Fulton Street Ventures, the American subsidiary of Chinese real estate firm R&F Properties, held a groundbreaking ceremony this weekend for a long-delayed high-rise development in Downtown Los Angeles. The small gathering was first spotted by Downtown-based entrepreneur Andy Rosillo.
The project, 1133 S. Hope Street, is a proposed 28-story residential tower located east of Staples Center and the L.A. Live entertainment district. Plans call for an approximately 330-foot building would contain roughly 200 condominiums, 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a parking garage and residential amenities.
Renderings portray a contemporary glass tower, featuring outdoor decks above its podium and rooftop, as well as a green wall masking above-grade parking levels along Hope Street and towards the adjacent Flower Street Lofts. The project is being designed by the Vancouver-based Chris Dikeakos Architects.
Development plans for the property date back to 2006, previously under the ownership of the Canadian real estate firm Amacon. However, a series of appeals from residents of an abutting property caused the Toronto-based developer to delay its plans, creating an opening for Fulton Street to enter the fray. The Los Angeles Times first reported the Chinese firm's involvement in August.
Despite the groundbreaking ceremony, an actual start to heavy construction will likely occur at a later point in time. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has yet to issue a full slate of construction permits for the development.
The 1133 Hope Street project sits less than one block north of 1212 Flower Street, where the Vancouver-based Onni Group has plans for a pair of similar high-rise residential towers. To the west, a series of multi-tower developments are reshaping properties between Figueroa and Flower Streets.
