Proposed tower at 12th & Main clears L.A. City Planning Commission

At its meeting yesterday, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission denied two appeals targeting a proposed mixed-use high-rise development at 12th and Main Streets in the Fashion District, allowing a zoning administrator's earlier approval to stand.

Jade Enterprises, the developer behind the project at 1123-1161 S. Main Street, intends to raze a stretch of single-story commercial buildings to clear the way for the construction of a new 30-story tower featuring 363 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments above a four-story podium featuring 12,500 square feet of retail and a 363-car garage.

Designed by MVE + Partners, the contemporary glass-and-steel building would rise approximately 340 feet in height. The trunk of the tower is placed at the center of the property, with setbacks used to create podium-top amenity decks to either side. Other proposed amenities include a roof deck featuring with a swimming pool, as well as indoor lounge rooms.

Additionally, the placement of the tower aligns with another mixed-use project which Jade is slated to build on the opposite side of Main Street. Plazas in front of both developments would be linked together by a mid-block crossing.

According to an environmental study circulated last year by the City of Los Angeles, construction of the new tower at 12th and Main is expected to occur over a roughly 30-month period, which could conclude as early as 2026.

The first of the two appeals rejected by the Commission came from Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility (SAFER), a union-affiliated organization which frequently emerges as an appellant of new developments requiring discretionary entitlements. Their arguments, which were disputed by a staff response, alleged that the sustainable communities environmental assessment conducted for the 12th and Main tower failed to consider several key issues, and should be redone.

The second appellant, an affiliated of Blue Arch Investments, is the developer behind a proposed Hyatt Center hotel on a neighboring site to the west fronting Broadway. Arguments raised in the appeal allege that the construction of the proposed tower would negatively impact the use of the as-yet unbuilt hotel, and urged a redesign of the project to either reduce its scale or relocate the bulk of the high-rise. The appeal continues an earlier disagreement between the two developers - Jade previously appealed the Hyatt Centric project, forcing Blue Arch to redesign the development to account for a four-foot widening of the alley which divides the two sites.

• 1123-1161 S Main Street (Urbanize LA)