Six months after breaking ground across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, construction has gone vertical for The Grand.

Over the past two months, a pair of tower cranes has been raised above the project site, which spans the full city blocked bounded1st Street, 2nd Street, Olive Street, and Grand Avenue.  The completed development will include towers of 39 and 20 stories, featuring 349 market-rate apartments, 87 units of affordable housing, and 309 hotel rooms above a 176,000-square-foot retail podium featuring stores, restaurants, and a movie theater.

Designed by Frank Gehry, The Grand will feature stepped building heights that create amenity decks for residents, hotel guests, and retail patrons.  A pedestrian walkway will run through the center of the site, allowing cut-through traffic between Olive Street and a plaza on Grand Avenue

Construction of The Grand kicked into high-gear in late June, when developers Related Cos. and CORE USA completed a 900-ton concrete pour for the building's foundation - the first of two foundation mat pours.  Crews worked continuously over 15 hours, with 140 total workers and 1,348 trucks pouring 13,478 cubic yards of concrete.

Completion of the $1-billion development is anticipated in late 2021.

The Grand is the centerpiece of a multi-phase development surrounding iconic Disney Hall.  Already-completed components of the project include The Emerson apartment tower, The Broad contemporary art museum, and the 12-acre Grand Park.  A final phase of the development would encompass a Los Angeles County-owned parking lot located south across Olive Street.

Gehry is also designing a proposed 200,000-square-foot expansion of The Colburn School, which would rise at 2nd and Olive Streets.