Mapping The Rise Of LA’s Tallest Towers
Source: Curbed Los Angeles, Jenna Chandler
Photo: Courtesy of Tribune Media
For Los Angeles, let’s call 2016 the year of the skyscraper. The 73-story Wilshire Grand Center was crowned with a decorative spire that reaches a height of 1,100 feet, making it the tallest building in Los Angeles. It edged out the US Bank Tower for that title, but not to be outdone, the bank tower made news headlines around the world with the opening of a hair-raising glass slide attached to its exterior, dropping from the 70th to the 69th floor—nearly 1,000 feet in the air.
Meanwhile, developers, by our count, filed plans over the past 12 months to construct nearly one dozen impressively tall towers. More than half would rise above 40 stories, earning them the designation of “skyscraper.” The tallest of these would climb 60 floors, so for now, it’s looking like the Wilshire Grand and US Bank Tower will remain the queens of LA’s skyline.
But the competition is certainly heating up. In the first two months of 2017, developers floated plans for a 66-story mixed user next to Hotel Fig and a whimsical, 52-story tower off the 10 freeway.
To get a sense of just how much LA’s skyline is likely to change, we’ve mapped all of the skyscrapers and tall buildings that are planned and under construction right now.
73 stories: LA’s tallest building
Construction of The Wilshire Grand Center, the new tallest tower in Los Angeles, is nearly finished. It’s earned that title, because it has a 295-foot tall beacon that crests above the U.S. Bank Tower. The 73-story Wilshire Grand will hold 900 luxurious hotel rooms, a 70th-floor sky lobby, a rooftop pool, office space, and ballrooms.
66-story mixed user
This tall skyscraper is in the running for the title of the third tallest tower in Los Angeles. It would rise next door to Hotel Figueroa and across from the iconic The ORIGINAL Pantry Cafe. The developer, Justin L. M. Leong, wants the tower to hold 220 hotel rooms, 200 condos, 94,080 square feet of commercial space, and 617 parking spaces.
Tri-towered mega complex
Under construction now, these three towers are part of a huge development called Oceanwide Plaza, which will feature a 166,000-square-foot open-air retail area and an approximately 700-foot LED ribbon sign. There will also be a posh hotel and 504 condos. The towers will rise to heights of 43, 53, and 65 stories, according to the The Architects Newspaper, on a site across from LA Live.
60-story ‘gigantic urban tree’
We haven’t yet heard how many feet this skyscraper would rise, but, at 60 stories, it could very well become one of the top five tallest buildings in the city. Right now, the third tallest is Charles Luckman’s Aon Center, which at 62 stories, tops out at 858 feet.
Architects Nardi Associates have designed this unique skyscraper in South Park to hold a hotel, housing, convention center, restaurants, and shops. The facade would incorporate LED signs and live plants, making it look like a “giant urban tree,” says the firm’s website. Its exterior would feature “real vegetation…combined with digitized landscape images and signage growing along its structural grid and glass surfaces.”
Trio of towers
Called “Olympia,” this project would bring three towers to a parking lot across the street from LA Live. The towers would rise 65 stories, 52 stories, and 43 stories, respectively. In addition to commercial space and more than 1,000 units of housing, Olympia would feature “open, green, and public spaces,” including a public pocket park along Georgia Street and a plaza at the corner of Georgia and Olympic.
714-foot mixed user
South Park, the Downtown LA neighborhood south of the Staples Center and west of 8th Street, is heating up. It’s looking to add those three new towers and the new “urban tree” mentioned above, but at 714 feet, this skyscraper would still stand out among the neighborhood’s plethora of luxury condo towers—it would even hover above the 667-foot LA Live Ritz Carlton. Miami-based Crescent Heights wants to erect this new skyscraper at 11th and Olive streets to hold up to 800 condos above ground floor commercial and “amenity space.”
Two 58-story towers
The design of these two towers, inspired by industrial warehouses and incorporating local art, might help them fit into the Arts District, but they’re certainly going to stand out. They’re the first skyscrapers proposed for the neighborhood, and they’re bound to alter it forever. Called 6AM, the towers, which would hold housing, a school, offices, and retail, would be mainly framed in concrete, leaving large blank spaces that are intended to “encourage murals and other evolutionary art responses.”
55 stories with cantilevered pools
Developer Jeffrey Fish’s 55-story tower at Pershing Square would not only be one of the tallest buildings in the city, but one of the craziest. It’d be the first skyscraper in LA with pools that would jut out from the facade, over the city below. The pools, which would be suspended from condos, would be made of glass, so daring swimmers could take in amazing views.
52-story ‘gateway’ to DTLA
Architecture firm Gensler has drawn up a fanciful design for this 52-story tower proposed for the site of the Toyota of Downtown LA dealership, making it very visible to motorists on the 10 Freeway. It’s intended as a “gateway” to DTLA, and it would be comprised of 336 residential units, a 250-room hotel, and retail and offices.
43-story residential high-rise
The area around Fig&7th was already buzzing up with the construction of Wilshire Grand, then along came plans for this 43-story with a mix of housing and street-level shops and restaurants.
41-story tower with a cultural center
This 41-story residential tower (the tallest in the Westlake district, according to Urbanize LA) would sprout up alongside a historic building that would be converted from a medical office to a hotel. In addition to apartments or condos, the new tower would hold a “learning, cultural and performing arts center” and an 850-seat theater.
Four-tower megaproject
Abutting the northbound 110 Freeway, the megaproject called Metropolis consists of four tall towers, the first of which, a 38-story residential high-rise opened in December. Still under construction are two more residential towers and an 18-story hotel, set to open this year.
Controversial skyscrapers
The fate of the Millennium Hollywood skyscrapers is up in the air. The 35-and 39-story towers would flank the Capitol Records Building, bringing a combination of hotel rooms, residences, and retail outlets to the heart of Hollywood. In 2015, a judge halted construction, ruling the city had failed to properly address safety concerns and impacts on traffic on the 101 freeway. The developers vowed that their project wasn’t dead, but, in order to move forward, Los Angeles Times reported they’d have to write a new environmental impact report, a process that was said could take more than a year.
36-story mixed user
Just east of Wilshire and Western in Koreatown, this 36-story tower with housing and a trio of restaurants (one “high quality,” one high turn-over, and one fast food) would replace a lawn often used by locals as a makeshift park.
‘Transformative’ mixed user
Supporters of this big South LA project say it has the power to transform the neighborhood. Approved unanimously by the Los Angeles City Council in November, the development would add a 20-story hotel next to The Reef, an existing 12-story building that serves as “creative habitat” for artists and entrepreneurs, and two high-rise condo towers, one that soars to 32 stories and the other to 35 stories.
35-story residential tower
Harridge Development Group is planning to convert Koreatown’s Wilshire Galleria into a hotel and add a 35-story tower and seven-story condo structure on the same site. The tower would The high-rise building would contain 335 condos, plus retail space.
33-story residential tower
Developers looking to build in Downtown LA are not focusing solely on South Park. Interest has spilled over into the Fashion District, where, in September, plans were filed for this dark, 33-story residential tower called 7th&Maple.
32-story residential tower
Just west of the trendy The Line Hotel and across the street from the Purple Line’s Wilshire/Normandie stop, this 32-story tower would be part of a larger mixed-use complex developed by Jamison Services, which is on a building spree in Ktown.
31-Story mixed user
This 31-story new mixed-user by developers Jamison Services and Hankey Group would bring apartments and retail to a corner lot where Wilshire Boulevard and Hoover Street meet, across from Lafayette Park, on the border of Ktown and Westlake.
30-story condo tower
This asymmetrical tower would rise above the future subway station at 2nd and Broadway, across the street from the Los Angeles Times building. Plans call for a mix of condos, offices, and commercial space.
Photo Caption: Rendering of Olympia, a development that would bring three new skyscrapers to Downtown LA’s South Park neighborhood.
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