SoLA Village plans call for a densely developed complex with skyscrapers and low- and mid-rise residential buildings along with outdoor plazas and terraces intended to create a pedestrian-oriented community. Above, a rendering of the project. (Gensler + Patterns)

A $1-billion residential, hotel and retail complex is being planned south of the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles as robust development promises to spread beyond the traditional boundaries of the neighborhood.

The proposed project, called SoLA Village, would rise just south of Washington Boulevard on a block and a half next to the former LA Mart, a large design center and showroom for the gift, interior design, and home furnishing industries.

Now known as the Reef, the high-rise built in the 1950s also provides incubator space for new creative firms and artists. The planned project would be an ambitious addition by its owners into two parking lots covering 7.5 acres on both sides of Broadway.

Plans call for a densely developed complex with skyscrapers and low- and mid-rise residential buildings along with outdoor plazas and terraces intended to create a pedestrian-oriented community.

"SoLA Village will be about place making," said Ava Bromberg, head of operations for the Reef and the SoLA Village project. "With the Reef, we are turning creative space into more of a community and connecting that community to the surrounding neighborhoods."

Bromberg oversaw development of Atwater Crossing, a mixed-use complex in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles that incorporates housing, offices, manufacturing, a restaurant and live theater in an environment intended to nurture young firms in creative fields.

Both projects are controlled by limited liability companies headed by Ara Tavitian, a Glendale physician who invests in commercial real estate.

The developers hired well-known architecture firm Gensler to come up with the design for SoLA Village that will be submitted to city officials for approval.

"We're not looking at this project as a singular fingerprint," said Shawn Gehle, a design principal at Gensler. "It's multiple projects within one project with diverse forms and materials."

Plans call for a 1.66-million-square-foot development to be built in stages, probably starting with a 19-story, 208-room hotel. Guests might include people doing business at the Reef or attending events at the Los Angeles Convention Center....Continue Reading

> via LATimes