Two teams are competing to provide a master plan for a development that its advocates see as a focal point for downtown Los Angeles.
The proposed eight-acre, mixed-use development, which has a projected cost of $1.2 billion, would be constructed between City Hall and the new Walt Disney Concert Hall on land owned by the city and the county.
In May The Grand Avenue Committee announced that it intended to continue negotiations with teams headed by developers Forest City Development, Cleveland, and The Related Companies, New York City.
The Forest City team includes A/E ACMartin Partners, Los Angeles, and architect Calthorpe Associates, Berkeley, Calif. The Related Co. team includes A/E Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and architects Morphosis , Santa Monica, Calif., and Elkus/Manfredi, Boston.
In selecting the finalists, the committee passed over a team that included Frank Gehry, designer of the Disney Concert Hall; French architect Jean Nouvel; Iraq-born Zaha Hadid; and British architect Norman Foster. Also passed over was a team that included The Jerde Partnership, Venice, Calif., and Johnson Fain, Los Angeles.
The committee expects to present its choice to the Grand Avenue Authority, a city/county joint powers authority, on July 19.
“The completion of the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels have shown that our downtown can be attractive to people from around the world,” says Eli Broad, co-chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee. “We now want to take the next step and create a truly great center on Bunker Hill by expanding the residential and office base as well as creating new venues for popular culture and entertainment.”
