An initial study published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning has revealed plans for Sapphire, an upcoming residential-retail complex in Downtown's City West neighborhood.

The project, which is being developed by Jade Enterprises, would rise from an approximately two-acre site fronting 5th and 6th Streets between Lucas Avenue and Bixel Street.  Plans call for the demolition of an existing office complex and an associated parking garage at 1111 W. 6th Street, followed by the construction of a pair of seven-story buildings linked by a pedestrian bridge.

The larger of Sapphire's two buildings, located at 6th and Bixel Streets, would feature 227 apartments above 22,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 216 underground parking spaces.  The second, fronting 5th Street, would include an additional 142 residential units and 139 parking stalls.  Both would offer a mixture of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans.

Renderings from Steinberg Architects portray a pair of contemporary buildings, to be clad with materials such as pre-finished metal panels, plaster and composite siding.  A site plan also indicates that Sapphire would feature an array of residential amenities which includes multiple swimming pols, spas, courtyards, a clubhouse, a fitness center, barbeque pits and a skydeck.

The mixed-use complex is the latest in a series of ground-up developments from Jade Enterprises, which has made a habit of naming its residential communities after gemstones.  Project dubbed Topaz and Onyx are already underway in other regions of Downtown, and another is planned on the eastern fringe of South Park.

Sapphire also provides further evidence of increased investment in the City West neighborhood, once ridiculed as the "New Jersey," of Downtown.  Directly across 6th Street from the development site, construction is well underway on a similar two-building residential complex from Holland Partner Group.