One year after we last dropped by, take a second look at Pico Boulevard’s mixed-use building boom in Downtown Los Angeles. The Project at Pico

Between Olive and Hill Streets, vertical construction is nearing completion for a two-building development by a joint venture between real estate firm Mack Urban and engineering giant AECOM. The project, designed by the architecture firms A.C. Martin and Togawa Smith Martin, consists of two seven-story structures that will feature 360 residential units above approximatley 6,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space.  Planned amenities include a swimming pool, a fitness center, public green space and a 382-car underground parking garage. The Project at Pico is the first phase of a $750-million development that encompasses a number of parking lots in the South Park neighborhood.  The second phase of the project, a 37-story residential tower, broke ground earlier this month on Grand Avenue.

Olive DTLA

West across the street, construction is nearing completion foor Olive DTLA, a seven-story development designed by TCA Architects. The podium-style complex, which is now owned by UDR, Inc., will offer 293 apartments and more than 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space when it opens later this year.  Other offerings will include multiple coutyards and an underground parking garage. The project is on pace to open later this year.  A leasing office for the building is now open at 1201 S. Grand Avenue.

G12

Exterior work is now underway for G12, a sister development to Olive DTLA. The seven-story building, located at the southeast corner of 12th Street and Grand Avenue, will include 347 apartments, approximately 18,500 square feet of ground-level commercial space and residential amenities. As with its neighborhing building, G12 is being designed by TCA Architects.

E. on Grand

E. on Grand, a seven-story complex from Los Angeles-based 4D Development & Investment, is wrapping up vertical construction at the northwest corner of Pico Boulevard and Grand Avenue. The seven-story structure by AFCO Design will consist of 112 residential units above 5,000 square feet of ground-level retail space.  Plans also call for a fitness center, a swimming pool and a rooftop deck. The property was previously home to the Ponet Square Hotel, an early 20th-century structure which perished in a 1970 fire.

Onyx

At Pico Boulevard and Hope Street, developer Jade Enterprises continues with construction of the first phase of Onyx, a two-building residential development. The first stage of the project, located at the southeast corner of the intersection , consists of a seven-story building which will contain 162 apartments above 13,200 square feet of ground-floor commercial space. A second stage of the development, which is being designed by TCA Architects, would create another seven-story apartment complex at the southwest corner of the intersection.