A pair of tower cranes were recently spotted on the site of the proposed 35-story mixed-use building dubbed The Alloy in Downtown Los Angeles, indicating the start of the implementation of the project that is developed by Caramel Partners, one of the leading specialists in real estate investment management, focusing on U.S. multifamily development and construction, and opportunistically, debt.
The project calls for the construction of high-rise and mid-rise structures with a total of 475 live/work apartments, 105,000 square feet of office space, more than 18,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and a 650-car garage on a site that also abuts the 4th Street Bridge and Santa Fe Avenue.
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The project’s aesthetic centrepiece is a new 35-story, a 390-foot-tall skyscraper that, when completed, will be the Arts District’s highest structure.
The Alloy in Downtown Los Angeles design overview and related scandal
The design team for The Alloy in Downtown Los Angeles is led by Works Progress Architecture and Solomon Cordwell Buenz, and it is represented in drawings with a modern style with amenity decks atop its rooftop and podium levels. An old rail spur connecting Mateo and Santa Fe will also be reactivated as a pedestrian paseo, according to plans.
While Alloy construction is now in full swing, the project’s future was called into question in 2020 after it was revealed that the project was linked to a City Hall corruption scandal centred on former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who is now on trial in federal court on charges of accepting bribes from real estate developers. Huizar lobbied for a reduction in the number of affordable homes necessary for the project. Carmel Partners has already paid a $1.2-million fee to address its role in the corruption investigation.
While Alloy will be the Arts District’s first high-rise, it is unlikely to be the last. Nearby, new skyscrapers designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and Herzog & de Meuron are being built, while prominent developer Onni Group is proposing a 36-story high-rise just south of 7th Street.