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Whoa! Skyscraper with pools jutting out from it proposed at Pershing Square

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Right next to the building that houses the popular restaurant Perch

This is pretty mind-blowing: A sleek, glassy skyscraper could be headed to Pershing Square, right next to the old 16-story building that houses the popular rooftop restaurant and bar Perch. The new tower could rise as tall as 57 stories. But the height isn’t the most radical part of the design.

Real estate developer Jeffrey Fish, who also owns the Perch building, constructed in 1924, wants the new tower to hold as many as 142 condos—and many of those condos would have "cantilevered pools," meaning they would project from the buildings facade. It’s all part of his plan to build a structure that, very much like midcentury modern California architecture, blends the indoors with the outdoors.

But spokeswoman Sarojini Lall said we probably we haven’t seen anything like this in California before, and that with the pools, safety is a concern (that's reassuring).

    Fifth and Hill is designed as a modern mixed-use high-rise, and features a dramatic Sky Lobby on the 13th floor, as well as pool decks, open space and restaurants for guests to enjoy. The Sky Lobby, a multi-story open space cut out of the center of the building’s structure, creates a space to enjoy views of downtown, and for light to pass through the building’s core.
    The residential tower will appear to float above it. Many of the residences will have individual cantilevered swimming pools and terraces, establishing a profile for this high-rise that is unprecedented in North America.

Plans filed Friday with the city’s planning department say the new tower, which would rise from a vacant lot at 5th and Hill streets and top out at 55-57 stories, might also include a hotel. They give two options for the new building:

  • A 200-room hotel, 100 condos, and 27,500 square feet of commercial space, or
  • 142 condos and 25,000 square feet of commercial space.

The "sky lobby" would be pretty much at the same height as Perch, so as not to obstruct any views, said Lall.

We can’t wait to see the renderings.