LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[Derek]

It will never happen in any U.S. city.

[DowntownCharlieBrown]

^I agree with you, LAMetroGuy.

Chicago or Houston... you interested?

[BrandonJXN]

Chicago and Houston are the only feasible choices. And obviously NYC. LA doesn't need and shouldn't get a WTB.

[filmguy]

Just wondering why the big apartment complex (Gateway?) at the subway tunnel site isn't included on your Page One rundown of buildings under contruction.

[fridayinla]

Originally Posted by k3d

From my view at Sky, there was a large crane working that was parked on flower / 9th that looked like it was extended over the Concerto site. I forgot to drive by on my way to work so I will have to see what it was doing tonight. I'm not talking about the new cranes on Figeuroa helping at LA Live though it was the same kind of crane. The one at Concerto seems to be busy so it's not in every capture at the webcam/camera 2. If you check again you should see it there right in front of Sky to the left of Hanover.

According to blogdowntown, the crane you're talking is erecting the construction crane for Concerto: http://www.blogdowntown.com/blog/2785

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by filmguy

Just wondering why the big apartment complex (Gateway?) at the subway tunnel site isn't included on your Page One rundown of buildings under contruction.

No reason, really. If you have a render - a source for that render - I'll update the first page. Welcome to the forum, btw.

[JDRCRASH]

Chicago already has THE ILLINOIS, Houston has THE EARTH PLAZA, so why can't Los Angeles get it? We do deserve it, because we experienced the fastest growth in the past 150 years, especially during the Gold Rush and early 1900's. That growth is even faster than Chicago!

[Sodha]

We can't keep protecting the US Bank as our Crown Jewel. Yes, it's fantastic, but let's keep the activity and construction going! Chicago did not stop at the Hancock Tower, or even the Sears Tower. It's not like they tell developers "oh, you cannot build higher than Sears Tower, that would be atrocious". US Bank will only be an impediment then, and not an asset of the skyline. But, I don't forsee it happen w/ our ridiculous parking requirements. Hopefully that changes next week when new downtown zoning is discussed at the City Council.

[citywatch]

It's NOT parking requirements, ppl! It's something called Economics 101 that prevents the likelihood of supertalls in LA, esp DT, at least before our attention spans have gone elsewhere.

Things are schizoid, in that while there may be enough demand to support more highrise office bldgs several miles to the west of DT, problems with zoning codes &, more importantly, lots of NIMBYism would prevent that. Besides, the thought of a super tall tower somewhere between Beverly Hills & SaMo don't excite me as much or grab my attention.

OTOH, while current codes & a lack of a lot of NIMBYism would make putting up a big bldg easier in DT, there just hasn't been enough demand there to justify that type of devlpt. The hood has been stuck with a mid to high double digit amt of unused space for yrs, & yrs, & yrs.



So to repeat:

Historically, it has been common for developers to start putting up new buildings when vacancy falls below 10%, but construction costs have climbed a great deal in recent years. Although rents are rising, they are not high enough in most parts of Southern California to justify the cost of new buildings, Vargas said.

Sampling of vacancy rates, rents in second quarter

L.A. Central
Business District
15.5% $2.65

Inland Empire
8.8 2.04

L.A.'s Westside
6.9 3.53

Long Beach
6.7 2.06

Burbank-Glendale-
Pasadena
5.7 3.03

North L.A. County
5.3 2.39

L.A. County overall
9.2 2.53

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Chicago already has THE ILLINOIS, Houston has THE EARTH PLAZA, so why can't Los Angeles get it? We do deserve it, because we experienced the fastest growth in the past 150 years, especially during the Gold Rush and early 1900's. That growth is even faster than Chicago!

Chicago DOESN'T have The Illinois. And Earth Plaza isn't even a real building. It's a building designed by a forumer named vpauzuolis. He also designed that Mansion of Angels building in LA. The tallest building proposed in Houston was the 1,400 foot tall Bank of the Southwest. It was cancelled..sorta. It shrank, moved to Philadelphia, and renamed 2 Liberity Plaza.

If and when LA will build a 1,000 foot building, most likely, it'll be somewhere in the Westside. As I said, LA doesn't need and shouldn't get the WTB.

[bjornson]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

If and when LA will build a 1,000 foot building

Hmmm, this doesn't seem correct.

[LA420]

Cole shouldn't the Market lofts/Ralphs be moved to the completed section?

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by bjornson

Hmmm, this doesn't seem correct.

Gramatical error due to the vodka running marathons in my body.

[DTLA]

The reason this proposed tower will never get built in LA is the shear size it would have 2 be. This guy said he wanted this tower to be at least 500ft taller than its competition. Well, the competition right now is the Al Burj at 3,900ft. Unless this guy works out a deal with the devil, there is no way he can put a 4,400ft tower in LA. If he had suggested this a couple years ago,where the competition was taipei 101, it would have been possible. Very unlikely, but possible. But now that there are so many massive new projects in the works, there's no way that this will happen any time soon. It probably won't happen at all, but if it does it won't be in LA

[weatherguru18]

It's kinda mixed feelings here in Houston. I personally don't want it. It would make a mochery of our skyline. We have one of the most impressive skylines in the U.S. and the fourth most dense. Our tallest building in Houston is the JP Morgan Chase building which stands at 1,002 ft. tall. (75 stories). This building was orginally supposed to be 80 floors. However Hobby Airport, the cities second largest airport behind IAH (Bush-Intercontinental), sits just to the southeast of downtown Houston. The FAA suggested that the extra 5 floors would pose a hazard to approaching air traffic. This alone would keep this supertall out of Houston.

Some things we have going for us:

Big population: 2.2 million in the city/ 5.6 million in the metro (4th largest city in the U.S.) A recent study says that by 2030, Houston will have 10.5 million people.

No zoning laws. We have grocery stores sitting in subdivisions. Industry parks mixed in with commercial. Sounds bad, but it works. We have skyscrapers in neighborhoods. So he could build this anywhere.

We don't have very many natural hazards. We do have hurricanes, but seismic activity would pose a much greater threat.

I personally don't want this tower because:

1: It would be a magnent for terrorists. It screams attention.
2: It would be almost 3X as tall as our cities tallest building. It would make a mochery of our skyline. Though we have very tall buildings, they'd look like low rises against this.
a. our 3 tallest buildings are JP Morgan 75 stories (1,002ft), Wells Fargo Plaza 72 stories (992ft.) and Williams Tower 64 stories (901ft.)

If you do the math, our skyline would look like it had a massive erection. It would look cartoonish and totally out of place.

IMO, Chicago can have this one. For those in LA who want this, good luck.

[fridayinla]

^Wow.... 3,900 ft tall. My first thought was one MILE is 5,280 ft. That's Coruscant talk people!

[DJM19]

I wouldnt mind it in LA...

The only real set back for LA's chances is the extra cost of building so tall in an Earthquake zone...but when you are building that tall, its probably going to use the same measures anywhere.

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by fridayinla

That's Coruscant talk people!

Nerd! Though I guess I am as well since I know what you're talking about. . .

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by LA420

Cole shouldn't the Market lofts/Ralphs be moved to the completed section?

Yes, but I'm waiting to get a good "completed" photo of it, preferably from the same angle as the render, from 9th and Hope. I'll try to snag a photo of it later this weekend.

[Sol_Invictus]

The U.S. Bank Tower is about 1000 feet to the roof. Here's a quick pic I made with a spire 3x that size in the other thread with related news. Even if it had a nice design; it'd still be immensely out of place in L.A.