Mack Real Estate Gets OK for 51-Story Tower in DTLA

Mack Real Estate Development, the development subsidiary of Mack Real Estate Group, has received the go-ahead from the Los Angeles City Council for a 51-story residential high-rise in Downtown Los Angeles.

The proposed tower at 1105-1123 South Olive Street will rise 603 feet and feature 536 studio to three-bedroom apartments above 4,178 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. A four-level podium and six subterranean parking levels will hold 581 cars. The design by Arcadis includes rooftop and podium-level amenity decks.

The project replaces a surface parking lot. Construction will take more than 30 months, although a start date is not set.

Along with project entitlements, the council approved a nearly $11.5 million public benefits package in exchange for a floor area rights transfer from the Los Angeles Convention Center. While officials initially proposed directing some of those funds to the convention center itself, revised conditions now allocate the funds toward affordable housing.

The high-rise is one part of Mack’s broader redevelopment vision for the Downtown L.A. market. A second proposed tower — a 60-story building with more than 700 units — is planned just east across Olive Street.

Those developments are the final phases of a large-scale plan Mack Real Estate launched a decade ago with AECOM. Completed elements include the 362-unit Wren apartments on Pico Boulevard, the 38-story Aven tower on Grand Avenue and a pocket park. Additionally, a 16-story hotel has already been approved for a nearby site at 12th Street and Olive.

Together, the projects mark a transformation of the South Park neighborhood in Downtown L.A., as high-density mixed-use towers replace surface parking lots and industrial buildings.

New York-based Mack was founded in 2013 after William Mack liquidated his family’s holdings in Apollo Real Estate Advisers, according to the company website. It has three divisions focused on development and ownership, lending and property management. The company is run by CEO Richard Mack.

—Joel Russell