[citywatch]

Originally Posted by DTLAdenizen

Pershing Square with Park 5th site in the background.
Pershing with Title Gaurantee - 5th & Olive by Hunter DTLA, on Flickr

I'm assuming the following press release is accurate or at least was posted just a few days ago. I do hope they're saying the design is still being worked on is correct as of July 2014, since the artwork for the proj that was released several months ago was not very impressive to me.

the tentative groundbreaking date is the main thing I'm focusing on right now. So we're looking at work beginning in about 12 months. Although time does fly by quickly, one yr is still one yr, & that's assuming that, as is true of many projs, a projected start time doesn't end up getting dragged out way beyond the original date.

The downtown Los Angeles residential building boom continues, with MacFarlane Partners acquiring a prime parcel overlooking Pershing Square for construction of high-rise and mid-rise towers totaling more than 600 apartment and condominium units and 17,000 square feet of retail.

After a long development drought, nearly 100 building projects are under way in the downtown L.A. market, many of them high-profile residential, hotel and office high-rises. The Park Fifth project at the northeast corner of Fifth and Olive Streets "reflects our confidence in the strong market for apartment properties downtown, which continues to experience a significant increase in rents," according to Greg Vilkin, MacFarlane Partners managing principal and president.

The transit-oriented development on the 99,000-square-foot site kitty-corner to the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel is still under design, but plans call for a much smaller project than that envisioned by the site’s previous owner, Africa-Israel USA.

The project totaling 600,000 square feet of residential space and retail will incorporate the company's signature smart growth and new urbanism concepts, Vilkin added.

Negotiations for the purchase of the site began about a year ago. The project is now fully entitled and was approved by the city this past spring.

"Our design will create a spectacular ‘central park’ of more than half an acre of open space and amenities on the podium deck between the two buildings," said Jeff Berris, managing director, development of MacFarlane Partners. "You will not find this size of private landscaped space anywhere else in downtown Los Angeles."

Construction of the property is expected to begin in mid-2015.

btw, based on its website, the jia apt proj in chinatown has leased about 60% of its units as of today. So it seems to be booking up at a fairly decent pace.