Investors and developers are rushing in to capitalize on theredevelopment of downtown Los Angeles. Gateway cities like Los Angeles havealways benefited from foreign investment. In this cycle, the influxof foreign capital is not only continuing the momentum of downtownLA's revitalization, it is also redefining its skyline.

Distinct East Asian Design in DTLA
South Korea's Hanjin Group (which also owns Korean Air) has startedconstruction on the Wilshire Grand Tower in LA's financialdistrict. The $1billion development will be mixed-use, containing a73-story hotel and office buildings with 5 stories of undergroundparking. Upon completion in 2017, the development will be more thana 1000ft tall, overtaking the US Bank Tower for the title oftallest building West of Mississipi. This super skyscraper'sLED-lit, sail shaped design will stand out among the otherwiseflat-roofed buildings of DTLA. (The Wilshire Grand Tower wasgranted exception to the City's fire ordinance requiring a rooftophelipad thanks to its high-tech building design and safetytechnologies that “exceed the city's fire code”).

Tall buildings are challenging in seismically active California,and the Wilshire Grand Tower is an impressive feat from a structural engineering perspective. Thebuilding is founded on the largest concrete pour in the history ofman (at 21,200 cubic yards it's in the Guinness book of records.)The structural engineering firms that worked on this project -California-based Brandow & Johnson, Inc. and Thornton Tomasetti(the company behind Malaysia's Petronas towers and the NY TimesBuilding) - addressed seismic safety by designing the lateral loadsto be borne by the reinforced concrete elevator column. This willallow more glass and less columns on the outside walls, which iskey to the building's aesthetic. This LA Curbed article talks in more detailabout Wilshire Grand Tower's seismically resilient design.