LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[DJM19]

Well that area might be connected to LA. But it isnt LA.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Actually Los Angeles has more space to grow in the great Mojave Desert, beyond Palmdale and Victerville heading towards Barstow and California City.
The only problem is...how to get people from the northern basin into the LA basin.

Hmmm.... maybe a few tunnels under the San Gabrial Mountains?
The cost? Probably in tens of Billions? But its definatly worth it.
Think about it....both California City and the L.A. area at last truly joined.

Erm..no. Not only is that a retarded idea but Victorville and the Mojave Desert is in San Bernidino county.

[ladowntowner]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Actually Los Angeles has more space to grow in the great Mojave Desert, beyond Palmdale and Victerville heading towards Barstow and California City.
The only problem is...how to get people from the northern basin into the LA basin.

Hmmm.... maybe a few tunnels under the San Gabrial Mountains?
The cost? Probably in tens of Billions? But its definatly worth it.
Think about it....both California City and the L.A. area at last truly joined.

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

Erm..no. Not only is that a retarded idea but Victorville and the Mojave Desert is in San Bernidino county.

JDRCRASH has suggested this before.

Los Angeles proper has more space to grow - right in it's core. Haven't you noticed all the parking lots and under-utilized construction and developments? We need to be going vertical rather than even more horizontal.

Wouldn't spending "tens of billions" for public transit and improved infrastructure to support increased density as well as encouraging developers to build in the center through financial incentives make more sense? I say in light of dwindling energy reserves (wonder why fuel prices are rising?) let those remote areas die a natural death and stop encouraging sprawl by subsidizing inefficient, nonsensical projects.

[hughfb3]

Are we that dissappointed at Astani for the lack of progress Concerto has taken that we label it Approved rather under construction on the title page?

[ladowntowner]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Are we that dissappointed at Astani for the lack of progress Concerto has taken that we label it Approved rather under construction on the title page?

A pit in the ground that hasn't changed in months does not technically qualify for the label "under construction"

[JDRCRASH]

I doubt the empty lots and parking lots all over the city are going to change anytime soon just because we need to expand up.
And the traffic through the 14 Freeway is getting worse every year anyway.
What suprises me is that a few don't know that the idea that L.A. must expand vertically is exactly the opposite of what most people want.
They want to stay in their gas-consuming automobiles, which is a shame.

@Threehundred: Oh but on the contrary, The Mojave Desert is indeed partly in Kern County and L.A. County..what you are referring to is the Mojave National Preserve...which is San Bernardino County...look it up in wikipedia

And as what history has shown us....many so called "retarted" ideas eventually give way to bolder and more innovative ideas, regardless if the original succeeds or not

[ladowntowner]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

I doubt the empty lots and parking lots all over the city are going to change anytime soon just because we need to expand up.
And the traffic through the 14 Freeway is getting worse every year anyway.
What suprises me is that a few don't know that the idea that L.A. must expand vertically is exactly the opposite of what most people want.
They want to stay in their gas-consuming automobiles, which is a shame.

I humbly beg to differ with you, sir. There are a ton of in-fill projects under construction or recently completed all around the urban core (and not just downtown) and even more planned. The core is becoming more dense every year. As this happens, coupled with increased fuel prices due to shortages, driving around in "gas-consuming automobiles" will become ever less attractive. Congestion will increase due to the higher density and higher energy costs will put personal autos out of reach for many of those who have been able hang in there up until now. Continued sprawl is becoming unsustainable with our current model of transportation.

Suburbia has been "driven" (forgive the bad pun) by cheap oil and the desire by people to live single-family detached homes with mini private parks that need to be (wastefully) heavily watered, located 30, 60 or even more miles from their work. If you haven't noticed Los Angeles is in a fairly arid region and as you add more people, each person has a smaller share of that pie is also. Denser urban development is much more efficient from an energy, resource and environmental standpoint.

In the very near future (perhaps the time is already upon us) it won't matter what people "want", they will have no choice - unless they are uber-rich. Much of suburbia in the hinterlands will (rightfully) wither and die.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

Are we that dissappointed at Astani for the lack of progress Concerto has taken that we label it Approved rather under construction on the title page?

The reasoning behind labeling Concerto "Approved" rather than under construction was that there hasn't been any construction activity at the site for about 4 months. It's not a knock to Astani or the project, I just thought it to be more accurate.

Technically it should be labeled "On Hold", but I didn't want to create a whole new category for one project. Once we see some activity on the site, I'll move it back to under construction. Hopefully we see that soon. I really like this project.

[JDRCRASH]

Well ladowntowner I hope your right because i'm tired of more and more people resorting to using their cars in this city

[colemonkee]

Took a look at the LA Live webcam, and they have removed half of the dirt ramp that provided access from Georgia St., and built a new, smaller ramp that accesses the site from Olympic. It looks like they're prepping for the hotel tower to start.

[JDRCRASH]

Is it just me...but does anybody find it a little odd that the last part of the project to be built is the Hotel?
Its almost like critics want delay it to buy enough to time to find something else about it to criticize and protest and thus force officials to cancel the project.
It really ticks me off when crap like that happens to soooo many projects these days

[ladowntowner]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Is it just me...but does anybody find it a little odd that the last part of the project to be built is the Hotel?
Its almost like critics want delay it to buy enough to time to find something else about it to criticize and protest and thus force officials to cancel the project.
It really ticks me off when crap like that happens to soooo many projects these days

Don't fret, JDRCRASH. The hotel at L.A. Live is very much anticipated and welcomed. I don't think there is anyone in the city government against it - nor much of anyone who matters anywhere else. The only person I recall crying out against it was the owner of the Bonaventure Hotel a bit further up Fig. (gee.. I wonder why?) L.A. has desperately needed a world class hotel directly across from the Convention Center for decades.

I think we have little to worry about on this one, short of a complete economic collapse in the next year or so.

[fridayinla]

Hey Colemonkee, great job on the project rundown! I didn't see Glo on Wilshire on the Under Construction list. Also, Vero is recently completed... in case you'd like to add those to your list.

[colemonkee]

^ Yes! You're right. I tried to find a render of Glo Wilshire and couldn't. If you can find one, post it and I'll add it to the front page. If you have a picture of Vero completed, I'll add that as well.

[SC_00_05]

[From curbed LA] Heartbreaking news this morning. We learn from the kind people of the Gansevoort Hotel Group that the proposed Gansevoort West at 9th and Grand downtown is off. We've been waiting for more news since our last update in August, but unfortunately none came. And now this from the GHG people: "The Gansevoort Hotel Group (GHG) and The Chetrit Group have renegotiated the two projects they currently have under development. GHG will wholly own and manage the Gansevoort South hotel and condominium development in Miami. The Chetrit Group will develop the 9th Street/Grand Avenue project in Los Angeles under a different brand name; GHG will not be involved." And it was such a lovely rendering...
· Gansevoort West: Update in Brief [Curbed LA]



Well, hopefully the Chetrit Group can still do a good job with this. At least it's still being developed and can hopefully be made into something even better.

[RAlossi]

And now we know why there wasn't much work going on. Hopefully we will see some action soon.

EDIT: If they're as good with their construction as they are with their web design https://www.chetritgroup.com/ we're in for some fun.

[BrandonJXN]

^ I love sarcasm.

[SC_00_05]

^^Yeah, wow, that website could seriously have been built by a 12 year old who had to build a "homepage" for a 10 minute project in 7th grade. I especially like that ultra low-res logo of theirs that they use.

[colemonkee]

Well, the folks at Park Fifth seem to be a bit more serious. They're running a 2/3 page color ad in today's LA Times, and their sales center doesn't open until "Summer 2007".

[alikaalex]

^ Is that ad viewable online?