Mack Real Estate Withdraws High-Rise Application

Mack Real Estate Group is trimming its ambitions in downtown Los Angeles.

The New York-based firm has requested the withdrawal of an entitlement application for a site at 1120 South Olive Street, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. The property is currently a surface parking lot and was slated for the construction of a 60-story building featuring 713 residential units and parking as well as ground-floor retail.

The pullback comes one month after Mack’s development arm, Mack Real Estate Development, received approvals for the construction of a 51-story residential high-rise at 1115 South Olive Street across the street.

Mack’s proposed 60-story tower would have been the largest of a group of developments from the firm in the nearby area. Those include the 362-unit Wren apartments at 1230 Olive Street and the 536-unit Aven residential high-rise at 1120 South Grand Avenue.

The scuttled South Olive Street tower would’ve risen 603 feet and featured 536 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments above 4,178 square feet of ground-floor retail, per Urbanize. A four-level podium and six subterranean parking levels would’ve had space for 581 cars. Rooftop and podium-level amenity decks were also part of the plan.

In addition to project entitlements, the Los Angeles City Council also approved a nearly $11.5 million public benefits package for the project in exchange for a floor area rights transfer from the Los Angeles Convention Center. Officials called for the funds to be allocated for affordable housing.

As it stands, Mack still has entitlements for the previously proposed 51-story Olive Street tower as well as another 16-story hotel tower nearby at 12th and Olive Streets. Neither of those projects, however, have made any progress toward construction.

It’s the latest in a string of proposed high-rises around 11th Street in downtown that have failed to materialize in recent years.

Last year, a proposed 40-story tower at 1111 South Hill Street from Australian developer Crown Group fell through after the Planning Department terminated entitlement proceedings after a lack of activity on the application since 2021. Similarly, a mid-rose hotel development from AEG at 1051-1059 South Grand Avenue and a proposed 70-story residential tower at 1045 South Olive Street from Crescent Heights have not moved forward.

— Chris Malone Méndez