The northeast corner of First and Alameda streets in Little Tokyo may soon look a little less Omega Man-y; a development team was chosen to construct apartments, retail, and office space on the parking lot, reports Little Tokyo UnBlogged. A team from Urban Partners and the Little Tokyo Service Center hopes to build 390 rental units in contiguous seven-story buildings (with 20% of units kept affordable), two levels of Japanese-themed retail, a six-story office tower, a "friendship garden," and about 1,300 parking spaces. Called the Nikkei Center, the development will fill 4.5 acres, while the lot's remaining 5.5 acres will soon house a fire station, an emergency operations center, and part of a new Gold Line station. Next step for Nikkei Center is City Council approval.
(Jerde Partnership rendering via Little Tokyo UnBlogged)
The First and Alameda lot is owned by the city and Metro, which bought it in 2002 for $43 million. The city then invited developers to present purchase offers and proposals to turn the undeveloped portion of the land into a mixed-use development. Three finalists unveiled their designs in March before the city announced the winning design from Urban Partners and the Little Tokyo Service Center.
Construction is expected to begin in about a year with completion in 2011.
The Nikkei Center's architects are the Jerde Partnership which worked on Universal CityWalk and Tokyo's super awesome happy Roppongi Hills development.
· Nikkei Center team wins city competition [Little Tokyo UnBlogged]
· Developer Selected For Mangrove Site [Downtown News]
· Construction Watch: Gold Line stop in Little Tokyo [Curbed LA]
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