HasonLA, will contain 151 residential units above a retail and parking podium.

Rumors began circulating late last year, but a new case filing from the Department of City Planning makes it official: phase two of Apex has been resurrected. Documents on file with the City of Los Angeles indicate that the revived development would feature a 28-story residential tower at the southwest corner of 9th and Flower Streets. Earlier plans for the building had called for approximately 280 dwelling units and ground-floor retail space.

With trendy hotels and apartment complexes literally springing up on all sides, a drab one-story commercial building in South Park is now slated for redevelopment. Plans were filed with the city late last week for a new mixed-use development at northeast corner of Hill Street and Olympic Boulevard. The project’s laconic case filing betrays little in the way of details, neither specifying the proposed building’s height or its intended uses. The only hint thus far is a 2013 permit application from the Department of Building and Safety, which called for the construction of a 22-story high-rise tower featuring hotel rooms, office space, condominiums and ground-floor retail.

New renderings have emerged for Figueroa Central, the skyline-altering mixed-use complex which recently broke ground across the street from Staples Center. The $1 billion development from Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings Group will create three high-rise towers, offering 504 luxury condominiums and a five-star hotel. Long envisioned as the retail complement to the restaurants and entertainment venues of LA Live, Figueroa Central will contain approximately 200,000 square feet of commercial space within a two-level open-air galleria.

The development onslaught continues in Downtown’s booming South Park neighborhood, as yet another underutilized property makes way for a mixed-use development. Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based 4D Development & Investment broke ground on a new residential-retail complex at the northwest corner of Pico Boulevard and Grand Avenue. The project, described by an official website as “Alley-Pico,” will consist of a seven-story building featuring 112 residential units, 5,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.

With the appearance of earth movers and protective barriers, work is quietly getting underway on the first phase of Onyx, a two-building mixed-use complex in the booming South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. The project, which is being developed by Fashion District landlord Jade Enterprises, will rise from two parking lots on opposite corners of Pico Boulevard and Hope Street. Designs from TCA Architects call for a pair of seven-story structures, featuring a cumulative 410 apartments above 42,000 square feet of stores and restaurants.

It looks like Chinese developers are going for a hat trick in South Park. Just one week after construction officially commenced on the long awaited Fig Central complex, Shenzen Hazens Real Estate Group has filed plans to redevelop a property directly across the street 1020 South Figueroa Street. According to a case filing from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, the approximately 2.56-acre site between Olympic Boulevard and 11th Street is to become a mixed-use complex consisting of 650 condominiums, a 250-room hotel and 80,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Following the success of its LEVEL Furnished Living flagship in Vancouver, Canada, Onni Group – a leading Vancouver-based real estate developer – announces the debut of LEVEL Furnished Living in Downtown Los Angeles’ South Park District. The area’s only luxury development of its kind, LEVEL Furnished Living is a $200 million, 33-story tower with one-, two- and three-bedroom fully furnished suites that range from 710 - 2,035 square feet. “Demand for luxury housing in Downtown Los Angeles is soaring to an all-time high with the area’s recent revitalization,” said Javier Cepeda, regional vice president of LEVEL Furnished Living.

One decade ago, local developer Sonny Astani became part of the initial push to build residential towers in Downtown Los Angeles’ then fledgling South Park neighborhood. His development, dubbed Concerto, reimagined the formerly moribund corner of 9th and Figueroa Streets with a high-rise and low-rise complex featuring 629 condominiums and pedestrian-oriented commercial space. However, the global economic crisis of 2007 proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for Astani. Following the bankruptcy of his lender, the Beverly Hills-based developer was forced to sell the partially finished project in 2011.

More construction cranes are on the horizon for Downtown Los Angeles, as yet another high-rise development begins work across the street from the LA Live complex. Earlier this week, crews began stripping asphalt from a sprawling surface parking lot near the Los Angeles Convention Center. The 2.7-acre property, located at 1200 South Figueroa Street, is owned by a consortium of local investors including Jamison Services and the Hankey Group. Their plans for the property include a pair of 36-story buildings, featuring 648 luxury condominiums and over 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space.