Downtown LA’s Wells Fargo Center Getting $60 Million Makeover

With most of the attention on big projects going up in South Park and the Arts District, it’s always exciting when a relatively quieter part of downtown — in this case, Bunker Hill — gets in on the development action. Sitting high atop on Bunker Hill, an extensive remodeling project has begun at the Wells Fargo Center — a 2.6 million square foot office-retail complex located a block south from the now-famous Broad Museum — that will become one of the most exciting projects to look forward to in Downtown LA’s continued urban revitalization.

Shiny new renderings have been revealed by the owner of Wells Fargo Center, Brookfield Properties, showing a dramatic transformation of the property that focuses on improving connectivity by opening up to the street and creating a more inviting atmosphere by softening the hardscape with removal of unnecessary walls and replacing them with lush landscaping. In addition, the centerpiece of the project — an existing 76,000 square foot retail center that will receive the bulk of upgrades — will be renamed as “Halo.”

In an effort to bring the Wells Fargo Center up to today’s more pedestrian-oriented design standards (especially here in an increasingly walkable Downtown LA), Brookfield Properties is investing $60 million into this renovation project. (For comparison, Brookfield spent only $40 million revamping their FIGat7th property into one of DTLA’s most successful retail projects.) And in an almost act of redemption, the Wells Fargo Center’s original architect firm, SOM, will be charged with redesigning the past flaws that created the cold-hard development that came to define Bunker Hill’s sterile environment.

The newly revamped Halo will become more porous with flexible indoor-outdoor seating facilitated by a new grand entrance facing Grand Ave. Currently nothing more than a granite wall that subconsciously told pedestrians to “stay away,” the new transparent glass entrance will do the exact opposite by welcoming pedestrians from the sidewalk along Grand Ave to enter Halo both easily and pleasantly. You might recall this was exactly what Brookfield did with FIGat7th by adding an inviting grand staircase right into the shopping complex, rectifying the sunken, hidden and inaccessible original design of 7th+Fig.

Although the retail center’s interior space — topped with a glass atrium that will return in the new iteration — included a lush garden designed by famed landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, the retail center was criticized by prospective restaurant tenants for having limited seating, outdated infrastructure, and difficult circulation within the property. That will be rectified in the upgraded Halo project with the addition of two times more seating capacity.

Brookfield plans to include an indoor-outdoor bar lounge; 1-2 full service restaurants; a “vendor village” that will entail 6-8 quick service eateries; and 1-2 grab-and-go food vendors. In addition, there will be another 1-2 fitness operators, office support services, tenant bike storage, and lockers and showers.

Construction on the project began in late December last year with interior demolition work. The entire project is expected to wrap up in mid-2019.

When the project is completed, Brookfield is betting that Angelenos will be saying, “I’ll meet you at Halo.”

All renderings courtesy of Brookfield

An evening rendering of the revamped Halo property showing a much more inviting center both day and night

A new glass entrance facing Grand Ave replaces an uninviting blank wall

A peek inside shows a much more modern and open concept that includes an indoor-outdoor bar lounge

The new Halo strives to be more porous and connecting better with the exterior plazas outside

This rendering shows the exterior escalator removed from the Hope Street side of the property and replaced with more lush landscaping

Many of the new restaurants will have exterior patio seating overlooking Hope Street

What Wells Fargo Center looks like today

The Wells Fargo Center has always been hard to access with “hidden” entrances and sterile blank walls

This is where the new grand entrance will be created that will welcome pedestrians to enter the property both easily and pleasantly

The Hope Street side today is also too enclosed and will hopefully be more activated in the new iteration

Source: https://brighamyen.com/2018/04/05/dtlas-wells-fargo-center-getting-60-million-makeover/