LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[pesto]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

as i posted over at SSC, ESPN already moved into AEG land over at LA Live.

As I noted, this was a further expansion of production facilities that was rumored to include a moving of their HQ to be nearer the Mouse.

[dachacon]

YARD SALE!!!!!

Wilshire Grand Hotel is reopening its doors for liquidation sale
The downtown L.A. hotel, which will be demolished this summer, is having a massive sale of its furniture, plates, silverware, linen and TV sets, among thousands of items in the building.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wilshire-grand-sale-20120426,0,637049.story

[patriotizzy]

Please build the proposal from "EE&K, a Perkins Eastman Company, in association with UNStudio." That station looks like something out of Mass Effect!

[pesto]

Originally Posted by patriotizzy

Please build the proposal from "EE&K, a Perkins Eastman Company, in association with UNStudio." That station looks like something out of Mass Effect!

A agree they had the best graphics. But all of these proposals are so far out (and, I hate to say, so unlikely of being even vaguely accurate or affordable) that it doesn't seem worth criticizing or analyzing carefully.

If is important to have some master plan, but the first steps I can see with any plan are the same:

- get Union Station to work as efficiently as possible
- what to do with the jails
- what is the relation to civic center and Dodger Stadium
- what are you going to do to make people with money move there

Personally, I see little reason to believe that extensive highrises are going to be needed or that demand for upper end housing or retail will be significant. There's too much competition from Hollywood, Glendale, Pasadena and other parts of DT, all within a few miles, to say nothing of the Westside.

A football stadium or other entertainment facilities would make some sense (leveraging off Union Station and the semi-used industrial areas and dated public housing) although probably a bit cramped. The Dodger Stadium proposals will be a key factor as well.

[OneMetropolis]

Originally Posted by alki

Okay. I see what you're saying. On this site we are talking the built environment. That's where I think you are being too harsh. In the article above, they are talking about the overall image of a city which transcends the built environment....and there I might agree with you. LA's image has suffered badly over the past 20 years......and yes, some people outside of LA are pretty negative about the city.

However, I don't think its built environment is the main culprit or even plays a leading role. I think other factors come into play........for example, like its air pollution. LA has the opportunity to reverse that image but IMO its going to require Angelenos demanding changes from their leaders.

Very true, when I was in LA for spring break, my friend kept pointing out that we would know when we were in LA when we see smog. Yet of course it wasn't that bad when we actually got there, it was more hazy than smoggy. And yes smog being synonyms with LA is a huge stigma for most people.

[LosAngelesDreamin]

Originally Posted by patriotizzy

Please build the proposal from "EE&K, a Perkins Eastman Company, in association with UNStudio." That station looks like something out of Mass Effect!

I LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOVE the one by EE&K... looks so futuristic =] beautiful

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

It's actually free to make an account. Moreover, Curbed just did a story on it.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/04/aeg_maguire_want_2030_story_tower_near_south_park_ritz.php

AEG, Maguire Want 20-30 Story Tower Near South Park Ritz

Thanks. I missesd it in curb.

I think Maguire may be making a smart move. Maybe he can grab some hollywood types from the Westside. I don't know how influential he is now that he's out of Maguire Properties.

[alki]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I'm not sure what is the main cause of the bad image. I don't think a lack of pristine air quality helps the city's reputation, but since it's much cleaner today than it was 30 yrs ago, I doubt that's as much of a factor to many ppl as it once was. The image of LA being full of gangs probably is far more of a turn off. The image of jammed fwys & no convenient transit is another one.

I pointed out bad air as an easy example. Its way more complicated than that. It helps to read urbanist blogs like Atlantic Cities, Urbanophile, New Geography, Burg Diaspora et al. J. Kotkin, a writer for New Geography and an LA professor, doesn't do LA any favors. He is forever trashing the place. His main complaint and its a pretty good one is that LA has lost economic clout.

Back in the 1990s, LA became the 'second city', knocking out Chicago thru population gains. Now the talk is that DC is becoming the second city......not in terms of population.....but in terms of clout. And interestingly enough two major Fortune 500 corps......one aerospace.......moved their headquarters from LA to DC during the past 5 years.

I think LA needs a Bloomberg or Riordan and from what I can tell, Villaraigosa ain't either.......but then you guys know better.

However, I think all of that pales next to the appearance of the city. The reason is that even before LA got stuck with the same problems that detroit & oakland are now infamous for, it still was treated with a kind of indifference. It's never had alot of the press & hype that has been directed at certain other cities. But LA imho is better today than it was several yrs ago, esp around the 92 riots, & there are alot of cities that ppl----for whatever reason----gave higher marks to than LA. btw, I think most american cities aren't all that. Most of them are forgettable or boring to me.

Sorry but I don't think LA is as yucky looking as you make out. What I think is true for most Americans, me included, is that when they first see the city they have an adjustment period. Most cities don't have a lot of houses surfaced with stucco. Most American cities are not painted white or with pastels. Most American cities don't have houses so open to the outdoors because their climates are so much harsher. It takes a while to appreciate LA's built environment.

However, given the city's rep, its very easy early on to write off the built environment as bad. But as you so aptly pointed out, Seattle has its share of ugly buildings and so does LA. All cities do. But LA has some very cool buildings.........and can't be beat when its comes to examples of Art Nouveau and Streamline Moderne bldgs. Some times the city tries too hard to be innovative architecturally like with Pershing Square but that's hardly a fault IMO. I think DTLA will clean up very nicely.

It's my own personal experiences, based on the reaction of ppl I've known & my own impressions, that lead me to believe that if LA didn't look so , it wouldn't make ppl feel like . I think that's a big reason so many companies still are avoiding moving to dt. Even if the hood itself is in better shape today than it was in the past, many ppl do have to drive through hoods to reach it.

sadly enough, that could be why the very ambitious plans for the area around union station probably are pie in the sky. It's why the owner of the grand wilshire hotel had to change their plans at the last minute. It's why there's still plenty of empty space in the hood even though no new office bldgs have been created in 20 yrs.

The plans are ambitious because the economic growth isn't there to back them up.

[alki]

[QUOTE=pesto;5678871]

Originally Posted by alki

I assume you mean Van Ness on the west, maybe MLK on the south and the water on the east and north. This is about the largest possible definition of downtown and is not commonly used that way. But given that, I would assume that employment there is larger than the employment in any reasonable definition of DT LA.

First, let me apologize........SF is the only city in the US where I have a hard time determining what is west, north, south and east. Don't know why.

Secondly, I think it really depends on what you consider to be DTLA. If you take in the arts and fashion districts, and Chinatown, I bet employment totals are not that far off between the two cities. Of course, what's disappointing is that SF is a much smaller metro area but its DT grabs a much bigger share of the employment pie than DTLA does.

Twitter's real employment is tiny and tax motivated. The announcements usually use high estimates, since that's their job.

The new "talkers" about renting space will likely go to low-rise and in SoMa. It is very unusual for tech to put people (other than urban sales offices) in highrise. Rents are too expensive in SF to justify this.

Hey, its all good. All that tech office absorption leads to more demand for real estate, insurance, and legal services which can pay for the more expensive space.

[alki]

Originally Posted by OneMetropolis

Very true, when I was in LA for spring break, my friend kept pointing out that we would know when we were in LA when we see smog. Yet of course it wasn't that bad when we actually got there, it was more hazy than smoggy. And yes smog being synonyms with LA is a huge stigma for most people.

I think Angelenos lose sight of how big an impact smog has on the city's image because the air is so much better than it once was. However, its still not good.

BTW the air typically isn't that bad during spring break.....its later around May when the smog really starts to cook up.

But let's be clear LA isn't the only American city with smog......its just that its climate and topography makes it a natural.

[all of the trash]

Originally Posted by alki

But let's be clear LA isn't the only American city with smog......its just that its climate and topography makes it a natural.

Nope. It's the cars and the sprawl. Nice try though.

[mdiederi]

I read a story in the Times today that the Angels are talking with AEG about moving downtown.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0429-shaikin-baseball-20120429,0,290864.story

[Trojan]

So does anyone know what's up with the Guess 1981 retail ads up on the under-construction retail space across the street from Bottega Louie? It looks like Guess is moving in? It looks like the kind of ads stores put up in malls when a new store is coming in.

And also, 7th street felt great today with the Expo Line opening! So many people walking around and Bottega Louie was packed no doubt, and it was 4PM on a Saturday (...restaurant transition time from lunch to dinner)

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by all of the trash

Nope. It's the cars and the sprawl. Nice try though.

Actually, it's the topography. Even before L.A. became L.A., the native Americans- the Tongas- used to call what we now know as the 'Los Angeles Basin' the Valley of Smoke, due to all the smoke and haze that was trapped.

[Trojan]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Actually, it's the topography. Even before L.A. became L.A., the native Americans- the Tongas- used to call what we now know as the 'Los Angeles Basin' the Valley of Smoke, due to all the smoke and haze that was trapped.

Let's keep it on topic, development news only.

[StethJeff]

Originally Posted by mdiederi

I read a story in the Times today that the Angels are talking with AEG about moving downtown.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0429-shaikin-baseball-20120429,0,290864.story

best future speculative news ive heard in days

even if farmers field were built as a football stadium, im sure that there are plenty of places in dtla where they could put a new stadium: north of the east la interchange as part of a possible sprawling la river park, anywhere in the industrial areas of dtla, etc.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Trojan

Let's keep it on topic, development news only.

There are pages and pages of arguments about powerlines and my little factoid on smog is the comment that gets called out? Ooooh-kaaay....

[ziggy331]

Originally Posted by Trojan

So does anyone know what's up with the Guess 1981 retail ads up on the under-construction retail space across the street from Bottega Louie? It looks like Guess is moving in? It looks like the kind of ads stores put up in malls when a new store is coming in.

And also, 7th street felt great today with the Expo Line opening! So many people walking around and Bottega Louie was packed no doubt, and it was 4PM on a Saturday (...restaurant transition time from lunch to dinner)

It's going to be a casual French restaurant with plenty of outdoor seating. I actually met the owner yesterday- very nice guy! He said he hopes to open by late May or early June. He wants to cater to the late-night crowd as well so the restaurant and patio will be open until 2am.

[all of the trash]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Actually, it's the topography. Even before L.A. became L.A., the native Americans- the Tongas- used to call what we now know as the 'Los Angeles Basin' the Valley of Smoke, due to all the smoke and haze that was trapped.

Nah. It's sprawl and automobile usage and backwards city planning. Please don't cover for LA's poor environmental record with long established myths about tongva era 'smog'. Its attitudes like this that keep LA backward under the illusion we are developed and progressive city. We are not. We need work.

[all of the trash]

It's strange no major retailer wants to jump in the downtown market yet. I feel like the minimum required population is there for it but it hasnt arrived yet as restaurants/bars/apts/offices have already planted flags.