Building Trades News

$1.8 Billion Development to Revitalize Downtown

The Grand Avenue Project is a master plan to develop nine acres in downtown Los Angeles. The $1.8 billion project is designed to bring retail stores, condominiums, and pedestrian friendly outdoor spaces to downtown and bring shoppers, tourists, and residents back to the heart of the city.

Preliminary designs for the project were unveiled on April 24. Internationally renowned architect, Frank Gehry, is the artistic mind behind the designs. He also designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall – which lies across the street from the Grand Avenue site.

Gehry said his goal was to “develop the beginning of a community that has the body language of a community and has the scale of a community.”

The project will be built in a series of phases, the first of which will be built on a three acre parcel directly across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The master plan centers on a large park and a mixed use development to create a gathering place in the city’s center. As part of the growing movement towards building residential complexes downtown, the Grand Avenue project will feature a mixture of affordable and market-rate housing. The housing will be complemented by a range of retail and entertainment spaces and a boutique hotel. In total, there will be 400,000 square feet of retail space and up to 2,600 residential units – all of which will be built around large plazas and public spaces.

A residential tower of between forty and fifty stories at the corner of Second and Grand will combine a hotel with approximately 275 rooms with 200 condominiums on the upper floors. A second residential building on Olive and First will contain 150 market rate and 88 affordable apartments. The two buildings will flank a series of plazas and courtyards with outdoor seating and dining areas.

The initial development will include $50 million in improvements to the existing civic mall to create a 16 acre park that will be designed to include a number of distinct areas.

To keep the community informed, the Grand Avenue Committee, the Related Companies Development Team, and Gehry Partners held an event on May 25 to present design updates of the work-in-progress.

Additional public meetings will be held throughout the development process.