Six years ago, Australian developer Crown Group burst on the scene with plans for a high-rise tower in Downtown Los Angeles inspired by California's famed redwood trees. But six years later, rather than creating a new architectural landmark, the project is instead destined for the pages of a future edition of Never Built Los Angeles.

View looking south on Hill StreetDoug and Wolf

On March 1, the Planning Department terminated entitlement proceedings for Crown Group's proposed project at 1111 S. Hill Street, citing a lack of activity on the application since late 2021, and no communication from the applicant team when prompted for an updated in January 2024. The project, which was to be a joint venture with Magnus Property Pte Ltd. and ASRI, was most recently imagined as a 40-story building featuring 319 rental apartments, 160 extended-stay rental units, and more than 3,000 square feet of retail space.

Koichi Takada Architects had been tapped to design the project, with MVE + Partners serving as architect of record. In addition to referencing redwood trees, the tower would have included a swooping canopy closer to ground inspired by Marilyn Monroe's windswept skirt in the film The Seven Year Itch.

The project comes at a time when economic conditions, among other factors, have slowed the pace of construction across Los Angeles County. While there were points in the past decade where more than a dozen towers were rising simultaneously in Downtown alone, just three high-rise developments currently under construction in the central city.

View from 11th and Hill looking southwestDoug and Wolf

Although the redwood-inspired tower may not see the light of day, other proposed projects along the 11th Street corridor remain active. Those include two pending entitlement applications from Mack Real Estate Group and an approved project from Crescent Heights which would bring a trio of high-rise buildings to the intersection of 11th and Olive Street.

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