After years of quiet, a proposal from Tishman Speyer to build a new office complex just west of the L.A. River in the Arts District is finally taking steps forward.

This week, the Planning Department released a draft environmental impact report for the New York-based developer's proposed development at 2159 E. Bay Street - a property which has served as the original headquarters of Virgin Hyperloop. Plans call for demolishing existing warehouses on the property, clearing the way for the construction of three new buildings featuring 217,189 square feet of offices and 5,000 square feet of retail space. Parking for 711 vehicles would be provided in four subterranean levels.

2159 E Bay StreetLADCP

Shimoda Design Group is the architect of 2159 E. Bay Street, which would be centered on a 10-story, 190-foot tall building set back toward the east side of the property, with smaller one-story buildings fronting Bay Street.

The project, which will require the approval of a zone change and several other discretionary entitlements, is expected to be built over a 30-month period commencing in 2023 and concluding in 2025.

Conceptually, the current plan is mostly unchanged from the project filed with the City of Los Angeles in 2017, which had called for roughly 200,000 square feet of offices and 16,000 square feet of retail. The design, however, has undergone major revisions, trading plans for an eight-story building with setbacks and terraces for a taller structure capped by a rooftop deck.

Original plan for 2159 E Bay StreetShimoda Design Group

Besides its design changes, the 2159 Bay Street development remerges in an Arts District that has seen its profile rise as an employment hub, thanks in large part to the arrival of companies such as Warner Music Group and Spotify, but also at a precarious time for large office buildings in the region, with demand down as a result of the global pandemic. Nonetheless, several similar projects have already been planned or approved for the neighborhood, including new developments from Onni Group, Jade Enterprises, Skanska, and Hines.

Tishman Speyer, in addition to its Arts District office complex, recently took ownership of eight entitled development sites in Santa Monica.