LOS ANGELES — Construction of the first residential building of Related California’s Grand Avenue Project is under way in downtown Los Angeles. The $120 million, 19-story Grand Avenue apartment building is the first high-rise building in Los Angeles designed by world-renowned firm Arquitectonica.
The residential apartment tower, which will be located at 225 N. Grand Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets, is scheduled for completion in late 2014.
Featuring 271 units, including 20 percent affordable apartments, the multifamily property will bring the first apartments to Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles in more than a decade and add more than 500 new residents. The project is expected to generate create 417 construction jobs during the next two years.
Located next door to The Broad, a new contemporary art museum now under construction and set to open in 2014, the apartment tower will front Grand Avenue in the heart of downtown’s cultural core. It is within walking distance of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, MOCA and the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall as well as Grand Park, the new park between Grand Avenue and City Hall.
“This is a welcome next step in the Grand Avenue Project, adding to earlier components of Grand Park and The Broad,” says Gloria Molina, supervisor for Los Angeles County and chair of the Joint Powers Authority that oversees the Grand Avenue Project. “We are pleased that Related is beginning with an apartment building that will offer affordable living as well as market rate rentals to the area, further realizing our collective vision of Grand Avenue as a dynamic and diverse mixed-use environment.”
The apartment building will be rectangular white prism punctuated by windows of different sizes and proportions. The windows gradually change in scale, reaching a climax of full glass at the ground level on Grand Avenue and at the top of the building facing Hope Street and the freeway. It will be built to LEED Silver certification standards.
The executive architect is LARGE Architecture and Rios Clementi Hale Studios is the landscape architect. Marmol Radziner & Associates is responsible for interior design. Pankow is the general contractor. Citi Community Capital is providing the construction financing with an equity letter of credit from Ohio State Teachers’ Retirement System. Low-income housing tax credit equity comes from Boston Financial while the Grand Avenue Authority has provided an affordable housing loan and grant.
“All of us at Related are pleased to get the first shovel in the ground on this project and are excited about the vibrant new mix of uses it, along with The Broad and public plaza, will bring to this block of Grand Avenue, furthering the overall vision for the Grand Avenue Project,” says Bill Witte, Related California president and CEO. “We applaud the leadership, vision and commitment of the Joint Powers Authority, and appreciate the strong partnership we have forged over the years to bring the various project components to fruition.”
Related California is a fully integrated real estate firm that develops affordable and market-rate multifamily and mixed-use residential properties in California. Since 1989, the company has completed more than 9,200 residential homes throughout California. Related California is part of the Related Companies with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco and south Florida. Related Companies is headquartered in New York City.
— Rachel Goff