LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0 - Page 75

colemonkee · #**1481** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 12:35 AM**

^ That giant crane took down the red tower crane that hovered over the parking garage/convention center expansion area between Nokia Theater and the 110. The arm and cab have been removed and I presume the rest is coming down soon. Looks like that area is complete enough to finish off without a crane!

Easy · #**1482** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 1:54 AM**

Ahhh...the Glass Tower. The building that's been 3-4 months from groundbreaking for the last 3 years. I'll be very disappointed if that doesn't break ground by the end of the month.

citywatch · #**1483** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 3:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easy

I'll be very disappointed if that doesn't break ground by the end of the month.

If any proj currently deserves....

&

.....it would be the glass tower. First, because it's a proj that a supposed expert in the devlpt industry said last yr (or was it even this yr?) was one of the most likely to actually see the light of day. And, second, cuz the devlpr himself claimed earlier this yr that it was almost certain his tower would breakground by around April.

As for LA Central, from the moment that a forumer said he saw the landscaping & concrete dividers of the parking lot east of Staples being torn out, & then when fridayinla posted pics showing exactly that, & then when edkao mentioned that the same lot no longer is listed in info for the upcoming LA kings hockey season, that pretty much sealed the deal for me. Now the only question is if preparation of the site will drag on for wks & wks, if not months.

And I'm assuming that the devlpr isn't under some kind of obligation to begin construction in X number of months or yrs. IOW, did AEG stipulate that unless the LA Central proj is underway before the 3rd qtr of 2007, the parking lot it sits on MUST remain open for events held at Staples in late 2007, early 08?

If not, then there's the matter of all the turmoil in the mortgage industry right now, & so that's making lots of ppl----inc probably lots of devlprs----nervous.

However, if both LA Central & the Glass Tower end up going nowhere over the next several months (& I don't want to say yrs), the one good thing about that is it will lessen the possibility of the hood becoming swamped with too many new condo & apt projs.

DTLA · #**1484** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 3:43 AM**

Does anybody have any new info on park fifth? It would cool to see how fast the condos are selling and how much of the towers are reserved.

WonderlandPark · #**1485** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 3:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by citywatch

[/b]

If not, then there's the matter of all the turmoil in the mortgage industry right now, & so that's making lots of ppl----inc probably lots of devlprs----nervous.

I know a mortgage expert who has been in the business for 40 years and has never, ever seen what has happened in the last week. A brick wall has been slammed into. There are basically no non-conforming loans being written. He says he had a person who had nearly 800 credit, but was self employed and was quoted 11% on a jumbo. That or nothing. The market has never hit a wall like this, so he says, even in the 16% interest of the Carter era did it slow down like it has in the last 10 days.

It could be especially rough here in SoCal, because we are not a corporate HQ city and so many are self employed, alternate employed and 90+% of all mortgages are jumbo here. There is no more alt-a market and no more no-doc market, both products were huge sellers in the LA area.

LosAngelesSportsFan · #**1486** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 5:04 AM**

i work in the industry, and its bad right now, but after the shake out, about a couple months, things will change for the better again. 700 credit 80% LTV, self employed jumbo full doc 30 yr P/I will get you 7.25 % at par with Citi / Interfirst. 5 yr 1/0, 6.5%, 7 and 10 yr 1/0 at 6.75 @ par.

back to the topic, i think that LA Central will start before the Kings season, at least the excavation.

WonderlandPark · #**1487** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 5:11 AM**

It was a no-doc, million-plus in Ventura County.

It will get better next year, according to him. But the slowdown is insane in the short term.

towersla · #**1488** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 6:15 AM**

Jan Perry is to speak tomorrow night at our annual homeowners meeting and bring our residents up to speed on the Grand Avenue project in addition to other downtown development.

Please feel free to suggest any questions that could be posed to Ms. Perry. I'll do my best to follow through and update the board accordingly.

LosAngelesBeauty · #**1489** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 7:45 AM**

^ Can you ask her what the situation is going to be regarding the two County buildings? They're both seismically damaged and removing them would expand the area of the park substantially. And the most important reason why the County buildings have to be removed in order for the future park to be successful is because of ACCESSIBILITY. Without it, no park would be successful. Remember this fact: there is already a nice looking park in the middle of the County Buildings, but it's empty. Why? Because of no accessibility into it. How will this "new" park be any drastically different when 70% of its borders is blocked? That's the same set-up as Pershing Square! Have we not learned anything?

The County is supposed to transfer the two buildings to the State (don't know if it happened already). So how will LA work to remove those voluntarily before the next "Big One" does?

LongBeachUrbanist · #**1490** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 3:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

The market has never hit a wall like this, so he says, even in the 16% interest of the Carter era did it slow down like it has in the last 10 days.

Things are pretty bad out there...I'd be surprised if Downtown didn't lose a couple of projects. But IMO that would be because of credit problems on the developer side, rather than on the residential side. DTLA's fundamentals continue to improve, so even with credit temporarily drying up, it will come back, and I think demand for units in Downtown will remain strong enough to weather the crisis.

colemonkee · #**1491** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 4:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by towersla

Please feel free to suggest any questions that could be posed to Ms. Perry. I'll do my best to follow through and update the board accordingly.

Ask her how the developers are addressing both pedestrian connectivity and active street life (e.g. ground floor retail) along the 2nd Street and Olive Street sides. Remind her that the majority of her constituents from the Old Bank District and Little Tokyo will be accessing this development from 2nd and Olive, and that how this connects to downtowns growing residential base will be important to it's long term success. As well as the promise of a pedestrian friendly downtown.

citywatch · #**1492** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 5:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by towersla

Jan Perry is to speak tomorrow night at our annual homeowners meeting and bring our residents up to speed on the Grand Avenue project in addition to other downtown development.

And related to DTLA's post above, if you hear anything about the parkfifth proj, from Jan Perry or any of your neighbors, I'd definitely like to hear about that.

There was a new forumer here who not long ago said quite a few units in that proj have been sold (or more realistically, probably meaning they've been reserved), & I'd like to see that confirmed.

With the volatility in the financial mkts right now, the big question is whether that will be affecting the groundbreaking schedule for big projs like parkfifth. They originally said they'd begin work in Oct, now they say 1 qtr of 2008. It will be great if that date isn't pushed forward again.

Right now, I'm guessing the only new proj, other than the LA Central devlpt, that should begin construction before the yr is out is the Grand Ave proj. But if Perry has an update that demolition of the parking structure across from Disney Hall, for any number of reasons, won't begin in October, then definitely give us word on that.

Echo Park · #**1493** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 6:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

^ Can you ask her what the situation is going to be regarding the two County buildings? They're both seismically damaged and removing them would expand the area of the park substantially. And the most important reason why the County buildings have to be removed in order for the future park to be successful is because of ACCESSIBILITY. Without it, no park would be successful. Remember this fact: there is already a nice looking park in the middle of the County Buildings, but it's empty. Why? Because of no accessibility into it. How will this "new" park be any drastically different when 70% of its borders is blocked? That's the same set-up as Pershing Square! Have we not learned anything?

The County is supposed to transfer the two buildings to the State (don't know if it happened already). So how will LA work to remove those voluntarily before the next "Big One" does?

I 110% agree with you!

Pleeease, towersla, ask her about the county buildings. I'm sure our city officials are well aware of the obstacle they present but they really need to get it through their skulls that this park will be a guaranteed FAILURE if those buildings are not removed. Of course they probably know this but they should at least let us know or give some kind of sign they're doing all they can, or at least SOMETHING to get rid of them. I think at least Jan Perry has been somewhat vocal about this, but nearly everyone else is silent. Grand Avenue is my favorite DTLA project right now and that park has huge potential, thats why this is so important.

colemonkee · #**1494** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 10:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by citywatch

Right now, I'm guessing the only new proj, other than the LA Central devlpt, that should begin construction before the yr is out is the Grand Ave proj.

If that's "all" we get, that will be one of the biggest building booms in quite some time, with three towers over or very near 50 stories under construction at the same time. That's quite a considerable acheivement for Downtown LA, given its recent history. And by "recent" I mean "last 20 years".

colemonkee · #**1495** Posted **Aug 21, 2007, 10:43 PM**

Looking at the LA Live webcam, it appears that they are lowering the crane for Hanover Tower. The crane arm is now 3-4 stories below the roof.

And the red crane at LA Live is completely gone.

EDIT: Hanover Tower crane disassembly confirmed via Blog Downtown.

DTLA · #**1496** Posted **Aug 22, 2007, 1:53 AM**

^I wonder when the tarp on Hanover's coming off. I don't know if I'll be able to get used to it being any color besides green.

Hopefully the cranes will go to the Ritz/Marriot and LA Central

k3d · #**1497** Posted **Aug 22, 2007, 4:49 AM**

I was just at the LA Live presentation at Staples Center. They had an open bar, food and raffles as well as a LA Live presentation from the AEG boardroom. The LA Live models were there, I think some of the buildings were outdated.

Some interesting comments by the rep during the presentation:

LA Central (she called it Fig Central) will break ground in 3 weeks.
LA Central is talking to Whole Foods and Gelson's.
Starwood talking to LA Central or second choice the building across from Ritz Carlton.
City of LA has approved Chick Hearn court to be closed except for specified weekday rush hours.
Ritz Carlton has 170 of 224 units reserved.
Ritz Carlton has a some models opening soon in the Petroleum building.
The large LA Live billboards on the exterior corner of Olympic/Fig are not LCD screens.

Some Pics:

fridayinla · #**1498** Posted **Aug 22, 2007, 5:04 AM**

^Great pics and even better news! So the LA Central mystery is solved... I can't believe we'll have so much construction activity going on at once in downtown! The Ritz Carlton being 76% reserved is equally exciting.

I need to get out with my camera this weekend.

funhaus · #**1499** Posted **Aug 22, 2007, 5:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by k3d

I was just at the LA Live presentation at Staples Center. They had an open bar, food and raffles as well as a LA Live presentation from the AEG boardroom. The LA Live models were there, I think some of the buildings were outdated.

Some interesting comments by the rep during the presentation:

LA Central (she called it Fig Central) will break ground in 3 weeks.
LA Central is talking to Whole Foods and Gelson's.
Starwood talking to LA Central or second choice the building across from Ritz Carlton.
City of LA has approved Chick Hearn court to be closed except for specified weekday rush hours.
Ritz Carlton has 170 of 224 units reserved.
Ritz Carlton has a some models opening soon in the Petroleum building.
The large LA Live billboards on the exterior corner of Olympic/Fig are not LCD screens.

Thanks for the updates, k3d! I'd thought the Whole Foods thing was a sure thing from what I'd read, but a Gelson's wouldn't be bad either. Can't wait for the groundbreaking on LA/Fig Central - three weeks is just around the corner.

Win any raffles?

fridayinla · #**1500** Posted **Aug 22, 2007, 5:19 AM**

The LA Live site is really shaping up! I'm excited that Nokia Plaza will be opening this October along with the Theater. I wonder if Chick Hearn Court will be closed starting then?

By the way, I noticed the new Orchid Hotel's facade on Flower/8th is nearly complete. Looks great on that block.