If you drive in Los Angeles, you probably noticed the blaze Sunday night that many have compared to witnessing the apocalypse. That would have been controversial LA developer Geoffrey Palmer‘s Da Vinci— a residential project on the western edge of the 110 Freeway in Downtown— going up in smoke. But Palmer, whose fortress-like, faux-Italian, fountain-embellished, wood-framed, and stucco-clad empire also includes huge downtown residences like the Orsini, the Medici, the Piero, and the Visconti, has vowed to continue with the scheme.
“Though we have temporarily lost Building B, we will be opening Building A across the street at the end of January to those families looking forward to occupying their new homes,” he said in a statement.
In case you’re wondering what Palmer and his architect, Alan Boivin, have created in Downtown LA (yes, this is Downtown), here’s a look. Brace yourself. According to the LA Times, Palmer, one of the pioneers of development in the area (he started here over 15 years ago) has 3,500 residential units completed in the greater downtown area and more than 2,500 planned or under construction. “The Italians actually settled LA before the Spanish and Chinese,” Palmer told Los Angeles Magazine.
