Park Fifth, a Catalyst for the Revitalization of Pershing Square

The Downtown Los Angeles skyline is changing yet again. Developer MacFarlane Partners has topped off Park Fifth, a highly anticipated luxury high-rise apartment complex across from Pershing Square. The 24-story property has 347 rental apartment units and 5,300 square feet of retail space, and is expected to dramatically change the surrounding Pershing Square neighborhood.

“The project will dramatically change this submarket of Downtown L.A. as both towers sew together two long, formerly vacant blocks and creates a place or a heart to them, creating the necessary catalyst for the soon-to-be revitalized Pershing Square and the additional development that is now planned around it,” Victor MacFarlane, chairman and CEO of MacFarlane Partners, tells GlobeSt.com. “The mix of living and retail offerings at the two-building development will also help to create a mostly non-existent, pedestrian experience.”

Along with Park Fifth, MacFarlane Partners is also building the Trademark on the same site. Trademark is a mid-rise, seven-story apartment complex with 313 rental apartment units and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space. MacFarlane Partners made a splash in 2014 when they purchased the land site from a developer whose original project was stalled during the recession. MacFarlane reimagined the project as two apartment properties, banking on the growth and revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles. Their bet paid off. “Downtown L.A. continues to come alive in multiple quadrants and is more cohesive than it has ever been,” MacFarlane says. “Within and around the new dynamic architecture, there is a palpable surge in commerce and general energy. This growth will lead to more of the same.”

Construction on both projects began in 2015, and are planned to deliver in the first half of 2019. “MacFarlane Partners is on track to deliver on time in the second quarter 2019, and we launch our residential and retail leasing in early 2019,” adds MacFarlane. Park Fifth is targeting LEED Silver certification.

While leasing efforts have yet to begin, MacFarlane has already received strong interest and community support for the project, which is occupying two formerly vacant lots adjacent to Pershing Square. “The community support has been outstanding,” says MacFarlane. “But, firstly, we have been so appreciative of Councilman Huizar’s support since the very earliest days as we envisioned the development and the transformation of Pershing Square. Other related groups such as DCBID, formerly named Downtown Center Business Improvement District, have been great partners, and the feedback from across the community has been reassuringly positive—if not outright excited to see this come to fruition.”