LOS ANGELES-The latest Downtown L.A. condominiums will be a ground-up development of 700 to 750 units called Elleven that a joint venture of Portland, OR-based Williams & Dame Development and Gerding/Edlen Development Company LLC expect to complete the first 179 units of in early 2006 at 1111 S. Grand Ave. in the South Park district. The development venture, called the South Group, calls its project the first new ground-up condominium development built in Downtown Los Angeles since the 1980s. The new venture is the latest in a growing number of Downtown condominium and apartment projects, but most of the others are conversions of office buildings into housing.

The venture recently broke ground on the first of three buildings planned for the site, which formerly was a vacant parking lot. The South Group's Homer Williams, chairman of Williams & Dame, and partner Mark Edlen of Gerding/Edlen, describe the three-phase development as a $250 million investment that will be privately financed, with equity funding from ScanlanKemperBard and Lehman Brothers, mezzanine debt from Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, and a construction loan from the National Electrical Benefit Fund (NEBF) and Washington Capital Management. The work that is under way at the development includes a 13-story tower of 179 lofts and seven two-story townhouses that will constitute the first phase. Phase II will be a 19-story, 236-unit tower slated for completion in the fall of 2006and Phase III will add a 27-story tower of 300 to 350 units scheduled for completion in 2007, with both of the later phases to include two-story townhouses as well.

The Elleven project, designed by the architectural firm of Ankrom Molson Associated Architects with Howard S. Wright as general contractor, will occupy a site is about two blocks from the Pico/Chick Hearn Blue Line station and major bus routes. It is also near the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Staples Center sports and entertainment complex, and a number of other housing and retail projects. Floor plans for the condos, which are expected to sell for $300,000 and up, will range from 770 sf to 3,100 sf, with private on-site parking, an elevated garden terrace, a pool and other features.

The developers are designing the project for environmental efficiency, hoping to obtain certification as a LEED Silver (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building from the US Green Building Council.

By Bob Howard