Related Companies, the developer of the long delayed, $3 billion Grand Avenue mega project, is working on plans to fast track a scaled down residential tower originally tied to a later phase.

The firm had been facing a Feb. 15 deadline to break ground on the Frank Gehry-designed first phase of the project. On Monday, the Grand Avenue Authority, a joint city county panel overseeing the project, is slated to consider a two-year extension that Related has been seeking since August.

But as Related looks to buy more time for phase one, which would add two luxury residential towers with a boutique hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail, it is actively working on plans for an apartment tower on a different parcel. The site was environmentally cleared for two condo towers of up to 35 stories.

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