LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[Steve2726]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I finally got around to updating the first page, adding 1500 Figueroa and 15th & Broadway to the proposed section. Wasn't there a larger rendering of 1010 Wilshire floating around?

There are larger renders of 1111 Wilshire here:

http://www.davidgrayarchitects.com/WT.html

And larger renders of 1010 Wilshire here:

http://www.amidigroup.com/images/1010_wilshire1Large.jpg
http://www.amidigroup.com/images/1010_wilshire2Large.jpg

[JDRCRASH]

Hey Colemonkee, have you added 1233 Hope St. yet?

[k3d]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Um, isn't that what a forum is for?
To gather and post information?
Regardless of where you live?

Because in MY opinion, this thread should be used for BOTH talking about the development in Los Angeles, AND for welcoming noobies to the city that have yet to pick up any knowledge on our development.

It should certainly not be exclusively for longtime residents from of Los Angeles who think that just because they know they can answer a simple noobie question about L.A, they can criticize people who have only just entered the world of Development in Los Angeles

Um, isn't "what?" what this forum is for? I don't see a recent thread here where a "noobie" was critisized for asking questions. If you use the quote button we can all see what post you were refering to.

[MapGoulet]

Originally Posted by ltsmotorsport

So where exactly on Spring St is it?

I was at the DLANC meeting last night. Suzanne Eckerling of Gilmore & Associates presented the tower to the board. The tower will be located between the El Dorado and the Rowan Loft's private park. It's planned to be 24 stories tall of which the top half or so will be condos and the bottom half or so will be hotel, retail and community amenities. There's also a pocket park built into the Spring Street elevation and opens to the street.

Other presentations were made by Kor (Mill Street Lofts - with very nice urban design), Barry Shy (SB Main - VERY nice tower and renderings), and South Group (Fig South).

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by Echo Park

Many people on this forum have an encyclopedic knowledge of the buildings in downtown LA. I'm not one of them. Where is the Rowan located? Is this the building on 3rd and Spring? I don't see any lot for that new Spring St. tower other than the one on the intersection.

My post says where it is:

Originally Posted by LongBeachUrbanist

I believe the location is the big lot between the Rowan and El Dorado buildings, on the east side of Spring Street between Fourth and Fifth.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Um, isn't that what a forum is for?
To gather and post information?
Regardless of where you live?

Yes, that is the point of this forum. I don't care if you live in Timbuktu if you have info about a new project in DTLA.

I think most people on this forum are here because they are enthusiastic about developments in their city. There are even some people here who are negative or pessimistic, but who still care about their city.

What I don't get are those forumers who are here just to throw stones. What is their motivation? What do they want to accomplish? Why bother spending the effort to post? (Maybe to stroke their own egos and feel superior?)

[Echo Park]

You sneaky editing guy, you.

[jlrobe]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

He's a guy who used to be impartial towards LA (perhaps even liked it somewhat). Explored it. The guy who liked the SGV's Chinese food. He even took pictures of it once and showcased his photography "skills" on the forum (back like 3 years ago?). Then what happened? He "grew up," as he referred to it!


After he's done with his research at UCLA, he'll probably move to the Bay Area.

Wow. So he's a bitter Bruin who wishes he lived in fremont, that routinely trolls the LA boards to demonstrate how grown up he is and how childish we are for having pride in our city. I hope that isnt true, but if it is, that's kinda sad.

[citywatch]

Great tidbits that illustrate ongoing improvement:

The Rosslyn transformation will mark the second project in the city's downtown for Buxbaum and Amerland, who acquired the historic Alexandria Hotel last year and are in the process of converting the property into a mixture of 463 affordable rental units and commercial space.

The hotel, built in 1913 as the "Rosslyn Million Dollar Fireproof Hotel," will be designed to provide mixed-income housing for the downtown area. "While most mixed-income projects consist of 80% market-rate and 20% affordable units, it is extremely rare to see a project like the Rosslyn Lofts where over 85% of the units are affordable," said Jeremy Turner, director of construction management for the Amerland Group.

The renovation will incorporate "smart building" technology and alternative energy sources wherever possible, and the partners expect to restore and relight the historic neon sign that reads "The Rosslyn Million Dollar Fireproof Hotel" atop the building.

The sign was lit temporarily several wks ago for a movie shoot:


eecue at flickr.com


And since I'm too impatient to wait for Ralossi or fridayinla to say anything on their own, their web site has the first pics ever of the interiors of the Mandel-Coulter lofts on 7th St.


fridayinla at flickr.com


fridayinla at flickr.com

Finally!



I remember walking by that bldg over 7 or 8 yrs ago & being at how rundown it had become. It was mostly or entirely abandoned, its windows were filthy & rags were hanging out of several of them. So now decades & decades since it was built, it once again is an asset to the hood.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LongBeachUrbanist

[b]Sited on the surface parking lot between the Rowan and the El Dorado, the numbers are pretty impressive: 92 residential condos, 122 hotel rooms and ground floor retail in a 27-story tower.

While it's too early to talk about groundbreaking, the optimistic guess given is 2009––if financing is secured.

I hope the neighbors of that tower, due to the view out their windows in the Rowan or El Dorado bldgs being blocked by it, don't squawk about the proposal & become NIMBYs.

As with the Medallion, the proposed bldg will benefit a hood that needs some totally new devlpt. Conversion projs are important, but they alone don't fill in the gaps, either from deadzone parking lots or other low use sites in the hood.

As for "if financing is secured," assuming this proj is being sponsored by Tom gilmore, how does it affect, or not affect, his plans for a condo or apt tower next to St Vibiana's? And since the devlpr of the Medallion ended up downsizing his original plans due to $$$, how can a much more expensive proj a block away manage to avoid the same fate?

[jlrobe]

I have to comment on this norcal/socal rivalry. I am sorry, I just have to.

I grew up in the bay, got all my college degrees in the bay, and visit the bay often. Sadly enough I can probably name off every city as far south as gilroy, as far north as santa rosa, and as far east as Vacaville and Livermore. I have been to the smallest towns such as crocket, the nastiest ghettos in Richmond, and the most isolated areas like sebastopol. I have hung out at stuffy places like the St. Francis and top of the mark, edgy places like hot water corn bread events in Oakland, and well known restaurants like Chez Panisse. I can probably walk through SF blind folded. I am a bay area nut. That being said, people in the Bay are horribly pretentious when it comes to their view of LA, and you know what???.... It is completely, positively, absolutely, OVERRATED. As much as I love the bay, it is WAAAY overrated. People talk about the bay area like it is some Utopia.

San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Jose, Fremont, Hayward, Richmond, Sonoma, Concord and Pleasanton and their respective cities constitute 70% of the Bay Area's population. If anyone has spent significant time in those cities and is younger than 45, you will wonder why people talk the bay up so much. Not that those cities arent nice, but after you hear people sound off about the bay, you expect those cities to be like seattle or Munich or something.

Even places like berkely,oakland, and SF are not immune to the same problems that plague LA.

Dont get me wrong. I love the bay, and go back every month. ACtually I am leaving for the bay in less than two hours. I just want to make the point that the Bay isnt THAT great to constitute the CONSTANT pretentious attitude. In my opinion, LA and the Bay are very comparable, and we all have a lot in common.

IMHO, this rivarly stems from Angelenos retaliating against bay area pretentioness. Dont believe the hype, and ignore the snobs. LA is a great place, and is getting better.

Next time someone from the bay tries to pull the "im from the bay and I know what a real city is crap", just ignore them.

[k3d]

An anonymous poster at la.curbed.com posted the following "rumor". Any info on this?

FYI, Circa still has its financing, whereas Park Fifth just recently lost some of theirs. They had to let go of some of their sales staff.. I completely disagree with the thought that Park Fifth is a feasible project.

[RAlossi]

Sorry for not posting sooner, Citywatch. But thanks for the linkage.

I've actually been coming here less and less, what with all the SF/LA stuff and the race stuff and the overmoderation.... who knows.

Originally Posted by citywatch

And since I'm too impatient to wait for Ralossi or fridayinla to say anything on their own, their web site has the first pics ever of the interiors of the Mandel-Coulter lofts on 7th St.


fridayinla at flickr.com


fridayinla at flickr.com

Finally!



I remember walking by that bldg over 7 or 8 yrs ago & being at how rundown it had become. It was mostly or entirely abandoned, its windows were filthy & rags were hanging out of several of them. So now decades & decades since it was built, it once again is an asset to the hood.

[DowntownCharlieBrown]

Originally Posted by k3d

An anonymous poster at la.curbed.com posted the following "rumor". Any info on this?

FYI, Circa still has its financing, whereas Park Fifth just recently lost some of theirs. They had to let go of some of their sales staff.. I completely disagree with the thought that Park Fifth is a feasible project.

Well there is going to be a lot of sad faces around here if that is true. Park Fifth still seems to be doing a lot of advertising as if they are going forward. Unlike LA Central which is suppose to break ground any day and I have seen nothing advertising their units.

[k3d]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

Sorry for not posting sooner, Citywatch. But thanks for the linkage.

I've actually been coming here less and less, what with all the SF/LA stuff and the race stuff and the overmoderation.... who knows.

By less you mean less than 6 post a day? What race stuff? Overmoderation?

[Echo Park]

Originally Posted by k3d

By less you mean less than 6 post a day? What race stuff? Overmoderation?

There's a secret desire among the LA forumers for latinos to be gentrified out of existence. The biggest proponents of this are citywatch, LAmetroguy and LosAngelesBeauty.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Echo Park

There's a secret desire among the LA forumers for latinos to be gentrified out of existence. The biggest proponents of this are citywatch, LAmetroguy and LosAngelesBeauty.

By the same token, I can say that since you've nitpicked over some new devlpt in DTLA not being to your liking, cuz it's architecture is too burban, or its color doesn't suit you, or its size is too small, that you must hate LA & plan to move elsewhere in a few yrs.

BTW, as I was going through the way ppl rate cities in terms of how intelligent their residents are, I did wonder if there was a hint of tude that condescends or stereotypes----based on race, ethnicity, or "dumb" hollywood celebs, or all of the above?----in our ridiculously low rating.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by jlrobe

That being said, people in the Bay are horribly pretentious when it comes to their view of LA, and you know what???....

If anyone has spent significant time in those cities and is younger than 45, you will wonder why people talk the bay up so much. Not that those cities arent nice, but after you hear people sound off about the bay, you expect those cities to be like seattle or Munich or something.

That's why I said such ppl remind me of ppl who never grew out of their high school clique mentality, or siblings who even as adults still hold grudges against other siblings cuz they got a better birthday gift one yr, or got more of mom's attention. Or they're like the stuck up neighbors who never stopped looking down their noses at the family down the street ever since they started driving an economy car & parking a winnebago in the driveway.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by k3d

An anonymous poster at la.curbed.com posted the following "rumor". Any info on this?

FYI, Circa still has its financing, whereas Park Fifth just recently lost some of theirs. They had to let go of some of their sales staff.. I completely disagree with the thought that Park Fifth is a feasible project.

I know parkfifth's sales office with models has yet to open, even though originally the devlpr said that their sales ctr would open by summer.

There was a forumer who showed up here briefly a few months ago & mentioned that based on an actual visit to the sales office, many units at parkfifth had been reserved. However, that forumer has since dropped out of sight on this board. So it would be helpful if some other forumer who lives in DT were to pay a visit to parkfifth's sales ctr, or at least call them up.

I drove by the site last wk, & that location really needs to be filled in. The gap caused by the current parking lot brings down the hood, & is way worse IMO than any of the problems that ppl often point to across the street, in Pershing Sq.

[LA311]

Got an e-mail from the Park Fifth sales manager yesterday, He said their sales center isn't quite done yet...should be done and ready to show by end of next week...

will report back with any new info. I get as soon as I visit...hopefully they have 50% reserved...