LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by Wilcal

I'm wondering if the city has even produced a design concept for Ave. of the Angels. I'm thinking that we will have an announcement about a buyer for the formerly Metropolis project at least by the end of the year, if not sooner. The sudden interest by developers, both large and small (Macy's Plaza, Brookfield Properties, New Grand, LA Central, south Broadway, etc.) tends to ignite an emotional/economic rush of interest. The Ave, as it were, is a very important design challenge because it is a conduit for connecting the activity of the new Grand Hotel and LA Live. If done well, it would be a signature for Urban Planning and the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles. To be quite honest, if all the mentioned projects come to fruition and are successful, the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles (all say, within a span of about 10 to 15 years) will be the subject of urban planning theory worldwide.
As far as your reference to the seven story "abominations" or what I like to call "stumpy stucco boxes," I think that they are an incredible waste of a precious limited resource--land. Of course the city is partly to blame by not increasing density (zoning, FAR, etc.) where appropriate. This may soon change with Garcetti at the helm.

AEG is bound to do something with the Ave. Now that they own the convention center. They will realize the impact of having hotels in the immediate area that will have on the conventions. Metropolis could be something extraordinary but we need a serious buyer that would be willing to commit to building what we want on that site which I have no idea who would have the guts to do it. I'm sure Downtown will be something else by 2020. A lot of the available land will be bought up and/or be developed on. The streetcar will bring people into the Southpark area and projects are apparently already planned such as another abomination. By then the Wilshire Grand will be towering over us, the regional connector should be operational and several high rises would have been added to the skyline and who knows what projects would be under construction by then. The city of change is LA, and Downtown is at the head of this change. Before you know it, Downtown will have 100,000 residents and will rival the skyline of Chicago. I'm being cocky but at this pace of Resurrection and construction, we could have a lively downtown once again.