In the late 1960s, it was Los Angeles' tallest building -- and a first piece of what became downtown's modern skyline.
Now, the 42-story tower at 6th Street and Grand Avenue is making history again, this time as what appears to be the largest "adaptive reuse" project in Los Angeles history.
This week, the Los Angeles Planning Department is expected to approve plans by a developer to convert the building -- which was originally known as the Crocker-Citizens National Bank building -- into a mixture of commercial and residential condominiums.
Most of the adaptive reuse downtown Los Angeles has seen so far has focused on the conversion of historical bank buildings into residential units.
But this signals something new: The arrival of the residential building boom in the heart of office tower country. Most of the loft and condo development so far has been to the north in the old financial district and to the south in the neighborhood around Staples Center.
The only other major downtown skyscraper to go residential was the vacant 1100 Wilshire office building, which opened to new homeowners last year.
The big question is whether downtown's booming residential scene can support hundreds of more units.
The Crocker-Citizens building conversion would come as several major new apartment and condo buildings are rising in the South Park district -- and as planners are about to consider the translucent Frank Gehry-designed luxury towers on Bunker Hill.
Downtown saw a deceleration in new housing last year as the once-hot real estate market across Southern California died down. A Times review in November of about 100 downtown residential and commercial developments showed that about 20% were behind schedule.
"People are a little worried about a glut of condos," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "I think the [residential] market has definitely simmered down in the downtown area."
The Crocker-Citizens tower was designed by famed Los Angeles architect William L. Pereira, and was one of a handful of buildings -- notably the Union Bank tower -- built in the 1960s to surpass the 28-story height limit of City Hall, the city's first high-rise.
Pereira, whose firm was behind many midcentury Southern California landmarks, including the Disneyland hotel in Anaheim and the AT&T Center downtown, designed the building's white tower in the form of a cross -- an usual design for an office building of that era.
