Seven years after the original version of the project was submitted to the Planning Department for consideration, the Los Angeles City Council has given its approval to plans for an Arts District office tower from Legendary Development.

The project, planned at the former home of the A + D Museum at 405 S. Hewitt Street, was initially planned as an 11-story structure featuring approximately 250,000 square feet of offices. A revised plan rolled out in mid-2022 now calls for the construction of an 18-story building featuring roughly 308,000 square feet of offices above 8,100 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space and a 660-car garage.

View from Hewitt StreetGensler

Gensler is designing the tower, which would stand approximately 297 feet in height and incorporate outdoor patios and terrace decks for tenants, as well as publicly accessible open space at street level. The design for the tower has been described as being inspired by the Arts District's "utilitarian style," with a concrete podium that is intended to resemble the appearance of surrounding warehouses, albeit masked with murals.

City Council approval was required to grant a zone change and general plan amendment requested for the project.

View from 4th StreetGensler

The Council also took up consideration of an appeal filed by SAFER, an affiliate of Laborers International Union of North America Local 270 (LIUNA), continuing a fight last seen at the City Planning Commission in October 2023. SAFER contends that the environmental study conducted for the project failed to consider potential impacts to air quality, biological resources, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Council rejected the appeal, as recommended in a staff report.

Despite the continued struggles of the Downtown office markets, with trophy towers selling for a fraction of their pre-pandemic value, the Arts District has proved attractive in recent years to technology and media companies such as Spotify, Honey, and Warner Music Group, which have set up shop nearby. That has prompted plans for large projects which could bring more commercial space to the neighborhood, including the 35-story Alloy development now rising at 520 Mateo Street and a proposed project from Onni Group.

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