LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[pesto]

Want ads: New employment opportunities at the Ritz-Carlton; start at the top. Particularly suitable for voyeurs.

[RAlossi]

Took a trip around town today since things have been a bit slower on the forum. Some of these we've already seen before. Don't shoot me.

Mignon Wine Bar (brown door) and Babycakes NYC Vegan Cupcakes (white door) under construction at the Pacific Electric Lofts. This block is really happening. Las Palmas (?) under construction across the street at the Santa Fe Lofts - going to be a new tequila/mezcal bar. That should pretty much complete this block with the exception of the corner space at 6th/Main in the PE Bldg.



A couple of the Rosslyn Lofts, which has undergone a nice cleaning (ground-floor only). Hopefully they can get it done across the street too, though it's a different owner from what I understand.




The Metropolitan Lofts Building is getting a cleaning too! You can see it's only just started. This building really has a great presence on Broadway that will be enhanced once the conversion to lofts is complete.



The unwashed side:


7-Eleven testing out its new 'upscale' concept here, an eastside-Downtown competitor to westside-Downtown's numerous Famima!! locations. Build-out started. The building itself got a paint job a while back.



Pershing Square Building's rooftop club/restaurant element finished framing as construction continues...


SB Tower's gotten a paint job, in kind of a teal/off-white stripe pattern. Balconies completed. I don't know what I think of this building still, but WYSIWYG, I suppose.



Didn't get a good shot of the I.N. Van Nuys Building at 7th and Spring, though believe me, it's looking good.

New parking garage at South Village/Market Lofts nearing completion, which I'm sure a joy for residents. CIM's PR person told me there's no ground-floor retail and then told me she checked with the construction manager who also said there's no ground-floor retail. But their construction permit and photo evidence appears like there IS ground-floor retail. Unless you have any other ideas what that space is on the bottom?



705 W Ninth (formerly 717 W Ninth) looking as craptastic as ever. Look at that base! But we already knew this...



Despite its ugly neighbors, I'm kind of fond of Concerto - the smaller lofts building, at least. They planted trees today, and the sidewalk is now open.



Schmidt's Brauhaus on Olympic is still under construction. This German restaurant/beer garden has been taking a while, though they did take over an old Discount Tire Center so I'd imagine there's a lot of environmental cleanup they have to do.



We've seen this one before (Macy's Garage at 9th and Hill), but it's still a beauty worth posting about. That corner space would make an excellent organic produce market, though that stretch of 9th is kind of light in pedestrian traffic.



Last but not least, a crappy new building replaces a crappy old building. Interested to see what the renderings look like for this building at 9th and Main in the Fashion District.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

fantastic stuff. its great to see how much of a difference small changes make and the fact that building owners are understanding this. You live in the Sante Fe Lofts right? you said that you were moving out and couldn't take it anymore? that street looks great with all the new bars and restaurants. whats the issue? is it the homeless? crime?

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

fantastic stuff. its great to see how much of a difference small changes make and the fact that building owners are understanding this. You live in the Sante Fe Lofts right? you said that you were moving out and couldn't take it anymore? that street looks great with all the new bars and restaurants. whats the issue? is it the homeless? crime?

Sixth Street is wonderful. Los Angeles Street, which is where I face, is a mess. Now that the Fashion BID no longer serves this area (downsized and now only serves south of 7th Street), it's really become a hotbed of drug dealing and poorly maintained streets. There's garbage everywhere and the property owners don't even maintain trash cans. Lights burn out and are only replaced by more drug dealers.

I'll probably stay in DT, but I'll have to move over a couple blocks since this one's regressing.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

thats to bad. can we do anything to get the BID established down there again? who can we contact?

[UrbanJungle]

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are difficult to establish, takes approval by a majority of the Property Owners agreeing to tax themselves, and requires confirmation and oversight by the City of LA. In the case of the Fashion BID, many of the owners felt they were not getting value for their tax dollars and refused to renew it for another 5 year term. They ended up shrinking it to a smaller area. RAlossi's experience shows just how important a service the BIDs do perform, and how its exit from an area can have severe and negative consequences for not just the property owners, but all users/residents. What a shame!

[JDRCRASH]

Meruelo Maddux Project Files Chapter 11


Posted date: 9/9/2009

By DANIEL MILLER

Los Angeles Business Journal Staff


A downtown Los Angeles high-rise being built by beleaguered commercial real estate developer Meruelo Maddux Properties Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Meruelo Maddux-845 S. Flower Street LLC, which controls the development at 705 W. Ninth St., filed for Chapter 11 protection on Sept. 3, according to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing. The project is a 36-story luxury rental building that was expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Meruelo Maddux-845 S. Flower Street LLC is controlled by Meruelo Maddux Properties, which filed Chapter 11 in March and remains in reorganization. The company was hit hard by the collapse of commercial real estate market and was unable to make payments on $266 million in debt. The project was excluded from Meruelo Maddux’s orginal bankruptcy filing.

The development, which straddles South Park and the Financial District, was planned as Meruelo Maddux’s first ground-up residential tower. Meruelo Maddux, downtown L.A.'s biggest land owner, had plans before the bankruptcy to turn much of its properties into residential developments.

The project first ran into troubles in January 2008, when the company lost construction financing. Eight months later it secured a high-interest, $84 million replacement loan from an affiliate of Century City real estate investment manager Canyon Capital Realty Advisors LLC.

Richard Meruelo, chief executive of Meruelo Maddux, was optimistic about the project's prospects in an interview with the Business Journal this summer. He said leasing would begin on the 214-unit building in January. The Sept. 3 bankruptcy filing caught lender Canyon Capital off guard.

“We are very surprised at the timing. We are disappointed that it occurred,” said Bobby Turner, managing partner of Canyon Capital Realty Advisors. He declined to comment further because of legal concerns.

Canyon Capital is in a position to take possession of the property if Meruelo Maddux cannot reorganize the LLC.

According to the bankruptcy filing, the limited liability company’s 20 largest unsecured creditors, mostly contractors that have worked on the project, are owed more than $7.5 million.

Another Meruelo Maddux entity that was excluded from the March filing, Meruelo Chinatown LLC, also filed for bankruptcy on Sept. 3.

Meruelo Maddux was immediately unavailable for comment.

Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/article...2.1826643.244393.8069633.526&aID2=140502

[petescafe]

Just a quick note.

The construction walls are gone around the new LAPD headquarters and the park is open.

I'll try and get down there today and take some photos.

[JDRCRASH]

AEG and Moinian Group Spar Over $80-Million Parcel Next to Staples Center

By Eric Richardson

Published: Monday, September 14, 2009, at 02:57PM


From Flickr by Eric Richardson
A temporary injunction forbids developer The Moinian Group from running parking operations on the site of the proposed L.A. Central development.


DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — In the summer of 2006, New York-based developer Joseph Moinian bought a prime piece of land across the street from Staples Center for $80 million, intending to build a $1-billion hotel and residential project known as L.A. Central.

Three years later the site is gathering weeds, with even its use as a parking lot suspended while a dispute between Moinian and AEG works its way through the courts.


The fate of the project, and of the important site, is anything but clear.

The agreement for the $80-million land purchase was signed on May 12, 2006, by Ted Tanner of AEG and Joseph Moinian of the Moinian Group. The sale closed in August of that year. Planned for the four acre site was "L.A. Central," a project including two towers of 53 and 37 stories, 860 market-rate units, a 222 room hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail.

The project appeared ready to break ground in July of 2007, when construction fencing was erected and parking operations on the site were stopped.


Then, nothing.


After three months, pieces of the fence were pulled down and cars were again allowed to park on the site.

A Dispute Over Parking

While those parking on the site may not have noticed any difference, those 2007 events form the core of a lawsuit AEG's Arena Land Company filed on April 27.

Section 15.2.5 of the sale contract included a parking agreement that gave AEG, the seller, "a license to for either short-term parking by Seller's patrons in connection with Staples Center events or as a 'staging' area in connection with any of Seller's construction activities ... until Buyer commences any construction of or relating to Buyer's development of the Property." This license was provided "at no cost," save that AEG would be responsible to pay property taxes on the site.


When parking returned to the site in October 2007, it was run by an entity under the control of the Moinian Group, not AEG.


The complaint filed in Superior Court by AEG says that the company "made repeated requests to [Moinian Group] to return possession of the Property based on [Moinian's] wrongful termination of the License Agreement, all of which were ignored."

In a declaration filed on June 5, Moinian Director of Development Oskar Brecher disputed AEG's interpretation of the license agreement. "At no point during [purchase] negotiations did [AEG] ever insist that the Purchase and Sale Agreement or the Parking License Agreement could only be terminated when [Moinian] had reached certain benchmarks, such as obtaining construction financing or all building permits, and we never would have agreed to such a condition."


Judge David P. Yaffe didn't seem to buy that argument, issuing a preliminary injunction on June 24 that forbids Moinian from operating any parking operations on the site.

That could spell trouble for Moinian. In the same declaration, Brecher said that his firm is responsible for debt service of "approximately $495,000 per month." He also said that "should we lose the right to fund our debt through the use of revenue obtained from interim parking operations ... there is the possibility that we will go into default on our loan."

Moinian filed a counter-claim against AEG alleging that the deal was breached by AEG's failure to pay some property taxes on the site, but that claim was denied on August 26.

Other Legal Trouble

Complicating the situation is another lawsuit against Moinian filed by architecture firm RTKL. The company was contracted to provide design services for the L.A. Central project. It claims that it is still owed $3.6 million of that $14 million contract and is attempting to foreclose a lien on the property.

A hearing is scheduled for October 8 on RTKL's motion to compel the deposition of Moinian Group head Joseph Moinian.

The Future

Should Moinian be unable to make its debt payments or the RTKL suit lead to a foreclosure sale, it's unlikely that the property would sell for anywhere near what it did in 2006. The $80 million purchase price represented roughly $460 per square foot. While land sales have been sparse since the collapse of the real estate market, the City recently purchased a plot of land on Spring Street for roughly $170 per square foot.

The inability to get construction financing has doomed several high-profile Downtown projects. The $2-billion Grand Avenue Project has been delayed several times, and Houk Development's proposed $1.3-billion Park Fifth project is currently for sale.

AEG declined to comment on the lawsuit directly, but said that it still hopes to see the project developed. "We continue to support their plan for increased development of the site," said spokesman Michael Roth. "Their successful development of the project would be of tremendous long-term value to the community."

The company did say that parking for NBA games would be unaffected should the dispute drag into the upcoming season.

Calls to Brecher and to Moinian Group's law firm, Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory LLP, were not returned by the time this story was published.

Source:http://www.blogdowntown.com/2009/09/4678-aeg-and-moinian-group-spar-over-80million

[pesto]

sounds like an LA nightmare; developers litigating over control of the parking lot while nobody actually does anything.

[petescafe]

Greetings Programs

I bring you photos of the newly opened park behind the LAPD Headquarters.










Spring Street side.




This is the proposed LA Reflections restaurant space.




Nothing inside yet.




And now some random shots of the area.






And finally two pics of the parking structure.






That's it for today from Pete's Cafe in the OBD.

[pesto]

Beautiful pictures; it's been a while since 4th and Main has looked that good.

Wonderful site-lines you chose in LAPD park. Open spaces like the park allow for perspectives on the city and much more sense of openness and location. It's money well spent in building the desirability of a neighborhood.

[StethJeff]

That park looks great! It's just a simple rectangular patch of grass but it does the job. Why can't we just have a bigger version of this at Pershing Square? Is it so hard to figure out that open grass with tree-lined sidewalks makes a perfect park?

[pesto]

Not a bad thought, but Pershing Sq. was that way for many years and the grass was covered by a permanent encampment of homeless people, night and day. The cement was put in to make sleeping there difficult. I am not sure what would happen now; I'm not sure how laws regarding sleeping and loitering in parks have evolved.

As a separate point, a little more color would be nice in LAPD park.

[Quixote]

LAPD Headquarters


From Flickr, by ericrichardson


From Flickr, by ericrichardson


From Flickr, by ericrichardson


From Flickr, by ericrichardson


From Flickr, by ericrichardson


Metropolitan Lofts


From Flickr, by alossix

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by petescafe

Great pic! And totally not what most people think about when they think of LA. Very nice.

[Suffice]

The Part of DT Between Main, Spring, 2nd, and 5th really needs to develop nightlife. little by little all the parking plots will be torn down for new projects. Has everyone been to Edison? It's great, It would be great to see more bars and clubs of the same caliber in the area.

[pesto]

Edison is also the safest night club in LA, being basicaly across the street from the LAPD Park.

As long as we are on wish-lists, alleys make great places for funky little cafes, plazas, restaurants, etc. You can get away from traffic, decorate with posters and graffiti, and you have instant Amsterdam or SoHo. SF has done this in a number of places as well.

[edkao]

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by edkao

You can see the red carpet laid out in front of the Nokia Theatre for the Emmys.