new perspectives of 8th & figueroa tower available
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AC Martin Partners, the architecture firm behind the "high-end hotel/residential tower” proposed for the northeast corner of 8th and Figueroa, has made public new illustrations that put the firm’s design concept into more focus.
A new rendering profiling south and west elevations (pictured, left) gives a clear portrayal of the building’s architecture — membranes of glass and reflective surfaces along a series of distinct tiers to create a landmark the firm hopes will be seen as “bold and dynamic” for the 21-century Downtown.
Street level retail with extensive landscaping, dramatic sky gardens and an upper-level lobby for a 5-star hotel will be other highlights of the approximate 45-story structure.
No additional details are known at this time.
-new project to help fill in financial district
Sky gardens
Interior rendering of top level space
Previously published renderings
Rendering of upper levels
Ground level view facing Figueroa Street
Full-length, southwest view
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16 comments
Simply amazing…will this project also fill in the wierd gap in between the two ugly-ass praking structures on Flower?
Alex: That parcel isn’t included in this project, as far as we can tell.
This retarded thing again.
Is that 1 unit per floor? Did the people who own the land ask them to do this? And 2/3rds of the lot is going to be a garden? What a waste.
And a hotel with no pool.
^^^
Exactly my point. While a 45 story tower would be great, they could use the land a little better. From the rendering, it looks like there will still be a parking lot in between the tower and the 818 wilshire building. And I am totally with you on the garden. It doesn’t make any sense! They could easily fit another tower there, and have rooftop gardens on both towers. However, i would still be happy to see this go up.
It looks like there could easily be a pool in the garden area that borders 8th Street.
What parking lot is between this site and 818 Wilshire?
Not sure we could ever afford an unit in this building but if we could, I’d take it over Park Fifth or the Gehry Tower in a heartbeat — steps from Ralphs and Metro Center — especially if there was a rooftop pet park…
^^^
It’s tiny but noticeable…just over from that white building
yea I agree they could easily fit 3 -5 individual towers on that block if they really wanted to. On the Flower Street side they could maybe build a garden with another building at the corner of 8th and Flower.
The site this is proposed to be built upon is NOT adjacent to Wilshire or Flower. The site does NOT take up the entire block. The site is on the corner of Figueroa and 8th — a full block and a half south of Wilshire. Click on the 8th and Figueroa link in the text to see the proposed site in the context of the surrounding, existing structures.
Over the last many years I was wondering why that entire block was not redeveloped. I thought the entire block, including the two parking structures, should be completely redeveloped into something very big. Some sort of retail/residential/hotel combo.
I hope they tear down those two parking structures. It would n0t make sense to leave those two hideous eye sores along with that empty lot in between.
They can’t tear down and redevelop what they don’t own. I’m pretty sure the developer tried to buy the parking lots and the vacant lot but considering how absentee the current owners are, I bet the developer couldn’t make a deal that made financial sense.
That may be true Justin but also hard to believe that a deal could not be reached. It would seem to me that whoever owns those two rundown parking structures would have been open to some sort of deal.
But who knows.
I discovered that the parking lot full of rubble on Flower and the adjacent parking structures on that side of the block are owned by the same entity:
Alpine Group LLC + Flower Developer LLC
Those 5 parcels were all acquired in piecemeal between 2004-late 2005.
Draw your own conclusions.
This is just “AC Martin Partners, the architecture firm” They don’t own and have no plans to buy this right? Are they just trying to get some free press? Did they have some downtown and have nothing better to do than come up with something.
Or did someone who plans to buy the land tell them to come up with this?
Between the expense of building type 1, and the expense of building a structure with this many planes, materials, curves and so forth (not to mention hotel economics, the relative quiet around this project, and the source of these images), it seems most likely to me that AC Martin is releasing the renderings to boost its profile (solid as it is already) and image (which may better be known for straight-lined mid-century, and bunker hill redevelopment towers), rather than that of the project itself and its likelihood for completion.
Recently, I discovered this blog on line and since I once lived in LA, I decided to catch up on what’s happening in downtown LA. First let me say I impressed with how much downtown has changed…….I left in 2000 and there has been considerable change since then.
Secondly , I’ve noticed that a number of developers are complaining they can’t get financing, the credit markets are a mess, etc. Its true that the credit markets are messed up and financing is more difficult to get. However, its not as bad as these developers are claiming. I know that because I live in a city where projects are going forward inspite of the credit crunch. Why? Because the economics in this city are better……there is more job growth than LA, a low unemployment rate, and downtown living and working is more accepted. I think once the economy picks up in LA these projects currently on hold will come screaming back into fruition.
In the meantime, kudos on your networking and blogging downtown LA into existence. I am impressed. Good luck!
^^
Which city do you live in?
I have to say, i completely agrre with you on the fact that when the economy is good, these will all get built. But hwat people also have to keep in mind, notably the developers, is that economies don’t stay shitty like this for years on end. A tower like this would take no less than 2 years to complete, from groundbreaking. If the economy picks up by then, which i hope by god it will, the hotel/condo units will sell like crazy. Elleven opened for move-ins in March 2006. If i am remembering things correctly, that building sold out in a matter of weeks. That’s beacuse it came on the market when almost anyone could “afford” a condo. When the South Group broke ground on it, in 2004, it was i think the first, or one of the first, ground/up condo projects in Downtown. In 2004, Downtown was still viewed as dirty, vacant, a ghost town…I’m sure the developers came under fire for building this in such an area. But by the time it opened, LA Live was underway, along with numerous other projects. That’s my philosophy with Downtown nowadays. The market could be steaming hot again in 2010, 2011, 2012. If a developer breaks ground on a project that’s already approved (Park FifthLA Central, GAP), and that probably will come online around that time, they stand a pretty big chance of making a serious profit.
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