The building also was credited for what has long been a rarity in high-rise residential construction: windows that actually open, allowing savings on air-conditioning costs.
Such green design elements should be standard in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at the award ceremony at the project site. He wants all new buildings of substantial size in Los Angeles to meet Green Building Council standards. "I want to see gardens on rooftops and more trees," he said.
South Group's designs were so outside the L.A. norm that city building codes intended to regulate low-rise suburban style residential projects conflicted with the big-city buildings the developer proposed.
As a result, the company had to get a series of code variances, such as reduced parking requirements and reduced setbacks from the street. Those changes later became part of the city's standards for high-rise residential buildings.
Then came the developers' plan for trees, wider sidewalks with gardens and street furniture, which South Group's James Atkins calls part of the "alchemy" of creating an urban community.
The city needed to change its codes to allow them. But it was worth the effort because they provided a blueprint for other developers, according to City Councilwoman Jan Perry.
"I hope projects that come after you actually copy you," Perry told South Group managers at the ceremony. "Thanks for dragging us kicking and screaming" to new development standards.
"They were pioneers in creating a real urban environment in L.A.," said competing Los Angeles developer Dan Rosenfeld, whose company has helped redevelop Pasadena and Wilshire Center. "Everyone assumed this would be a city of stucco and wood-frame dingbat apartments forever."
Portland, meanwhile, had become a model for its quality urban neighborhoods packed with residences, stores and other amenities including effective public transportation.
And two of the major residential development firms there -- Gerding Edlen Development Co. and Williams & Dame Development -- flourished among Portland's largest developers and got credit for creating a lot of the city's much-ballyhooed urban ambience.
The companies founded by four longtime Portland developers helped bring a fading industrial part of downtown called the Pearl district back to life and build a new neighborhood among old warehouses along the Rose City's Willamette River waterfront.
