First rendering shows space between the proposed Parcel L mid-rise residential building and the rear of the Broad Museum
Last Thursday, the Community Redevelopment Agency considered new agreements with developer Related Cos, which is now proposing to put a mixed-use apartment tower just west of the philanthropist Eli Broad's new museum on Grand Ave.
As part of last week's meeting, new conceptual renderings were submitted to the CRA. Hot stuff. This latest bunch shows the apartment tower (parcel M); the museum (the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed honeycomb hideout); the garage and the second residential building (parcel L; this second residential building will rise on the garage); and the plaza. Generated by local architecture firm Grant Price, these images are only conceptual renderings. But they do show how this little postage stamp of Grand Avenue will be transformed.
As part of the new CRA agreement discussed, Related is now looking at an October 2012 deadline to break ground on the apartment tower, which will also have a retail component. Bill Witte, President of Related California, tells us the final architect for the apartment tower will likely be picked within the next 30 days. Right now, a 20-story, 260-unit residential tower is planned.
There's no timeframe for the second Related Cos residential tower, which would rise on top of the garage for the museum (formally called The Broad). Right now, the condo tower is planned as 6-story building, offering 50 condominiums or rentals.
These new conceptual renderings also show the 24,000 square foot public plaza planned over General Thadeus Kosciuszko Way (“GTK Way”), a strip that will run between the museum and the rental tower.
As expected, "it's likely" that Diller Scofidio + Renfro will be picked to do the final design for the plaza, according to Karen Denne, press representative for the Broad Foundation. For now, all the energy is being focused on the museum, and "we won't begin to start [thinking about] the plaza until June," said Denne.
But Diller Scofidio + Renfro is already working for the CRA. The firm was engaged by the CRA to do a preliminary, conceptual design of how the Broad Museum and the GTK airspace plaza will relate to nearby buildings, and and the future Regional Connector station. The CRA solicited this work from Diller Scofidio + Renfro and several other firms, according to Josh Rohmer, Senior Real Estate Development Agent at the CRA. Who wouldn't like to see those Diller Scofidio + Renfro designs?
Meanwhile, preliminary construction work has begun on the garage portion. Groundbreaking on the museum will follow this fall. The larger, Grand Ave project envisioned by Related Cos, and to be designed by architect Frank Gehry, remains in limbo.
· Revealed: Diller Scofidio+Renfro's Downtown Art Museum [Curbed LA]
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