South Park's
Concerto development is a real beat-the-odds story: it's weathered bankruptcy, a name change (it's now called
Apex), and an economic downturn, and finally, about three years after its
fancy apartment tower opened, there's
a big push to build the third and last part of the complex. New details and renderings
via Urbanize LAindicate that the much-awaited, last portion of Apex will have more housing but less retail, and a completely different design, courtesy of Gensler and Preston Architects.
Though it was originally envisioned to have 290 units in 30 stories, developers are asking the city to let them put in
341 units in the now 28-story structure. (The building's floor area wouldn't change.) This third part of Apex will have almost 11,700 square feet of street-level retail (about 4,000 square feet less than previously planned) in a curving, glassy structure along Ninth Street, and underground parking with 438 spaces for cars. There's still no timeline or budget for the project, nor is it clear from the environmental report whether these residences are going to be apartments or condos.
Other pieces of the Apex puzzle have grown around the dormant lot where this project is scheduled to rise. The adjacent 30-story Apex rental tower (which was originally supposed to be condos)
opened in 2012. The development was held back by a
nasty bankruptcy battle and the economic troubles that stalled many other DTLA projects. Current owners ST Residential took over in 2011 from prominent Downtown developer
Sonny Astani.
