In the late 1960s, it was Los Angeles' tallest building — and a first piece of what became downtown's modern skyline.It appears the demand for corporations to stack workers up in office towers is really in decline.A so called downtown without jobs.It that a "downtown" anymore?
Now, the 42-story tower at 6th Street and Grand Avenue is making history again, this time as what appears to be the largest "adaptive reuse" project in Los Angeles history.
This week, the Los Angeles Planning Department is expected to approve plans by a developer to convert the building — which was originally known as the Crocker-Citizens National Bank building — into a mixture of commercial and residential condominiums.
Most of the adaptive reuse downtown Los Angeles has seen so far has focused on the conversion of historical bank buildings into residential units.
But this signals something new: The arrival of the residential building boom in the heart of office tower country. Most of the loft and condo development so far has been to the north in the old financial district and to the south in the neighborhood around Staples Center.
The only other major downtown skyscraper to go residential was the vacant 1100 Wilshire office building, which opened to new homeowners last year.
The big question is whether downtown's booming residential scene can support hundreds of more units.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
L.A. Landmark may make history all over again
The L.A. Times reports:
