A local architecture and development firm has submitted plans to build an 18-story mixed-use residential tower in Downtown Los Angeles that it says could be a model for future infill development. The property, 216 Spring St., is owned by a limited liability company registered under David Lawrence Gray, whose firm, David Lawrence Gray Architects, is steering design and development.
The project site, which currently holds a one-story commercial building that would be demolished, is slated to hold 120 units – 89 one-bedrooms, 16 studios, 13 two-bedrooms and two three-bedrooms – and is located within half a mile of downtown’s Civic Center/Grand Park metro station. Gray, whose firm has developed hundreds of units downtown, said project characteristics like its lack of a podium, widened sidewalk (by five feet), and proximity to transit, among other features, make it a very worthy project for the city’s downtown goals. The Spring Street development would also contain twin elevators that help deliver cars to and from the its 69 automobile spaces across its three basement levels, also saving space in that regard.
“Our goal as developer and architect was to try and establish for the city the ability to develop infill sites into high-rise housing while complying with all the city’s design guidelines,” Gray said.
Because the city’s Transit-Oriented Communities Incentive Program doesn’t apply to its urban core, the developer is relying on other incentives, like a state density bonus, to help scale the project. The Spring Street high-rise will reserve 14 units, or 11% of the total, for very low-income households, which makes it eligible for 35% density bonus through the state.
Gray’s 216 Spring St. LLC closed on the site for $5.6 million in February, according to county records. The developer and architect have been active as the former in large part through adaptive reuse projects in DTLA’s historic core, counting over 500 units of that nature in his portfolio.
Its 216 Spring project, which will have features like a 4,153-square-foot roof deck and rooftop pool, a restaurant, and retail space, has been in the works for several years, according to Gray. “We like to think of it as the poster boy for infill development in downtown Los Angeles,” he said.
