The massive South Park multi-use megaproject Metropolis, which was stalled out for decades, is now having a serious growth spurt—just about a month after starting construction on the development's first phase—a 38-story condo tower and 19-story hotel—developers Greenland USA announced that they're planning on starting phase two—two even taller residential towers—as soon as this fall, reports the Downtown News.
Renderings via Greenland USA
From LA Curbed
That's right: the project that's been talked about since the '80s, that once appeared in the A+D Museum's Never Built exhibit, is now moving along at a swift clip. The new towers in the Gensler-designed project are certainly going to make their mark on the skyline: the taller will be 54 stories with 740 condos; the other will be 40 stories with 510 condos.
The two residential towers will have the same glass-and-steel look as the first phase, but with more "detail and drama," thanks to "large rectangular facade projections that frame the upper portions of the structures" and give the buildings striking asymmetry. They will both sit on an eight-story mixed-use parking podium that will bring retail to Francisco and Eighth Streets, which could certainly use it. With the first phase running right on schedule and expected to be complete in2016, plus those sweet tax breaks from the city Metropolis just received, Greenland USA must be feeling like more than a billion bucks (which is around how much the entire multi-phase project is expected to cost).
This megaproject isn't the only long-slumbering Downtown giant to awaken in recent months: the cobweb-gathering Glass Tower site at Eleventh and Grand was recently purchased by Trumark Urban, which is hoping to finish construction on the 24-story condo building by 2016.