Residents at one of Century City’s priciest new towers may eventually be able to skip the curb entirely and head straight to the roof for a ride. Reuben Brothers and Joby Aviation said Friday they plan to convert the rooftop of the south tower at Park Elm Residences, the newly opened luxury complex at Century Plaza in Century City, into a vertiport that would let owners summon on-demand electric air taxis. The plan calls for using the building’s existing helipad and adding a dedicated passenger lounge operated by Joby, tying a flashy real-estate perk to the broader push to commercialize quiet, electric air taxis in U.S. cities.
Who Runs This Thing And What’s Included
Reuben Brothers has announced an alliance with Joby to build out the rooftop vertiport and fold Joby’s service into Park Elm’s amenity package, according to PR Newswire. The plan includes a Joby-branded passenger lounge and aircraft charging on the existing helipad. Under the arrangement, Joby would handle vertiport construction, operations, and flight arrangements, while Reuben Brothers would slot the service into the building’s concierge offerings. The developer is pitching Park Elm as a first-of-its-kind Los Angeles residential property that offers integrated air-taxi access to owners.
Where Joby Is In The Certification Race
Joby says it has been flying piloted demonstration missions, lining up vertiport partnerships and working through Federal Aviation Administration conformity steps as it prepares for early operations. The company points to recent demo flights and its selection for early operations under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, along with public partnerships with Delta and Uber that are meant to link short air hops with ground transport. Those efforts are central to Joby’s pitch to run point-to-point services in dense metro areas, according to Joby Aviation.
Sky Pads For The Few: The Real-Estate Angle
Park Elm Residences sits in a corner of the market where homes list in the low millions and stretch into the tens of millions. Active listings include a large residence priced above $21 million, according to an MLS listing. One-bedroom units in the development have changed hands in roughly the $1.4 million to $1.5 million range, with current asking prices working out to around $2,000 per square foot, according to Realtor.com. That spread helps explain why a rooftop vertiport is being pitched as a premium amenity squarely aimed at wealthy buyers.
Permits, FAA Sign-Offs And A Long To-Do List
Both Joby and Reuben Brothers say they will seek all required local, state and federal approvals before any rooftop flights start. That process can include city permits, building inspections and FAA coordination on airspace and operating rules. Joby’s public materials emphasize that aircraft certification, FAA conformity flights and participation in the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program are stepping stones toward early operations, but that final Type Certification and local landing-site permits still have to be secured. In other words, this announcement marks the beginning of a permitting and community-engagement process rather than a firm commercial launch date, according to Joby Aviation.
Neighbors, Noise And Who Gets To Fly
Transportation planners and neighborhood advocates have been warning that early air-taxi services could be priced well out of reach for most residents, even as they introduce more activity into already busy urban skies. Scaling low-altitude operations into dense city airspace raises concerns about noise, visual impact and congestion that will need strict management. Los Angeles is already wrestling with those tradeoffs, weighing high-profile pilot projects and vertiport proposals against questions about who benefits, how flight routes are drawn and what hours operations will be allowed. Those debates are likely to shape any local approvals and the operating limits placed on future rooftop hubs, according to Smart Cities Dive.
What To Watch Next
On the ground, observers will be looking for telltale signs that the concept is moving beyond the glossy-rendering stage: permit filings, environmental or noise studies and public hearings. The companies say more detailed plans and community outreach are on deck before any commercial service can start. If Joby secures certification and the necessary city and building approvals follow, rooftop pick-ups at existing towers like Park Elm could become an early test case for scaling vertiports without constructing new ground-level hubs. Industry analysts and aviation trade outlets are expected to track the approval timeline and any neighborhood pushback, according to Vertical Magazine.
