Steven Sharp WELCOME HOME

The first move-ins aren’t expected at the Art’s District’s One Santa Fe complex until Fall 2014, but construction crews are now busy attaching alabaster hued cladding on the $160 million project’s eastern facade. The quarter-mile long structure will feature 438 apartments, 80,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and perhaps a direct link to a future Arts District extension of Metro’s Red and Purple Lines. While the residential population of the Arts District is not yet large enough to sustain a heavy rail station, a couple of nearby projects currently in the works will help change that.

A dinosaur has come back to life in the red-hot Arts District. Five years ago, the AMP Lofts endeavored to create 182 condo units with ground floor retail near the intersection of Santa Fe Avenue and 7th Street. Like many real estate developments that emerged during the Great Recession, the Koning Eizenberg designed project sat dormant while awaiting sunnier economic conditions. Rainy skies may gloom above Los Angeles today, but it looks like the numbers finally pan out for the long awaited residential development.

Scaffolding is coming down, and the stucco is coming out on the first phase of Century West Partners’ Avant mixed-use development. The GMP Architects designed project, which began construction in September 2012, will bring just over 240 apartments and 11,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space to the growing South Park neighborhood in 2014. A second phase of the project broke ground earlier this year, and will create an extra 193 units and 9,500 square feet of retail by early 2015.

San Francisco based Carmel Partners made headlines when they restarted the 8th and Grand development, and now they have plans to give their 700-unit monolith a glassy high-rise neighbor. 801 Olive Street, which was first spotted moving through City Planning back in October, would stand 27-stories and approximately 317 feet tall. The GMP Architects designed tower would contain 363 apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground level commercial space. Residential units would rise above a five-story parking podium, which stretches south from the intersection of 8th and Olive Streets.

At long last, we catch a glimpse of LA Live’s proposed Renaissance Hotel, which was announced by Williams & Dame Development earlier this year. The $200 million project will rise 21 stories at the northeast corner of Olympic Boulevard and Georgia Street, creating 450 upscale hotel rooms within easy walking distance of Staples Center and the LA Convention Center. The hotel will provide guests with event space, recreational amenities, restaurants and bars.

Talk about ending 2013 with a bang. The Vancouver-based Onni Group has been bullish about Downtown for quite some time, but recent events indicate that their vision for neighborhood’s future is literally sky-high. Earlier this month, the Canadian developer submitted plans to the city for four mixed-use towers, one of which would be Los Angeles’ tallest residential building. On the parking lot of the 1212 Flower office building, Onni would construct two high-rise towers containing 730 condo dwellings and over 7,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.

When the Shanghai based Greenland Group announced their intent to purchase the long delayed Metropolis development in June 2013, many details from the press release were muddled in the Mandarin-to-English translation. IDS Realty quickly stepped in to put the kibosh on the rumored sales price of $1 billion, but all parties involved have remained adamant that the project would be going vertical as soon as possible. It appears that the Chinese developer remains true to its word, with the project’s first buildings set to be a 19-story hotel at 899 Francisco Street and a 38-story apartment tower next door at 889 Francisco.

A pair of CRA/LA documents have (re) revealed renderings of Onyx, a mixed-use development planned by Fashion District landlord Jade Enterprises. The two-building project would rise on surface parking lots southeast of Metro’s Pico Station, combining to create 410 apartment units and over 30,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space. Both building would stand seven-stories, with design work from Downtown-based TCA Architects. Jade Enterprises has used Onyx’s transit adjacency to substantially reduce the project’s parking component, containing just 44% of what would normally be required by code.

Passengers on the Blue and Expo Lines should enjoy Pico Station’s unobstructed view of Staples Center while it lasts, because skyscrapers are coming. The Los Angeles Times reports that a group spearheaded by Jamison Services has agreed to purchase the 2.7 acre parcel at 1200 Figueroa Street, with the intention of building a residential-retail complex. Although an exact sales price is unknown, the new owners reportedly shelled out more than twice the $31 million that L&R Parking paid for the property in 2010.

As reported yesterday by the Daily News, the LA County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to take a look at Frank Gehry’s latest designs for the long awaited Grand Avenue Project. Related California’s $750 million mixed-use development would create two high-rise buildings containing residential, hotel, office and retail space across from the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall. A 37-story residential tower would rise from the corner of 2nd and Olive Streets, consisting of 450-apartments above a podium of retail and restaurant space.