LOS ANGELES | METRO Project Rundown 2.0 (non-downtown)

[pesto]

Nowhere in Europe or the US has homeless in the concentration that DT LA has. NY probably has more in total but much more scattered.

So why did SoHo go from full of derelicts to zero derelicts? The answer is support services and some "encouragement" from authorities. When an area is in high demand, there is no reason to keep govt. subsidized services there (e.g., welfare hotels on Main and Spring; missions on San Pedro, 4th, etc.). They should move to truly low demand abandoned areas. The specific location is not critical; but any of dozens of abandoned warehouse areas would make sense economically. btw, much of Vernon and adjacent LA is NOT going to have a gentrification boom soon.

It would also be a good time to introduce the new accountability and "permanent supportive services" that the administration is pushing. Save money, improve care and free up DT for businesses and families near where they work.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by pesto

Nowhere in Europe or the US has homeless in the concentration that DT LA has.

Apparently you've never visited downtown Cleveland. Usually tough to defend an absolute statement like the one you just made.

[BrandonJXN]

I thought this project was dead but I'm so happy that it's going ahead.

From Curbed:

Barring any lawsuits, New York-based Clarett Group is looking to break ground on its Blvd6200 project this January, Benjamin Reznik, lobbyist for the developer said yesterday following a city hearing regarding the apartment and retail complex. Clarett recently filed building permits with the city for its six-story, Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh-designed project, which will bring 1,014 new apartment units, and 175,000 square feet of commercial-retail space, to both sides of Hollywood Boulevard, between Argyle and El Centro Avenues. But is there a wrinkle to this Hollywood story? Naturally. The filing of building permits--the building was approved by the city years ago and has been delayed due to the economy --kicked up an appeal by homeowner Margarita Allen. Represented by well-known land use attorney Robert Silverstein, Allen's appeal questions the haul route of the construction trucks.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

ya very unexpected good news! i was just in Hollywood the other night and the Vine, Cahuenga, Hollywood, Sunset area is just so vastly improved over the last 5 years. this project will make a big impact by removing so much blight and surface parking.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

I think BLVD6200 will be the final missing piece of the puzzle that makes Hollywood a mature urban center.

Although new projects that will come online will only make Hollywood better, BLVD6200 is absolutely necessary because it will expand the walkable areas next to the Hollywood/Vine station so that people can walk to the east instead of having to walk always to the west of Hollywood Blvd.

Plus, this project will finally make that theater at Hollywood/Gower relevant again. What was once "invisible" will be another great addition to a maturing urban LA.

Oh, and there was another tower proposed at the corner of Hollywood/Gower a few years ago (right next to the theater), which will probably have a better chance getting financed if BLVD6200 is built.

Up next:

Please start taking out the ugly car dealerships east of Gower along Hollywood Blvd please!

[Kingofthehill]

Hollywood east of Vine (and, really, anywhere south of Sunset; dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians, and utterly underwhelming both in terms of amenities and development) needs serious help. With all of its car dealerships and small-scale Armenian businesses, the difference between it and the W Hotel/Condos - which looms over it - is striking. That area is perfect for infill, given existing transit connections and easy access to the "rest" of Hollywood (and, in fact, there have been several good-sized 4-6 story residential buildings that have recently gone up).

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

I think its only a matter of time before the area between Vine and Western is developed. I think the development will be faster on Sunset in that stretch but i definitely think its goona happen. Weve seen many proposals for those blocks.

[colemonkee]

Renders of the Cedars-Sinai Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion, now under construction across the street from the Beverly Center. This fills in the previous parking lot west of San Vicente and south of Gracie Allen Drive.

This project is under full construction and above ground at the moment. Alas, I don't have pictures, but have driven by recently.









All Images Courtesy DiscoveringForLife.org

[Muji]

Some small new developments in Koreatown. A shopping center called the Galleria Market is shaping up at 5th and Vermont and replacing a Chevy dealership.



Signs also went up a few days ago for a Staples on the first floor of The Summit condominiums at 6th and New Hampshire. Not really a big deal, but it'll add a little more activity to 6th Street and nearby Vermont Avenue.



(sorry if the pictures are enormous. Photobucket can be slow to resize things)

[pesto]

hard to tell Cedars from the Ritz: it must be a 5-star hospital.

Blvd6200 is important. The club and bar scene is cyclical, but residential and retail are more stable. btw, isn't there room for plain old live music (blues, rock) bars with low or no cover, maybe on Selma? I see them in SF, SJ, Oakland. Are rents too high?

Ktown is improving and spreading. There are Korean signs south of the 10 on Western and adjacent streets. When I started charting this (informally) 15 years ago, Pico was about the limit. I'm guessing South Park, USC and West Lake are foregone conclusions.

[colemonkee]

Some disappointing, but not necessarily unexpected, news from Curbed LA:

HOLLYWOOD: No spaghetti special for you. Following news that a notice of default was filed earlier this year on the Sunset and Gordon corner in Hollywood, site of a planned Gerding Edlen project, the lender has taken back the parcel, according to a well-placed tipster. A rep for Seattle-based Washington Holdings didn't return a phone call, so we can only guess what will happen to this corner, which once held an Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant. [Curbed Staff]

[Kingofthehill]

West LA infill:









unfortunate..is this a dingbat update, though?

[pesto]

The last picture is so bad it almost looks like a cutting-edge architectural school project. Or a self-build in a poor African suburb.

I can never decide whether the mash-up of styles in LA is a good thing or bad. I guess where there is no predominant historical style in the neighborhood, it's best to go with new trends and what is in demand.

[Kingofthehill]

LA's Mid-Century Modern, Art-Deco, California Craftsman, 1920's Colonial Revival Styles (i.e, Spanish, Mission, Mediterranean, Country English, Neo-Tutor, et al) and increasingly, Contemporary architecture, are all, for the most part, good. The city is big enough where different neighborhoods can take on a unique architectural identities. IMO, it is a good thing, and is one of our strengths. Also, I feel that LA's low-slung bungalow and dingbat/MCM aesthetic will become increasingly coveted, and will eventually be romanticized by the rest of America.

West LA, on the other hand, since there was never any real historic architecture (unless one counts post-WW2 tract/ranch homes and GI housing) to begin with...

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

West LA, on the other hand, since there was never any real historic architecture (unless one counts post-WW2 tract/ranch homes and GI housing) to begin with...

Hey now... Uni High ain't half bad.

[Kingofthehill]

No, not at all (neither is Venice's - I love Art-Deco High Schools, with Anaheim's being a personal favorite); it's just that such buildings are all too much of a rarity in that part of town. West LA does, however, have the best Dingbats!

[pesto]

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/11/wilshire_gayley_likely_a_hotel_looks_to_break.php

Looks like the Gayley hotel is back on. Nice looks and a great location, literally at the Westwood Purple Line stop if the Gayley location is chosen (1 block otherwise). The half-done extended stay hotel is about 2 blocks away at Lindbrook. I would think this MTA stop and the VA stop are going to be huge.

Aqua and Purple to the sea and 405 upgrading are getting more and more needed.

[BrandonJXN]

I'm liking this trend of projects coming back from the dead.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I'm liking this trend of projects coming back from the dead.

The real cool thing about it is that these projects can still go through the approval process, so that when the economy DOES recover, they'll be much more ready to break ground.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by pesto

hard to tell Cedars from the Ritz: it must be a 5-star hospital.

Oh it is. I spent some time in their ER. Very upscale and classy.