Quote:
Originally Posted by Just-In-Cali
one other thing I heard on the report last night on Eyewitness News regarding the slowing economy was that the Park Fifth sales office reported that they had sold over 300 units, with 8 sold in the last week. They said demand was still very high for the project due to its 'landmark' nature. This was channel 7 Eyewitness News at 6 PM last nite I believe that I watched this.
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A video of that report
can be seen here. Only issue I have with it is that it begins with a bird's eye view of the site of neither the Grand Ave or parkfifth projs, so ppl who don't know the hood will mistakenly assume the shots were showing the location of one or both of the 2 projs.
As for LA Live, & based on what I saw of the hood around it last Saturday when driving by on the fwy, it will be alot better when the land north of Olympic is cleared out as soon as possible. That part of the hood, so easy to see from all over, really brings down the tone of everything. And with the new hotel rising right across the street---which will be great keeping track of over the next several months, esp if it goes up faster than concrete framed bldgs----it's a good time to start tearing down & cleaning up.
Speaking of the fwy I was on a few days ago, it also goes right by this area, & I can say that the new Canvas LA apt bldg sits very, very close to the side of the 110:
Apartment Projects Dotting Central City West
REAL ESTATE: Landlords cash in on tenants seeking to live closer to work.
By BRETT SPORICH, Staff Reporter
Once called a ghost town, the neighborhood west of the Harbor (110) Freeway near downtown is now dotted with apartment construction. The driving force behind the upswing in the Central City West rental market is the desire to live close to the employment center. This new workforce seems reluctant to buy property in the area, given the overall downturn in the housing market.
With more downtown workers entering the rental market, rates have been increasing. Mixed-use apartments in the Central City West area, such as the recently opened Glo and the soon-to-be unveiled Canvas, are reaping the benefits of a sagging sales market in a high-demand area.
"We've leased 17 units during the past two weeks and we are now at 65 percent occupancy since we opened in November," said Tom Warren, president of Holland Partners, which developed the 201-unit Glo at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Bixel Street.
Realizing the demand for housing near downtown, developers such as Warren have embraced the 1999 adaptive-reuse city ordinance that allows landowners to develop residential, high-density housing in areas that were formerly zoned for commercial use. Holland Partners, based in Vancouver, Washington, recently acquired a 4.1-acre block in the Central City West neighborhood with plans to build a mixed-use development.
The company is planning a 650-unit apartment building with about 40,000 square feet of retail space for the parcel at the corner of Sixth Street and Wilshire Boulevard. Holland Partners is also planning a 400-unit, mixed-use apartment project at 1111 Wilshire Blvd. in the neighborhood.
Warren is banking on a number of factors that he believes are attracting renters to the area west of the Harbor Freeway, but none is more significant than the area's employment opportunities. There are about 6,800 jobs within a two-block radius of the 1050 Wilshire Glo project, Warren said. And while there are 450,000 jobs within a 1-mile radius of downtown, only 7,500 residential units are available in that same area.
Demand for housing close to downtown's financial district is significant, with 12 jobs per unit in and around downtown, compared with an average of 3.2 jobs per unit for all of Southern California.
Views, overpasses
Selling points for the neighborhood are its hilltop views. Also, pedestrians can walk to downtown across overpasses. With rent in these newly developed and planned apartments ranging from about $1,800 for a studio to $5,000 and up for a two-bedroom unit, upscale amenities such as pools, observation decks, gyms and cutting-edge soundproofing are expected. Freeway proximity can be a problem, though.
Alliance Residential Co. had to take noise reduction measures on Canvas LA, a 100-unit project overlooking the Harbor Freeway at 138 N. Beaudry Ave., north of First Street in the Central City West neighborhood. The
apartments required two sets of double-pane glass in each window facing the freeway, said Thomas Cox, president of TCA, an architectural firm that designed Canvas LA for Phoenix-based Alliance.
Central City West exemplifies the bullishness of the apartment market throughout Los Angeles. The 2008 edition of the National Apartment Index ranked Los Angeles as the No. 6 market in the nation, moving it up three positions from last year. The report also estimates that 4,700 apartment units are slated for construction in the Los Angeles area during 2008.
"The high-priced housing market and rise in luxury apartments as well as the condos transitioning into apartments most likely played significant roles in this increase," said Terry Slattery, vice president and general manager of For Rent Media Solutions, a real estate analysis company.
The apartment construction shows that downtown's condo boom stopped at the freeway. There has only been one reuse condo project completed---1100 Wilshire. The rest of the neighborhood will be occupied by renters.
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Francin Orr/Los Angeles Times
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