LOS ANGELES | Countywide Project Rundown Megathread

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Radio5

I think they are already started to backfill it no? Which is absurd. But haven't been there in a while

The article says that the developers are racing to get construction permits before they are required to fill in the hole. If they don't get them in time, they will have to fill it in. If they were to then get permits and decide to move forward on construction, they would have to dig again.

[ocman_]

Originally Posted by craigs

Honestly, I wish the SM airport land could be turned into hyper-dense housing, but parks are fetishized by the NIMBYs so that is what we'll get.

As for the space we now call Gloria Molina Grand Park, it was much, much worse before the redesign. It used to be just a big empty space. Today, it is a series of small-to-midsized lawns and hardscape plazas with softscape features. Agreed there are not enough trees, but because there are parking levels right beneath the surface, it was never going to have the deep tree canopy of a Golden Gate Park or Central Park. It serves a unique purpose as the region's big, central outdoor gathering/event space, for things like protests and fireworks shows.

I wouldn't mind a dense neighborhood, but the opportunity for a large city park will never come along again, so if they do it right, it could be LA's true central park. A park can't just be a park in LA. It's got to be programmed for something, because southern California's ideas of a park is that it's specifically for kids and teens and they need to be actively stimulated with sports and activities. Trees get in the way of that.

[Illithid Dude]

I think SM is exploring paying for the park by ringing it with housing. Would be nice if the Sepulveda line was extended to have a stop there as well.

[caligrad]

^^^ If Metro was smart, they would jump on the opportunity to use the site to start the Sepulveda line. I know they still need to lock in funding apparently but using this as a good mid point to have 2 TBMs going north and south would be smart.

That being said, the airport needs to be a park. Nothing fancy. Tennis court/basketball courts. Mostly open fields of grass and a few mole hills and trees.

In other news, looks like Onni is changing all of their plans around the city. Will be interesting what they do with the Times Mirror Square project.







The sea of underutilized warehouses/abandoned buildings are just primed for redevelopment. I know everyone wants to focus on density elsewhere in the city but this area in the picture alone could easily be redeveloped for 10k-15k units.

[Illithid Dude]

Apparently there's a huge project brewing for the metro bus lot on San Vicente and Santa Monica with 2000+ units of housing, a hotel, a museum, and more.

[LA21st]

Wow! How do you know?

[JSW]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Apparently there's a huge project brewing for the metro bus lot on San Vicente and Santa Monica with 2000+ units of housing, a hotel, a museum, and more.

The Rainbow Village?! Weho Pride is this weekend, so maybe an announcement soon?

[Illithid Dude]

Yeah. Curious to see how legitimate this is. Could do without the actual rainbow though. Very tacky.

[JSW]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Yeah. Curious to see how legitimate this is. Could do without the actual rainbow though. Very tacky.

As an LA gay, I concur the rainbow is too on the nose- there are many more creative and thoughtful ways to show reverence and solidarity with the community. Doesn't really matter though, because that part of the plan will NEVER pass considering it's supposedly 600ft tall... lol.

[Radio5]

That proposal is not serious at all. Read the article. While I commend him for putting it together and get people talking, it's just a vision this guy wants.

https://wehoonline.com/rainbow-village-west-hollywood-lgbtq-housing-civic-duty/

[ocman_]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I think SM is exploring paying for the park by ringing it with housing. Would be nice if the Sepulveda line was extended to have a stop there as well.

That's a great idea if they can do it. Just copy the towers surrounding central park.

[JDRCRASH]

It’s the same height as the Gateway Arch.

[LA21st]

19 story apt complex starting construction in Westchester per urbanize la

Good for Westchester actually building in the last few years. Westchester, Palms, Pico Robertson, West Adams, Swatelle, seem to be doing more than places in the eastside. WEIRD.

[caligrad]

^^^Even better reason to get the Sepulveda line going quickly.

[LAsam]

^ Wow! That's a big vote of confidence in the area from both Hanover and whoever is financing the construction. I'd imagine Hanover plans to hold long-term, otherwise ULA would make a project like this challenging to pencil out. Very low cost basis to acquire the land, but I'm sure the cost of financing and construction will be pretty substantial. Those other apartment buildings nearby must be well leased at good rents.

It's good to see Playa District (fka Howard Hughes Center) pivoting away from the traditional office/retail to more residential. Will eventually need to figure out what to do with those existing office buildings and the retail, though. The retail has never felt particularly inviting when I've been there due to the linear layout and lack of landscaping. The parking lot for the retail is also fairly awkward.

[LA21st]

I'm guessing that while some developers have "temporarily" left the area for ULA, other developers see an advantage in the meantime. Omni plans to be one of those, and it likely will pay off for them.

Its kinda like the vacancy/cheaper office buildings. It's not great (for any city) but new investors will swoop in for a better deal and try something with it. Maybe LA's comback will because of cheaper commercial real estate, who knows.

That all said, my prediction ULA bites the dust in Novermber. Voters seems annoyed with new tax initatives, judging by the results this week. If LA county isn't on board, I can even see the billionaires tax fallling apart.

[Illithid Dude]

I bet it helps that this is planned near all the tech companies in Playa Vista and the aerospace companies near LAX like Space X.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I bet it helps that this is planned near all the tech companies in Playa Vista and the aerospace companies near LAX like Space X.

Agreed. Two of the strongest office markets in the LA metro since COVID have been Century City and El Segundo. This location splits the difference between those two locations and someone who works in either market will likely have reasonably high disposable income for rent.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LA21st

but new investors will swoop in for a better deal and try something with it. Maybe LA's comback will because of cheaper commercial real estate, who knows.

• Video Link

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I bet it helps that this is planned near all the tech companies in Playa Vista and the aerospace companies near LAX like Space X.

and further south...

• Video Link

• Video Link

[citywatch]

NYTimes.com

We were in downtown Los Angeles at Dataland, the soon-to-open museum dedicated to art generated by artificial intelligence, and yeah, it was pretty crazy. The students, from an A.I. class at the University of California, Los Angeles, were getting an advance look at the invitation of their professor, the digital art star Refik Anadol. Founded by Anadol and his wife, the painter Efsun Erkiliç, Dataland is a highly anticipated addition to the city’s burgeoning art/tech scene — and arguably the most ambitious museum for A.I. art to date. But for now Anadol’s 20-odd students and I were the only visitors in a vast, black-walled, 22-foot-high gallery awash in light, color and sound.

“Unsupervised,” his 2022-23 installation in MoMA’s lobby, was so popular that it was held over for nearly a year. Museum-goers, and their kids, were transfixed by the ever-changing display of fluid dynamics that played out on its 24-by-24-foot screen. In The Washington Post, Sebastian Smee declared it “an early masterpiece of A.I.-generated art.” Other critics were not so impressed. Writing in The New York Times, Travis Diehl concluded that it was “only a screen saver.” In New York magazine, Jerry Saltz dismissed it as “a massive techno lava lamp” that offered “psychedelic slush and bacterial blobs.”

“But we were thinking, nobody’s going to ditch their physical life and move into the digital space,” Erkiliç said. “It’s not going to happen. We need to find something to bridge the digital and the physical. That’s how Dataland was born.”

Anadol came up with the idea that eventually became Dataland when they were on vacation in Mexico, after their initial rainforest trek. Then they thought up a name — but that was all they had. “I’m a realist,” Erkiliç said. “He’s a dreamer. He was communicating the dream to me, and my mind was like, how can we realize this?” They would need money — a lot of it. Then things started to fall into place.

The space, in a massive new hotel and apartment complex designed by Frank Gehry, became available when a multiplex fell through because of the pandemic. Nvidia contributed chips. LG and Epson offered deep discounts on electronics. Google Arts & Culture funded four $25,000 residencies for artists who wanted to explore A.I. L’Oréal Luxe paid to partner on the scents. Private investors came in. After 19 months, construction ended in April.

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