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Based in Irvine, California, property developer SunCal is looking to make a big splash in Downtown Los Angeles with their newly unveiled mixed-use scheme in the Arts District. Named 6AM, an acronym representing its location on 6th Street between Alameda and Mill Streets, the 14.5-acre site currently occupied by industrial warehouses would give rise to a 2.8-million-square-foot, $2 billion development designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
The project could spur the creation of a new skyscraper cluster positioned on the southern outskirts of the core. It would be anchored by a pair of 58-storey towers soaring from Alameda Street, the site edge that is closest to the central business district. Numerous rows of mid-rise concrete blocks — echoing the warehouse typology of the neighbourhood — would be located behind the two towers. These structures would house offices and residences with a barrage of shops and restaurants at grade. Expansive balconies would also come with unique slanted sunshade devices that will form a jagged ziggurat-like profile to the mid-rise buildings.
The massive project would be constructed over three phases. When everything is accounted for, the neighbourhood will receive an injection of 1,305 apartments, 431 condominiums, 250,000 square feet of office space, 120,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 430,000-square-foot hotel, a 29,000-square-foot school, and a possible gallery space covering 23,000 square feet.
If it moves forward, 6AM will strategically front a proposed light-rail extension on Alameda Street, which would link Downtown's Union Station to the community of Artesia in the south. The transit project's fate lies in the hands of voters this fall, who will decide on the performing ballot initiative that asks for a sales tax increase to fund infrastructure across the city. SunCal's scheme could begin construction as soon as 2018, while a number of adaptive reuse projects come online and signal a change in course for the transitioning area.
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