A massive real estate development that would include more than 1,500 residences, dramatically transform three city blocks and alter the downtown Los Angeles skyline was approved Tuesday by the City Council.<\/p>\n
The planned Fourth & Central complex would cost $2 billion to build and include a mix of residential, office, restaurant and shop spaces in multiple distinct buildings over 7.6 acres. <\/p>\n
The location is now a collection of cold storage facilities, parking lots and warehouses in Skid Row near its boundary with the Arts District. <\/p>\n
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Rendering of Fourth & Central, a $2-billion mixed-use development planned to replace a cold storage facility in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
(Tomorrow Inc)<\/p>\n
The project was first unveiled in 2021<\/a> and has undergone a lengthy review process that included environmental impact studies and objections from people and organizations in nearby Little Tokyo concerned about its scale and potential to gentrify the historic neighborhood. The owner of the site, Los Angeles Cold Storage, agreed to reduce the height of its tallest planned tower from 44 stories to 30.<\/p>\n Fourth & Central\u2019s approved plan calls for 10 buildings, including a 30-story residential skyscraper . In total, the proposal calls for 572 condominiums and 949 apartments, with at least 262 units set aside as affordable housing. Earlier plans included a hotel, which has been scrapped.<\/p>\n If feasible, the developers agreed to reuse a six-story brick masonry building on 4th Street, dating to the early 1900s, that is no longer used to chill goods. L.A.\u2019s early cold storage facilities were located on Central and Santa Fe avenues near the Santa Fe rail line, food brokers, distributors and food processing plants, the Los Angeles Conservancy said<\/a>. <\/p>\n Los Angeles Cold Storage expanded several times throughout the twentieth century, becoming the city\u2019s most prominent cold storage company, according to the Conservancy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have literally spent years working on our plan to transform this industrial property into a mixed-use community. To hear our city\u2019s decision-makers agree with our vision for what Downtown Los Angeles can and should be makes today\u2019s major milestone all the more rewarding,\u201d said Larry Rauch, president of Los Angeles Cold Storage, in a statement. \u201cWe are big believers in the potential of our city, and that\u2019s why we have chosen to make this substantive investment in its future.\u201d<\/p>\n The developers will next prepare construction drawings and take other steps in anticipation of breaking ground in about two years. <\/p>\n Fourth & Central is intended to feel like a small, walkable community with new buildings that acknowledge the industrial history of the area , architect Alan Pullman said when the project was announced. His Los Angeles firm, Studio One Eleven, is overseeing the master plan and designing buildings, but it has also brought in another architect to make the complex\u2019s look more diverse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to create a neighborhood that feels like an organic part of the city that grew up over time,\u201d he said, and avoid the design monotony often found in mega-developments. <\/p>\n