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A planned residential tower set to sprout from the burgeoning South Park neighbourhood in Los Angeles has been redesigned. The 33-storey 801 Olive Street has swapped its boxy preliminary look for a more streamlined rectangular building envelope designed by Chicago-based Solomon Cordwell Buenz.
The apartment tower is being constructed by Carmel Partners, a national real estate development firm headquartered in San Francisco. The exterior box cutouts of the previous design by GMP Architects have been replaced with a smoother glass facade, though the development's incorporation of greenery seems to have survived. The tower itself has grown vertically beyond its 27-storey predecessor, featuring an extra six storeys, bringing the final height to 107 metres (352 feet).
The podium will house four levels of parking to service the 363-unit building and 10,000-square-foot retail component. Above that, an outdoor amenity space with a pool and hot tub will be surrounded by trees and shrubs. Just a block away, Carmel's Eighth & Grand complex will add another 700 residential units and a Whole Foods Market to the area.
Several other projects in the immediate vicinity aim to remake a downtown Los Angeles neighbourhood that was once identified by parking lots. The 50-storey 820 Olive and 30-floor 888 South Hope should be coming online within a few years if all goes smoothly, joining the recently-built 888 Olive in what is quickly becoming a dense part of the city.
Aerial photos from Forum contributor Hunter Kerhart show the neighbourhood's transition taking place, with 801 Olive Street already making a substantial impact on the cityscape. Reflective glass has appeared on the bottom portions of the tower as the concrete skeleton extends about 15 floors above ground level. Residents are expected to move into the building in 2017.
Additional images and information can be found in the Database file linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum thread or leave a comment below.
