Onni Group back with a new plan for Arts District project

It’s back to the drawing board yet again for the Onni Group in the Arts District.

The Vancouver-based developer scrapped a single-tower design for a 2.17-acre property at 2143 E. Violet Street in favor of a two-building plan that separates commercial space and residential units, according to Urbanize.
The new plans call for a 36-story tower with 347 live/work units and an eight-story office building with 187,000 square feet of office space, 22,000 square feet of commercial space, and an 828-space parking garage. Onni plans to reserve 57 apartments as affordable.

Onni laid out its new plans in an environmental study of the development published by the City of Los Angeles, a key step in the development process. Five existing buildings on the site would be left as is. They consist of about 57,000 square feet of mixed warehouse, office, and retail space, along with six apartments.

Onni bought the development site in two deals in 2016 and 2017 as part a wider acquisition push in the L.A. area.

Later in 2017 the firm drew up plans for a 13-story project with over 500 residential units and 288,000 square feet of commercial space. A year later the firm added two stories, but reduced both residential and commercial space.

Onni Group has other projects in the works. Last week, the firm filed plans for a 14-story office tower in Hollywood.

The L.A Department of City Planning in May forced Onni to redesign its massive 1.5-million-square-foot Times Mirror Square project in Downtown L.A., although its unclear whether that’s moving forward or if Onni plans to drop the project, as a representative suggested. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch