LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0 - Page 111

k3d · #**2201** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 9:53 AM**

Edluva, you are really going to hate this place when it's finished!

BrandonJXN · #**2202** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 4:20 PM**

^ That's Los Angeles for you. A city of polar opposites.

yeah215 · #**2203** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 4:40 PM**

When I look at these pictures, I just keep thinking that it would have been nice if AEG used different architects and designs for the different components of LA Live. I think it would have been more interesting and seemed more organic if all the buildings didn't match. It seems a bit like a campus, or perhaps one of those suburban housing tracts where all the houses have the same roof line and are painted in the same three matching colors. Part of what makes Times Square, for example, so fun is that there are lots of different buildings. There are lots billboards sure, but if feels more organic. I fear this will seem too much like Irvine Spectrum or something. I really hope I'm wrong though.

k3d · #**2204** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 5:10 PM**

Here is the patio for Tranquility Base at 801 S Grand under construction.

Here comes 717 from behind Market Lofts

CIM has been gutting the building between Market Lofts and the Gas Co. for about a month now. Probably part of the iHope and parking structure but I'm not sure. Does anyone know the plan for this building?

Easy · #**2205** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 5:59 PM**

Thanks for the update k3d. It'll be nice to see another destination in South Park, not that it won't be full of them in 2 years!

BrandonJXN · #**2206** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 6:17 PM**

For those who like sexy cranes, you can get your rocks off at the new one at G8way Little Tokyo.

dktshb · #**2207** Posted **Oct 14, 2007, 7:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA311

NOKIA PLAZA IS NOW PARTIALLY OPEN!

I must acknowledge Nokia Plaza looks somewhat better than I expected from the exterior but the interior is somewhat of a disappointment. The complex seems to compliment Staples Center so the whole plan with the hotel might look more cohesive than contrived. I like white towers without their intended flashy screens which will eventually bombard us with needless advertisements.

jlrobe · #**2208** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 4:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Aesthetics don't really matter when talking about what makes a 'sense of place'.

I think Tokyo has lots of crap architecture, yet at the same time, it all seems to come together nicely.

The NOKIA is boring, I'll admit. But you're bound to fall hard if you continue to get riled up over this and that. It is what it is. Get over it. Or you can cry some more.

Taipei looks like crap too. You dont notice crap if there are world class events happening nightly, and hundreds of thousands of people crowding the streets.

LA has the events, now it needs more of them downtown, more density, and more people crowding the streets.

I agree though, we should have some freakin standards.

LAofAnaheim · #**2209** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 5:30 PM**

In the LA times newspaper, it was noted that Arnold Schwarzenegger is allowing AEG access to millions of dollars earmarked for affordable housing. And, if we remember right, AEG wants to use this money to help develop the Figueroa corrider. This is great news for LA! Imagine, people living in the CITY and commuting via the Expo Line! A win-win situation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bills15oct15,1,4034457.story?coll=la-headlines-california

colemonkee · #**2210** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 6:46 PM**

^ Actually, this is a win-lose situation, with affordable housing losing, and AEG, a private firm, winning. While I support street improvements to the LA Live area, the money for that should not come from any state, city or county affordable housing funds. Those funds should go toward building or subsidizing things like, well, affordable housing. Personally I think this is a very poor decision on the governor's part.

LAofAnaheim · #**2211** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 7:35 PM**

Hmmm...colemonkee, I think you may have it wrong. this money is earmarked for affordable housing. The article says "streetscapes", but I think the actual money is for development. Read this: http://ladowntownnews.com/articles/2007/10/01/news/news03.txt

Again...it's a win-win situation.

fridayinla · #**2212** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 7:50 PM**

k3d, any word on an opening date for Tranquility Base?

k3d · #**2213** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 7:58 PM**

^ Tranquility Base: No word at all. I wouldn't have known it was going in except on morning I woke up at 6:30am when they were using a cement saw on the rooftop to put in new air conditioners.

It looks like they were just about pour the patio concrete Saturday but I have not looked since. I would guess they are still at least a month away.

I heard it was going to be an Itaian food restaurant / Lounge with decor or something that "changes with the seasons".

k3d · #**2214** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 8:09 PM**

Maybe someone has already posted but I noticed the Roebeck's Juice signs are up at the corner of Flower /9th and the Pastagina on Hope/9th. No construction inside of either yet.

The Coffee Bean has also been open about a week or so on Hope/9th. I think they could use a few more umbrella tables on the Hope side. The few they have are always full and there is really no seating inside.

colemonkee · #**2215** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 8:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAofAnaheim

Hmmm...colemonkee, I think you may have it wrong. this money is earmarked for affordable housing. The article says "streetscapes", but I think the actual money is for development.

The money is earmarked for affordable housing, but the bill Schwartzenegger signed allows BIDs to use it for streetscape improvements instead - specifically in this case wider sidewalks with patterned pavers, landscaped medians, palm trees, new street lamps and traffic signals and a possible new bus line. They claim that it is meant to "spur development", which it probably will. But more than likely than it will spur development of market-rate housing, which is far more profitable to build that affordable housing, especially in an area that has a newly improved streetscape and infrastructure. In fact, the AEG representative falls short of claiming the improvements will spur affordable housing development - he only says "development".

I would be okay with this bill if it required any development within the streetscape improvement zone to include a percentage of affordable housing, or for developers to forego developing affordable housing by paying into a CRA fund. Currently that kind of requirement does not exist. Right now this bill could very realistically siphon money from an affordable housing fund to complete streetscapes that spur zero-to-little affordable housing.

Like I said before, I would like to see the streetscape improvement completed and realized as planned - including the freeway cap park at 23rd and Adams. I just don't think the funds to pay for it should come from an affordable housing fund unless there is some kind of guarantee that developments resulting from or spurred by the improvements include affordable housing to some degree.

LA420 · #**2216** Posted **Oct 15, 2007, 10:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

The money is earmarked for affordable housing, but the bill Schwartzenegger signed allows BIDs to use it for streetscape improvements instead - specifically in this case wider sidewalks with patterned pavers, landscaped medians, palm trees, new street lamps and traffic signals and a possible new bus line. They claim that it is meant to "spur development", which it probably will. But more than likely than it will spur development of market-rate housing, which is far more profitable to build that affordable housing, especially in an area that has a newly improved streetscape and infrastructure. In fact, the AEG representative falls short of claiming the improvements will spur affordable housing development - he only says "development".

I would be okay with this bill if it required any development within the streetscape improvement zone to include a percentage of affordable housing, or for developers to forego developing affordable housing by paying into a CRA fund. Currently that kind of requirement does not exist. Right now this bill could very realistically siphon money from an affordable housing fund to complete streetscapes that spur zero-to-little affordable housing.

Like I said before, I would like to see the streetscape improvement completed and realized as planned - including the freeway cap park at 23rd and Adams. I just don't think the funds to pay for it should come from an affordable housing fund unless there is some kind of guarantee that developments resulting from or spurred by the improvements include affordable housing to some degree.

I agree with you 100%

k3d · #**2217** Posted **Oct 16, 2007, 12:29 AM**

I was walking by LA Live again yesterday and though I like most of the design elements, one thing about it all gives me cause for concern. The whole complex seems somewhat small. The entrance on Fig seemed very narrow and the walkway from Fig to the plaza seems very short. It could just be that during construction and the lack of detail does not give you a good reference to scale but it just seems it wouldn't take as long to stroll through the complex as it would to walk through the Grove or City walk.

JDRCRASH · #**2218** Posted **Oct 16, 2007, 12:36 AM**

3!!!

Are the Digital Billboards finally up and running?
I think if future digital ads are added on to the walls of Nokia Theatre, they should be of different size and shape, don't you guys?

RAlossi · #**2219** Posted **Oct 16, 2007, 12:58 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by k3d

I was walking by LA Live again yesterday and though I like most of the design elements, one thing about it all gives me cause for concern. The whole complex seems somewhat small. The entrance on Fig seemed very narrow and the walkway from Fig to the plaza seems very short. It could just be that during construction and the lack of detail does not give you a good reference to scale but it just seems it wouldn't take as long to stroll through the complex as it would to walk through the Grove or City walk.

I'm still wondering about the whole pedestrian traffic flow of the project once the next portion is complete -- the two buildings facing Fig, with offices and over 20 restaurants planned, among other things.

That's one giant food court.

k3d · #**2220** Posted **Oct 16, 2007, 1:15 AM**

Also a concern, the often discussed separation of the Regal Theater from the main plaza. The only reference I remember is a bridge or walkway going above the street from just beyond the plaza. I asked about this at the AEG presentation last month but they had no further information. I really don't understand this layout. One would assume that the goal would be to have all the people on the concourse and the plaza.