TF Broadway LP, a partnership between Vancouver-based developers Townline and Forme Development, has submitted plans to construct a high-rise development adjacent to the Gold Line in Chinatown.

The project, known as Harmony, would replace a shopping center at 942 North Broadway, directly across the street from Chinatown's Central Plaza.  Plans call replacing an existing shopping center with a 27-story building, featuring 178 residential units - including units set at the very-affordable level - atop two floors of office and retail space, with parking located below-grade.

Chris Dikeakos Architects is leading the design team, which also includes SWA Group as landscape architect.  An early design concept for Harmony shows a series of stacked, offset masses rising above a podium.  The proposed site plan concentrates the property's buildable density into a high-rise structure, thereby allowing nearly half of the total site to be used as open space.  The public plaza serves as the "starting point for the balance of the project design," according to Arnold Chan, an architect with the development team.

The project's ground level activation, including 30,000 square feet of small-format retail and restaurant space, is envisioned as an extension of Chinatown's existing network of pedestrian paseos.  The project notably calls for relocating an existing crosswalk on Broadway to more directly align with a statue of the Chinese revolutionary and political leader Sun Yat-sen.

The project is also billed as a way to add a more robust organic customer base for Chinatown merchants, according to Damon Chan with Forme Development, who added that many retailers and shops in the surrounding area currently do not maintain regular business hours due to a lack of pedestrian traffic.

Townline and Forme Development, along with Los Angeles-based partner Urban Offerings, has initiated initial outreach to community groups and stakeholders in the last week, according to Rick Ilich of Townline.

Construction of Harmony is currently anticipated to begin as early as 2019, according to the development team.

Harmony is the latest in a string of high-rise developments announced for Chinatown, the most recent being a Studio Gang-designed hotel and residential tower planned on Spring Street.