LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Remember it's the city engineers that deemed it unsafe, so it's not like the developers were trying to value engineer the project. I'm sure if it was feasible they would've allowed it since I agree it would've improve pedestrian access and activation.

I wish what had happened at least were publicized by the school & Gehry Partners....I only knew about it because of the EIR report about the proj buried in some LA city docs.

Why can't the small parking lot at least be closed & the land scrapped clean for a park or open plaza? The lot doesn't sit above the tunnel & unlike the small feeder street doesn't seem to need a retaining wall.

In comparison, closing the side street & tearing it down right next to 2nd St would create a retaining wall that might be too weak. As for the small parking lot, maybe it sits above underground chambers that connect to the tunnel & would be exposed to water leakage? No one who does PR for the owner or city has said anything about why the plans had to be changed.

meanwhile, a few blocks to the south, an update on this proj was posted over 5 wks ago....comments above about problems with the convention ctr expansion regrettably can't be offset by the angel's landing proj....

therealdeal.com

Developer Don Peebles and partner Victor MacFarlane’s Angels Landing Partners has sued the City of Los Angeles for allegedly unlawfully terminating their contract to build the $1.6 billion Angels Landing project Downtown, which would have been among the largest African-American-led developments in the city’s history.

Peebles’ eponymous firm and MacFarlane Development Company are seeking $20 million they invested in the project when the city “abruptly and inexplicably terminated its agreement with Angels Landing without proper justification,” according to the complaint filed in L.A. Superior Court.

The 1.9 million-square-foot DTLA mixed-use project was going to mark the Peebles Corporation’s foray into the L.A. market, the company’s CEO said. The firm is based in Miami, but has developed in New York and elsewhere.
The city and the developers executed an exclusive negotiating agreement as of March 2018. It stipulated that the developers would be reimbursed by the city if the city terminated the agreement when the developers were not in default of their obligations, per the complaint.

Peebles and MacFarlane filed suit against their minority partner, Ricardo Pagan-led Claridge Properties, for failing to make an initial capital contribution of $184,951 in April 2021. The suit was resolved and dismissed in June 2023, with Claridge no longer maintaining a capital interest in Angels Landing.

But the city informed Angels Landing in July 2023 that Claridge’s transfer of interests to Peebles and MacFarlane “constituted an unauthorized ‘transfer,’ which would allow the city to terminate” the exclusive negotiating agreement.

[scania]

Here you go again!!!
This is old news. BBC Stop it. It’s much more to that situation with Angels Landing.

[SoCalKid]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I can see it. Look how much concrete would be sitting on top of the tunnel in order to make the plaza level. If it's not reinforced or rebuilt in someway it may not be able to support all that weight. Remember it's the city engineers that deemed it unsafe, so it's not like the developers were trying to value engineer the project. I'm sure if it was feasible they would've allowed it since I agree it would've improve pedestrian access and activation.

It's hard to know if this was LADOT being car-centric and not wanting to take away car infrastructure, if this was a true engineering issue, or if it was simply a cost item (i.e. the plaza would require significant structural upgrades that weren't in Colburn's budget). Either, I wish they could have at a minimum closed of 2nd street there and converted it into a pedestrian only area. Regardless, this is a very positive development - it's good to see cultural institutions doubling down on DTLA even if employers aren't.

[citywatch]

this vlogger apparently got into Onni's new & still unfinished Olympic/Hill tower. tbh, I zipped through most of the vid because even on film, some of the shots gave me acrophobia.....I like highrises as much as the next person does, but heights do make me nervous.... I also wonder, now that a lot of new towers have way more glass than older bldgs do, who has to clean all the glass of glass sided railings?


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[scania]

Originally Posted by citywatch

this vlogger apparently got into Onni's new & still unfinished Olympic/Hill tower. tbh, I zipped through most of the vid because even on film, some of the shots gave me acrophobia.....I like highrises as much as the next person does, but heights do make me nervous.... I also wonder, now that a lot of new towers have way more glass than older bldgs do, who has to clean all the glass of glass sided railings?


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Most of these highrises get them cleaned twice a year.

[SoCalKid]

I went to LA Live yesterday and the Chick Hearn plaza is complete (except the new video board towers). It's pretty plain and doesn't have many trees, but it's nice to have that as a permanent plaza/pedestrian space. If Oceanwide Plaza ever gets completed, that plaza could turn into a good central space in South Park for tourists and visitors. I was also happy to see they went with olive trees instead of the palm trees shown in the renderings.

[citywatch]

Unlike the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza, at least 611 is a completed bldg, from the late 1960s. This vid says it has been sitting largely vacant for over 20 yrs.

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The Chetrit Group also owns the Clark Hotel at 4th & Hill & the embassy hotel bldg at 9th & Grand. All 3 properties have been unused for decades. The 2 hotel bldgs were even supposedly renovated & given new furnishings over 5 yrs ago, but nothing since then about their finally opening. Cherit has got to be a money laundering operation.

Another landowner in dt, of the bldg on the NE corner of 4th & Broadway, has controlled a burned shell since over 15 yrs ago. They too have skated on by. Even if LA city govt cares, they still can't...or won't...or aren't able to do anything.

[LA21st]

Uhhh. Isnt 611 a massive data center that was converted like 20 years ago?

Manhattan and downtown Chicago have one of these too. If not multiple.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Uhhh. Isnt 611 a massive data center that was converted like 20 years ago?

Manhattan and downtown Chicago have one of these too. If not multiple.

I think you are thinking of One Wilshire. 611 Place was considered for residential conversion in the recent past, and it certainly has the right dimensions for it. I'd live there! Incidentally, I will start my job downtown tomorrow, at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. Hopefully, my division will eventually move to the Gas Co. Tower!

[scania]

Originally Posted by craigs

I think you are thinking of One Wilshire. 611 Place was considered for residential conversion in the recent past, and it certainly has the right dimensions for it. I'd live there! Incidentally, I will start my job downtown tomorrow, at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. Hopefully, my division will eventually move to the Gas Co. Tower!

Congrats!!! And good luck!!!

[craigs]

Originally Posted by scania

Congrats!!! And good luck!!!

Thanks!

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by craigs

I think you are thinking of One Wilshire. 611 Place was considered for residential conversion in the recent past, and it certainly has the right dimensions for it. I'd live there! Incidentally, I will start my job downtown tomorrow, at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. Hopefully, my division will eventually move to the Gas Co. Tower!

Oh thats right. Congrats!

[SoCalKid]

Originally Posted by citywatch

The Chetrit Group also owns the Clark Hotel at 4th & Hill & the embassy hotel bldg at 9th & Grand. All 3 properties have been unused for decades. The 2 hotel bldgs were even supposedly renovated & given new furnishings over 5 yrs ago, but nothing since then about their finally opening. Cherit has got to be a money laundering operation.
:

They aren't a money laundering operation. They just got their hotel proposals destroyed by Unite Here 11 which tried to force them into a money-losing business plan. Unite Here is a mafia. They have done insane damage to DTLA.

[citywatch]

^ There are so many interest groups that work against the future of an improved dtla. The famous Original pantry restaurant on Fig at 9th St...in dt since 1924 & known (before Covid) for being open 24 hours a day...just closed down.

I watched a vid yesterday that showed a relatively clean, newer section of a major city in CA....(psst, it's a town famous for lots of fog)...but it's going through a down cycle in the 2020s...lots of vacant storefronts. Plenty of other cities in the US & world are experiencing the same thing too.

If a hood, such as in dtla, looks nice but still isn't doing well, that's a tougher puzzle to solve....the solutions are harder to find.

If it weren't for projs like this in LA, there would be way less right now to look forward to.


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[hughfb3]

This crown and this lighting is not the business! The crown looks like Phil and Lill's hair from the Rugrats

[craigs]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

This crown and this lighting is not the business! The crown looks like Phil and Lill's hair from the Rugrats

I like it. I'm glad it's not just a skeletal outline of the mechanical structure, but rather a more solid light feature.

[scania]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

This crown and this lighting is not the business! The crown looks like Phil and Lill's hair from the Rugrats

It’s actually dope…the changing colors is cool too!!!

[colemonkee]

Not a big fan of the crown during the day, but at night that looks great. Love that there is more crown lighting that far south and east to compliment the USC (former AT&T and Transamerica) Tower.

And the waterfall at the Lucas Museum looks great from the sky. Can't wait for that to open up.

[nmkef]

More boring Oceanwide "updates"

3/5/25 stipulation by US Trustee basically forcing a "status conference" on 4/14/25

At this time, the parties agree that a status conference is appropriate to discuss with
the Court the following issues:
a. The sale of the Real Property, including a timeline of when the Debtor intends to
set an offer deadline and a date to close the sale of the Real Property;
b. The hearing date on the Plan Confirmation Hearing;
c. Resetting dates vacated in the Scheduling Stipulation;
d. The status of insurance on the Real Property; and
e. Any other information the Court or Debtor deems appropriate.
ACCORDINGLY, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED THAT:
1. The above recitals are incorporated herein by this reference;
2. A status conference hearing may be set for April 14, 2025, at 1:00 p.m.;
3. The Debtor should file a status report with the Court by April 7, 2025, addressing the
topics listed in item #10 above.

https://cases.stretto.com/public/x318/12689/PLEADINGS/1268903112580000000143.pdf

And yesterday (3/31/25) a preliminary "status report" ahead of both the required "status report" and "status conference"

3. In the meantime, on March 27, 2025, Debtor and the various other Consulting Parties
(as that term has been used in connection with Debtor’s debtor-in-possession financing and sale
process, and which includes, amongst others, LADI, Lendlease, Chicago Title, and the City of Los
Angeles) attended mediation before the Hon. Randall J. Newsome in an effort to resolve various
disputes. Debtor and the Consulting Parties have reached a resolution in principle intended to
facilitate a global resolution of the disputes in this case. The parties are in the process of finalizing
that resolution, and it remains subject in all respects to documentation and Court approval.
4. Inasmuch as these post-mediation discussions are on-going, and details still being
addressed, Debtor will provide a supplement to this status report prior to the Status Conference,
either on its own or as part of the April 7 report required by the US Trustee Stipulation

https://cases.stretto.com/public/x318/12689/PLEADINGS/1268904012580000000123.pdf

I guess note 3 is just mediation between oceanwide and debtors on how they're gonna break down the liquidation but idk too much legalese for me.

Stay tuned for more soonTM

[colemonkee]

I read that to say that they've agreed upon a framework that will allow them to come to an agreement on how they will ultimately allocate the debt obligations as part of a sale/liquidation, but it does not yet define that breakout. It's the "intended to facilitate" language that indicates the breakdown is not yet finalized and that disputes still remain. "...a resolution in principle intended to facilitate a global resolution..."

Originally Posted by nmkef

I guess note 3 is just mediation between oceanwide and debtors on how they're gonna break down the liquidation but idk too much legalese for me.