Here's some news regarding Grand Avenue Project (nothing really new):
Grand Avenue project EIR, zone changes win approval
BY RICK ORLOV, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:
09/19/2007 09:44:37 PM PDT
Clearing the final hurdle for construction to start,
the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday routinely approved an environmental report and zone changes for the $2.5 billion Grand Avenue redevelopment project.
"As long as I've been in Los Angeles, people have been talking about how there is no heart to downtown, no center," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents the area where the project is to be built.
"This will change all that. This will be a redefinition of downtown and I want us to do it right."
Perry said the project is expected to create thousands of well-paying jobs.
"There was a time when we had people in these jobs who were able to afford to live in Los Angeles," Perry said. "That's what we want to create again. And I am also hopeful about bringing in a mix of housing where we have people of all different incomes living here."
Plans call for the Frank Gehry-designed project on the site across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall to become a massive commercial-residential complex that includes a four-star hotel.
The city is contributing to the project by waiving $60.5 million in future hotel-bed taxes as well as kicking in $5.5 million in parking taxes. The city's Community Redevelopment Agency has pledged $24 million and the county is contributing $4.6 million.
The city and county also will provide other investments totaling $29 million, including $10 million for affordable housing, $12 million for on-site public improvements, $5 million for off-site improvements and $2 million for street improvements.
A 16-acre park is planned between City Hall and Grand Avenue as part of the project, which also includes more than 2,600 residential units.
Plans also call for a 50-story glass tower that would contain the hotel, 250 condominiums, a rooftop pool, a bar and a spa. Also included are plans for open-terraced restaurants and a garden-like atmosphere featuring outdoor art.
The project was first conceived by billionaire Eli Broad, who wanted to see a Los Angeles version of New York's Central Park.
In 2003, the city and county created a joint-powers authority to develop the final plans, which have doubled in cost since the original estimates. The only major objection to the project has been from the owners of the Bonaventure Hotel, who have argued that the bed-tax waiver gives the proposed hotel a competitive advantage.
Perry said the next step for the project will be to prepare final plans. Work is scheduled to begin on the site later this year.
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I don't like that last part..."the next step for the project will be to prepare final plans."?!?!?! wtf? it's supposed to start construction by the end of the year and there still aren't final plans? What are they waiting for?
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