A massive $170 million plan to overhaul the Gruen Associates-designed California Market Center (CMC) in Los Angeles has taken a step forward as developers Brookfield Properties have announced completion of the first phase of the project.

In press release announcing the update to the 1.85 million-square-foot project, the developers write that a top-to-bottom overhaul of a 600,000-square-foot, 13-story building contained within the complex has been completed. The overhaul, which is designed by Gensler, will reposition the four-building, block-sized complex into a social and business node for fashion and technology companies. The complex was originally designed in the 1960s as a hub for clothing manufacturer based in Downtown Los Angeles and is one of the key works designed by the architect Norma Merrick Sklarek. 

A press release announcing completion of phase one of the project states, "the new fashion hub features polished concrete floors, open concept space, modern lighting elements, and state of the art technology creating an exciting canvas for fashion tenants and visitors to conduct business."

In total, the site is occupied by three 13-story black glass-wrapped towers that are connected by sky bridges and by a single-story bank building that will be cleared in the renovation. The demolished building will make way for a new corner plaza. According to the developers, removing the corner building will help in "unlocking this prime street corner to the public and delivering an inviting, modern 13,700-square-foot privately-owned public space to the burgeoning DTLA community."

In addition, the project will bring a 5,000-square-foot "rooftop tenant amenity space with sweeping views of the LA Basin." As part of the renovation, two of the office building will be re-skinned with "energy-efficient, floor-to-ceiling glass windows" while the currently enclosed sky bridges will be opened up as exterior circulation. Along the inside, a collection of over 30 escalators will be removed and replaced with new static stair cases while over 150,000 square feet of "local and regional street-level retailers, curated year-round site activations, and amplified connectivity to the surrounding neighborhood" will come to the project's base.

Bert Dezzutti, Western Region Executive Vice President at Brookfield Properties writes in a press release that "The new CMC improvements [...] will soon re-orient and re-define LA’s approach to the 21st-century workplace, drawing top office firms and fashion labels from across the West Coast.”

The final phase of the project is set to be completed in mid-2021.