The Los Angeles City Council voted last week to approve a controversial plan from Irvine-based developer Ventus Group to construct a $455-million development across the street from Exposition Park.

The Fig, slated for a 4.4-acre site at 3900 S. Figueroa Street, calls for the construction of a seven-story edifice featuring 222 units of student housing, 104 market-rate apartments, 82 units of designated affordable housing, a 298-room hotel, and over 60,000 square feet of street-fronting retail and restaurant space.

The proposed development, designed by Architects Orange, would divide its hotel and residential components into separate wings flanking a central plaza.  Renderings depict a contemporary look with numerous outdoor decks.

West Adams Heritage Association (WAHA), a preservationist group, has fought the project in a bid to prevent the demolition of a collection of 1920s apartment buildings along Flower Drive.  The eight buildings, which total 32 residential units, would be replaced by an eight-story parking structure under the approved plan.  Appeals filed by WAHA were denied by the City Council vote.

A second appellant, Strategic Actions for a just Economy, dropped its opposition to The Fig last month.

Ventus Group has not announced a groundbreaking date for the project, though the developer is pursuing a financial incentives package from the City of Los Angeles for the construction of the 298-room hotel.  The company is also planning to remodel an adjacent shopping center at the intersecting of Figueroa and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. 

The Fig's approval follows nearly $2 billion of investment into adjacent Exposition Park, including a renovation of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the opening of a new soccer stadium, and the construction of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.