LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[JRinSoCal]

Originally Posted by DJM19

Id love to see a nice modern glass addition to union station.

Isn't that included with the arrival of the California High Speed Rail in the year 3050?

[colemonkee]

LAPD HQ is making some progress. The construction elevator is gone and most of the glass is up. More pictures in the LAPD HQ Thread.





And a bonus shot of some cool clouds menacing the skyline...

[ladowntowner]

^ The first and last shots are from the top floor of the L.A. Times employee parking structure, aren't they colemonkee?

[colemonkee]

Yup. That's where I park my ride.

[ladowntowner]

Thought so. The view looked very familiar since I was dating a chick who worked at the Times and I had the occasion to use that lot.

[edkao]

Here are some photos of Club Nokia. Sorry about the quality, iPhone don't do well in the dark.

The Alley.


The 3rd floor, the Dance Floor.


The stage, looking down from the 5th floor seating area. 4th floor is for VIPs.


The upstairs bar.

[colemonkee]

Looks great, edkao. What was the scene on the street like before and after the show? I know the rest of LA Live (restaurants, etc.) have yet to open, but were people sticking around to look, or just heading for their cars?

On another note, love the avatar. This season of Californication has been hilarious. I channel my inner Hank Moody often.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

So that's about 320,000 people a day going through Union Station just from the HSR in addition to the amount of people that arrive there by Metro, Metrolink, and Amtrak. Being the 5th busiest train station in the US right now, that figure is around 50K? Someone please check on that.

So it's possible that we could have those numbers increase as more rail lines continue to materialize (Expo, Gold Line, etc.).

So perhaps, we'd get around anywhere from half a million or more people going through Union Station a day by the time HSR is completed. That would make it one exciting place as shops and hotels will obviously be attracted to the area around it. Union Station could very well become the next HOT BED of real estate construction in the future.

That would be a tremendous mass of people.....not to mention $$$.....there would definately be more real estate investment in that particular area.

[JDRCRASH]

From Blogdowntown:

Broadway Effort Announces New Financing

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, November 10, 2008, at 05:32PM


DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — It's tough to get financing in today's market, but the city doesn't want to see that put a squeeze on Broadway redevelopment. While details are yet to be finalized, Bringing Back Broadway Executive Director Jessica Wethington McLean today announced that the effort had secured a line of credit that will make $150 million annually available for projects on the corridor.

Part of the fallout in the financial sector has been a dramatic tightening of the credit market, making it much harder to get loans for development projects. This new credit is money that the city can make available to projects on Broadway under its own terms, ensuring that financing trouble doesn't delay the street's redevelopment.


The funding is a partnership between Bringing Back Broadway and the city's Community Development Department. It's a 5-year agreement set to kick off in 2009. Terms and eligibility will be announced early next year.

Bringing Back Broadway is an effort launched by Councilman Jose Huizar that aims to restore the glamor to what once was Los Angeles' premier shopping and entertainment corridor. At today's property owners meeting, McLean and those involved in various parts of the effort highlighted the progress that has been made in its first nine months.


Last month Huizar introduced a motion creating a task force to craft new rules for the reuse of vacant upper floors, targeting the estimated one million square feet of empty space on Broadway. Presentations at today's event highlighted some of the possibilities for that space, and offered property owners advice on how to access funds and plan renovations.

[edkao]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Looks great, edkao. What was the scene on the street like before and after the show? I know the rest of LA Live (restaurants, etc.) have yet to open, but were people sticking around to look, or just heading for their cars?

People were just heading for their cars. Since no events were at Staple or Nokia Theatre, the area was empty. Beck hit the stage at 10PM and the show let out almost midnight. There were no activity around LA Live on a lonely Monday night.

Beck on stage.


People heading down to the underground parking.


Looking towards Nokia Plaza.

[LAMetroGuy]

Anyway, I drove by downtown LA yesterday and was amazed how tall the Ritz is alreay. How many more floors are left till it tops out?

[ladowntowner]

^ I believe there are 5-6 floors left to go on the Ritz right about now, plus the crown thingy.

[colemonkee]

Deleted the religious comments and edited the salvageable ones. Let's keep it on topic guys.

edluva, your comment regarding Beck was fine (and I agree), but it was off topic, and this thread tends to derail itself if we don't keep it in check.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Originally Posted by ladowntowner

Thought so. The view looked very familiar since I was dating a chick who worked at the Times and I had the occasion to use that lot.

"Use" that location, eh?

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

and this thread tends to derail itself if we don't keep it in check.

Good call!

[Quixote]

9th and Grand: Strange Developments Afoot

By Dakota
November 13, 2008

On one side of Grand Avenue is the former Trinity Auditorium/Embassy Hotel (831 Grand) and the former stomping grounds of old friend downtown dog. Following the cancellation of a Gansevoort Hotel, the owners, New York developer Chetrit, have continued to re-assure everyone that another hotel is coming to the site. Now a reader emails this report: "I was walking by a couple of Saturdays ago, and one of the doors to the theatre was open. I walked in and they were doing a lot of work...All of the seats had been removed, and it appeared that the floor had been filled (essentially making it a flat surface, although I am not 100% sure). Something is going on..." Work inside the hotel may or may not be surprising, given there are often interior tinkerings going on at these empty buildings. But take into account this news! Across the street is 844 Grand, site of parking lot. On Tuesday, a source who works in the area told us testing had recently been done on the site. This source says engineers who did the testing told him that condos are planned for this parking lot. And the crazy part? "Chetrit is going to build a sky bridge connecting the condos with the hotels/condos across the street," he said. UPDATE: We just got word that that, yes, Chetrit is seeking entitlements for a condo project at 844 Grand.

We went down and took a photo of the place where this guy said the testing took place--it's the hole with the plastic cover thing over it. No one at Chetrit returned our calls. So it's all speculation, really. And possibly all just rumor. But that's what this source was told. And it's an excellent excuse for a Photoshop job. Also in the gallery: A couple of interiors of the old Trinity Auditorium. Hard to tell what exactly is going on.

• Weedy Grand Avenue Lot Was Once A Planned Palace [Curbed LA]

[LosAngelesBeauty]

A sky bridge???

[Quixote]

LA Live


From Flickr, by alossix


From Flickr, by alossix

[colemonkee]

^ Some nice shots. It's coming together, now it just needs some people.

As for the 844 Grand project, I like the idea of the condo tower, don't like the skybridge. That's just hogwash over Grand Ave.

[JDRCRASH]

Nice pictures; but when do the Supergraphics come online?


As for a skybridge; I guess it's not totally out-there, since the Bonaventure already has several: