The new plaza is slated to debut in spring 2019

Par Bianca Barragan | Mar 27, 2018, 3:45pm PDT |

In December, the county of Los Angeles got the green light to launch a renovation of the 53-year-old Downtown plaza between the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Mark Taper Forum on Bunker Hill.

That work is underway now, as images by photographer Sterling Davis show. Once complete, the $40 million upgrade to The Music Center’s plaza will add a wine bar, restaurant, welcome center, and permanent restrooms.

Designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, the makeover is expected to widen and flatten the plaza, raising a previously sunken area and opening the entrance area.

Demolition is underway now on the terrazzo on the Grand Avenue stairs to the plaza and the concrete hardscape of the plaza itself, says Jodie Mendelson, project manager for Cumming Corporation, which represents The Music Center on the project. And the 50-year-old “Peace on Earth” sculpture is wrapped in scaffolding as crews prepare to relocate it by a crane to a spot just west of where it sits now.

The new plaza is expected to open in 2019.