LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[JDRCRASH]

I'm sure most of by now have seen the plan to fix up the Wyvernwood residential complex (where pesto used to live). I think this will draw more attention to the area for gentrification.

Don't forget, extending the purple/red lines to the Arts District and down 6th street is still a possibility as well. Improve north-south bus routes in the area, and East LA could indeed be the next "it" neighborhood.

[Lovetowers]

Hows the Broad Museum coming along ?

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Lovetowers

Hows the Broad Museum coming along ?

It's coming along swell. They are almost done with the parking garage part, and will soon start on the actual building. The parking garage is underground, and like, four stories, so it is taking a while. The building should be complete on schedule.

[pesto]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

I'm sure most of by now have seen the plan to fix up the Wyvernwood residential complex (where pesto used to live). I think this will draw more attention to the area for gentrification.

Don't forget, extending the purple/red lines to the Arts District and down 6th street is still a possibility as well. Improve north-south bus routes in the area, and East LA could indeed be the next "it" neighborhood.

Thanks for remembering. The real part of Boyle Heights should have reasonable appreciation for the reasons some have stated. It was built well in the first place and always has had some class and elegance to it, even though it got pretty shabby.

Wyvernwood is a tougher sell since it is not in the heights, but really more BHA (Boyle Heights Adjacent). I assume the project will be a big improvement, but there's a lot of rundown areas around it.

[Steve2726]

Originally Posted by Lovetowers

Hows the Broad Museum coming along ?

See for yourself-

http://broadartfoundation.org/construction_webcam.html

[DJM19]

I sure hope all the development in that area spurs that block of parking lots to develop. There are a ton of surface lots there and then west on olympic.

[RST500]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

I'm sure most of by now have seen the plan to fix up the Wyvernwood residential complex (where pesto used to live). I think this will draw more attention to the area for gentrification.

Don't forget, extending the purple/red lines to the Arts District and down 6th street is still a possibility as well. Improve north-south bus routes in the area, and East LA could indeed be the next "it" neighborhood.

Wouldn't it make more sense to extend the goldline. Besides the Little Tokyo station is close already. The Red/Purple Line needs to be extended to the future Piggyback Yards site, County USC Medical Center, Cal State LA, and than through the San Gabriel Valley including Monterrey Park to El Monte. Thats the densest corridor for that area much more so than the Goldline Foothill Extension.

[JDRCRASH]

^ After being raped to death by NIMBYs, the GLEE II Whittier route is now a ridiculous excuse for a rail line, as it would in fact get to Whittier by running on Washington Blvd. A true rail line to Whittier would on the key artery itself: Whittier Blvd.....

Also an extension to the Arts District would be relatively cheap, as all you would need to build is an island platform as well as a pedestrian overpass to the Sante Fe project. This is lready being envisioned.

And your idea of extending it to the San Gabriel Valley would still be possible if an extension to Whittier was built as well. Just build a wye structure between Union Station and the maintenance portal, and have either the Purple Line or Red Line head to Whittier (I favor Purple), while the other line heads to the SGV.

[a9l8e7n]

Well its not exactly underground. The parking lot is just below the upper part of grand ave.

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

It's coming along swell. They are almost done with the parking garage part, and will soon start on the actual building. The parking garage is underground, and like, four stories, so it is taking a while. The building should be complete on schedule.

[travanx]

I went to UC Irvine from '97 to '02. But that place is boring. I am from Glendale and that seems to still be at the center of basically anything to do in the LA area.

My issues with DT are still the same ones such as bums being even more in your face lately. Most everywhere is pretty dirty. My girl doesn't feel safe walking around at night. Which seems justified down here. Living down here was the first time I have seen people openly selling drugs in the daytime. And once again being harassed for money by so many different types of people. All so we can pay double the rent of somewhere else.

Believe it or not, I think we would actually stay longer if the rent down here wasn't so out of line between other cities, especially for what you get.

This is a real problem of DT. It's not the grit, its the paying a lot more to live in the grit. Shouldn't the prices be a bit more in line with other cities in LA County? The issues are not because someone wants an Irvine experience over Skid Row style living. But this is my take on some more reasons why people don't understand why there isn't some huge boom of building still going on down here.

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Well, it takes a certain kind of person to live in downtown. It's not a bad place by any means, but not a place for people who want the 'Irvine Experiance', or even the 'SaMo' experience. Glad you tried it, though.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by travanx

This is a real problem of DT. It's not the grit, its the paying a lot more to live in the grit. Shouldn't the prices be a bit more in line with other cities in LA County? The issues are not because someone wants an Irvine experience over Skid Row style living. But this is my take on some more reasons why people don't understand why there isn't some huge boom of building still going on down here.

I don't think downtown's prices are out of line with any other prices in the LA area, especially for what you get (walkable neighborhood, nearby amenities, best transit access in the city, quality construction, beautiful buildings, etc.) In fact, my wife I were recently thinking of moving out of Downtown into Koreatown so we can save more $ and buy a place sooner, and I was surprised to see that Koreatown is not all that cheaper than DT. You might save $300/month or so, but the construction looks shoddy, the finishes are tired and outdated, and the neighborhood- while walkable, is still downright suburban compared to DT. Thinking now we might stay put.

That being said, LA in general is an expensive place to live. For what we're paying for a 1-bedroom loft, we could have a 2-bedroom apartment with a bay window in a historic brick rowhouse back in DC. And it would be down the street from a metro station.

[213]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Well, it takes a certain kind of person to live in downtown. It's not a bad place by any means, but not a place for people who want the 'Irvine Experiance'...

As a downtown resident and lifelong urbanite I assure you that certain things do get tiresome, and that Skid Row is no less a downtown development issue than whatever else we discuss here. When tourists, shoppers and outdoor diners are harassed, it is a problem; when trash is rummaged from receptacles and scatters about the street, it's a problem; when sidewalks and doorways are routinely fouled with urine, it's a problem.

Travanx raises legitimate points that warrant our concern. To spin them away for the sake of posturing and boosterism does downtown no favors.

[WonderlandPark]

I seriously considered DTLA, but I am a car person and need the darn thing for making a living, so in my price range 250K and under, DTLA certainly had some appeal, but the parking situation sucks, you either have to walk a few blocks (Santee) or pay extra (Rowan) and don't want to do that a some early/late hour that I have to deal with in the TV biz. Went with Alta in Lincoln Heights (also lots of SF for the $$), in fact, just moved in a few days ago. I think there is more neighborhood potential in Boyle, than Lincoln, for sure, but I think all of the areas just east of DTLA are going to eventually gentrify, its the logical progression of things.

[travanx]

We are looking at moving to possibly South Pasadena, where we already found 1300 sq. ft. for $1000 cheaper than our 845 sq. ft. loft with barely looking.

The homeless thing when I say is getting worse, is getting out of hand. I mean they are spitting at people now. All that stuff they say to pick up after your dog, is not dog's doing it either. I have seen it enough in person to know who is making the mess on the sidewalks. My GF was harassed when we were eating downstairs outside at Bottle Rock with this guy who was basically trying to sell us drugs and trying to hit on her and threatening me. I can maybe expect that at McDonalds.

The driving thing is odd as I think you still do need a car to get around Los Angeles. It's convenient to take the subway or Flyaway Buses or whatever. But at the same time a lot of people are used to cars, and it's a pain to not use it. Example: I have meetings to go to to run my business, generally towards the beach directions. A car saves me a lot of valuable time.

My points of view are from someone who is constantly dealing with developers daily and hearing all the issues causing things to not be built faster. I want to become a developer myself in the next 5 years, so I am paying more attention to what I see happening down here as I think it's at the begin of the real gentrification of the City.

[Illithid Dude]

In other news



Sparkle Factory. Rehabbing the building. Adding one of those great, long, vertical signs. Not bad, not bad. Plus, it's a high-end store coming to Broadway. Not enough to cancel out Ross, but it's a start...

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

In other newsSparkle Factory. Rehabbing the building. Adding one of those great, long, vertical signs. Not bad, not bad. Plus, it's a high-end store coming to Broadway. Not enough to cancel out Ross, but it's a start...

Love the concept, can't bring myself to like the name. It makes me think of this:

[all of the trash]

I don't get the complaints about the homeless. NYC and sf have homeless too, that in my experience are even more hostile and aggressive. Still these are top notch cities that fetch top real estate prices. These cities make up for their dangerous elements in so many ways that LA doesnt.
Dtla is perfectly in line with the rest of the city as far as rental prices are concerned. The problem is LA as an entire city is mistakenly overpriced. Developers here seem to think LA is deserving of the prices you see in ny, Paris, Tokyo, London. It's not. At all.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

They are most definitely not mistaken when downtown la has a vacancy rate of 3% and the city as a whole is not much higher. in regards to the homeless....i really haven't noticed too much of an upswing the 1.5 years that i have lived down here, but we do have more than sfr and nyc in my opinion

[Lovetowers]

Originally Posted by steve2726

see for yourself-

http://broadartfoundation.org/construction_webcam.html

[pesto]

There really is no point denying it. Homeless are not just a problem, they are THE problem if you want families or the middle class to consider buying or shopping downtown. Far worse than SF or NY; people from these towns mention it. What to do about it is more difficult, but this had been discussed before.

Interesting that everyone wants them out (business owners, landlords, tenants, visitors) but they stay.