Nearly a year-and-a-half after breaking ground in Downtown Los Angeles, the most visible signs of progress yet have appeared at developer AvalonBay Communities' AVA Arts District apartments.

Construction of AVA Arts DistrictUrbanize LA

A pair of red tower cranes now stands above the 3.75-acre project site, formerly the home of a cold storage facility at the intersection of Alameda and Industrial Streets. In its place, plans call for the construction of a seven-story building featuring 475 studio, one-, and two-, and three-bedroom apartments above 61,000 square feet of ground-floor office, retail, and restaurant uses and a two-level, 842-car subterranean parking garage.

Per conditions of approval, AvalonBay will be required to set aside 53 apartments as deed-restricted affordable housing at the very low-income level.

Designed by OfficeUntitled, with AC Martin serving as executive architect, the podium-type complex will be clad with fiber cement panels, concrete, and metal. Plans call for a series of incorporating open-air decks and other amenities for residents, as well as a new landscaped paseo in space along the southern property line in space that was once used as a rail spur.

View from Industrial Street looking southwestOfficeUntitled

At the time the project secured a $167-million construction loan, AVA Arts District was slated for completion in 2022.

The project site sits directly south across Industrial Street from a property slated for the construction a similar mixed-use housing project from Camden Property Trust.

AvalonBay has previously developed AVA apartment buildings in  Little Tokyo and Hollywood, and is also planning a 154-unit housing complex in Monrovia and hundreds of apartments as part of the redevelopment of the West L.A. Civic Center.

668 S Alameda StreetGoogle Maps