Yesterday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved Gehry Partners’ and Related Companies’ long-stalled Grand Avenue Project, all but assuring that it will go ahead after years (and years, and years) of delay. The only remaining vote comes later today as the Grand Avenue Authority, the city-county agency overseeing the project, votes on the project.
At the Supervisors’ meeting the head of that authority, Supervisor Gloria Molina, praised Gehry’s newest plans, a three-acre, mixed use development centering around a terraced, U-shaped plaza. “It’s really a much improved design,” said Molina. “It really creates an environment of a lot of activity and a lot of connectivity to the rest of downtown.”
Overhead view of Disney Hall and the Grand Avenue Project. (Related Companies)She referred to an earlier iteration, by Gensler along with Robert A.M. Stern, as “very enclosed, very fort-like.” Gehry returned to the project last month after being off the project for close to a year. The Grand Avenue project was first approved back in 2007 (after already experiencing years of false-starts), and Related has received almost a dozen extensions until this point. Gehry Partners’ Paul Zumoff described the firm’s new approach “to carve out the interior of the Grand Avenue scheme…giving views both to the interior and the exterior.” He added: “It’s a bit like Disney was inside and was pulled out of the interior.” The Grand Avenue Authority meets today at 3pm to vote on the project. Also up for discussion is whether the project will be exempt from environmental review.
The Grand Avenue Project would feature hotel and residential towers. (Related Companies)
