It’s a good time to be a Chinese developer in Downtown Los Angeles. Beijing-based Oceanwide and Shanghai-based Greenland are already building two of the largest projects in the city: Fig Central and Metropolis. Now according to LA Downtown News, Shenzhen-based Shenzhen-Hazens has announced plans to build a $700 million, Gensler-designed project on Figueroa street across from LA Live.
The scheme includes a 30-story hotel and 30- and 42-story condo towers. There would be 650 condos altogether as well as 80,000 square feet of retail, most of it along Figueroa, heating up the already super hot South Park.
Apparently the company’s connection to the area is based on basketball in addition to business. “Our chairman is a big fan of the NBA—the Lakers, the Clippers,” Shenzhen-Hazens General Manager Greg Sun told the Downtown News. “So he comes to Staples [Center] often when he is in town, and he sees big crowds here. When we did our research, we saw an opportunity to do something big in a gateway city.”
