It seems as though the developer, Related, is in the process of trying to get a smaller portion of the project approved, rather than moving forward with the original plan. This of course is the result of the current economic climate. In recent months, lenders have pulled back financing on previously approved projects. Only the most seasoned developers are able to successfully negotiate with their lenders to be able to push some portion of their project through.

The Grand Ave Project was originally going to include a 48-story Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Residences with 295 hotel rooms and 266 condominiums, a 19-story tower with 126 market-rate apartments and 98 affordable residences, a 250,000-square-foot retail pavilion and a 16-acre Civic Park. Subsequent phases would bring more than 2,000 additional housing units, a grocery store and health club, and would nearly double the amount of retail in the project. The entire development is slated to occupy 3.6 million square feet of space across from Walt Disney Concert Hall.

“I’m looking at one of the parcels for a short-term project,” said City Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose Ninth District includes the Grand Avenue site. “It is a more immediate project.”

Perry would not divulge any details about what the new project would encompass or even who would develop it. More information will likely be revealed at a meeting of the Grand Avenue Authority (the city-county agency overseeing the Grand Avenue development), tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14, Perry said.

I believe whatever will be approved, even though it wont be the original plan, will only add tremendous value to an area that is in desperate need of it. This might mean a short-term development strategy as well as a long-term plan.