Continuum Partners, Platinum Equities plan Arts District office tower

Continuum Partners and Platinum Equity want to build a 14-story office tower next to their Produce LA project in the Arts District.

The partners filed plans for the tower with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning last week, according to Urbanize. They’ll need a zone change and other discretionary entitlements for the project.

It’s slated to rise at 655 S. Mesquit Street, a parking lot next to the under-construction Produce LA, which is expected to be completed next year. The partners started construction on that 107,000-square-foot office and retail complex in 2019.

The new tower would have 185,000 square feet of office space above 4,325 square feet of ground-floor retail, along with seven levels of parking (two underground, five above-ground) that would connect with the parking garage at Produce LA. EYCR designed both projects.

Continuum and Platinum anticipate a 2022 groundbreaking for the office tower if plans are approved.

The coronavirus pandemic dealt a significant blow to demand for office space in L.A. — leasing fell 61 percent year-over-year in the third quarter — but Continuum CEO Mark Falcone said that the firm expects demand in the Arts District will grow.

“The economic dislocation created by COVID-19 has certainly interrupted momentum, but as key infrastructure projects such as the new Regional Connector and Sixth Street Bridge come on line, interest in the Arts District will continue to grow, and we want to be prepared to meet that demand,” he said. [Urbanize] — Dennis Lynch