LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[alki]

Originally Posted by citywatch

it certainly is better today than it was in the past, so in general it can be taken more seriously than it was when burbanization still was at its peak in LA. I think back to the way it was over 10 yrs ago, definitely 20 yrs ago, or even 5 yrs ago, & that's when I become almost shocked at just how disappointing it has been through the yrs. it takes the improvements of today & the recent past, & then visiting dt right now, to startle me, & to realize it shouldn't have gotten so to begin with. iow, no less will do.

that's why the news yesterday of the large new apt proj south of the brockman bldg finding a new owner & possibly breaking ground sooner rather than later was something I took in stride. It's like being told that a 40 yr old is finally learning how to do multiplication tables, ride a bike, or, more tragically, how to boil water.

when I think of so many ppl being towards the hood, I'm suddenly forced to admit they, if anything, were being too easy on it.

I also went by the intersection of fig & chavez blvd on sunday & recall when that area had nothing but either empty weedy lots or small rundown bldgs & houses on it. It really was reminiscent of something you'd see in a divey border town. now it's made up of something like this....


thelorenzo.com

I know most urbanists despise that type of stuff, but to be honest, after my quick run through dt on the weekend, I was so disturbed by how shabby & too much of it still is, that even vegasy or disneyfied junk didn't seem so . Still, it's oddly lazy how the devlpr doesn't try to make his many apt projs look more than slightly different from one location to the next.

that pic is from the website of the new apt bldg going up not far from USC, which will be a clone of the owner's other projs. The proj looks like it will be fully geared to students, with all the apts arranged to have more than one renter.

Seriously, is the above a real bldg? I thought this was some bizarro dream sequence from Inception...but you all are talking about like it actually exists. Tell me it ain't so.

[alki]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

What bothers me more than the tackiness is this:


.

Ugh......this is awful.......a mishmash of architectural styles in a context that doesn't please. This guy Palmer is toxic. And it looks like the bldg is experiencing some serious settling. On top of it, he plants a deciduous tree next to a palm.......trying to cover all the bases?

[alki]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

Even if they're not in the Historic Core, the areas right outside of downtown shouldn't be subject to shit.

Take for example Glo. Right across the street from 1100 Wilshire.


Or Hikari in Little Tokyo.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2270/2116890442_a522cf2056.jpg

Or Sakura Crossing in Little Tokyo.

http://chrisschramm.com/portfolio/web/bu...es/mudmur/0710/sakuracrossing/photo1.jpg

I like Hirkari and Sakura..........they're not so bad......although did they put in a parking lot next to Sakura? I like the way Hirkari sits on its lot.....although the balconies in the front are over done IMO.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by alki

I like Hirkari and Sakura..........they're not so bad......although did they put in a parking lot next to Sakura? I like the way Hirkari sits on its lot.....although the balconies in the front are over done IMO.

It's actually a street, strangely enough. I guess the block was too wide and they wanted to break it up?

[pesto]

Originally Posted by citywatch

pesto, I'd view things differently if, by some odd....& presumably tragic...act of nature in the near future, much of what's in NYC, seattle & silicon valley, & other major places, were forced to be closed down & relocated to another part of the country, mainly LA. At the same time, if hoods like Samo & venice, or glendale, weren't still attracting so much of the $$ of the city instead of dtla.

I'd also view things in a different light if the average life span of humans was 150 yrs instead of 80 or less. So I wouldn't be as to drop by dt yr after yr & still see lots & lots of & . When I was there a few days ago, I was overwhelmed by how many properties still desperately need to be cleaned up or filled in. It will take yrs & yrs & yrs & yrs to accomplish that, assuming, once again, that ppl & $$ in other major cities----or even just within LA alone-----aren't forced to move to LA, to dt in particular.

"Ha! This is why we will destroy you, Mr. Citywatch: you people think in years and we think in centuries!"

Well, in any event, if you want lower standards, change the zoning and allow everyone to know before they are dumb enough to put money into quality development in a low to mediocre 'hood.

[Mojeda101]

Construction underway as we speak, this is beautiful.

http://marriott2lalive.com/view/viewer_index.shtml?id=4576

[colemonkee]

We're about to be graced with the first crane in the Southpark skyline for over, what, two years?

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

We're about to be graced with the first crane in the Southpark skyline for over, what, two years?

Since LA Live. Hopefully we will be seeing more with Francisco street, Farmers Field, and LA Central.

[Quixote]

Finally found a quality, high-resolution rendering. Portland-based GBD Architects is behind the design, so there's a good chance that it just might be clad in a material not named stucco!

[Mojeda101]

Stunning!

[pesto]

Curbed has a brief article on improvements on 3rd street in Jtown. The article captures the idea, but the concept should be spread all along Alameda, which is not that heavily used but acts as a wasteland between potentially active areas. And the fortress-like malls in the area need to open up to the street, even if then need to be torn down to do so.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

Finally found a quality, high-resolution rendering. Portland-based GBD Architects is behind the design, so there's a good chance that it just might be clad in a material not named stucco!

Indeed, it looks like it will be clad in metal panels, ala Evo, which is much better than stucco. Monkey poop is better than stucco.

[Illithid Dude]

Wow! It seems the Courtyard is actually going to be an attractive building.

[JDRCRASH]

WOW, I am practically drooling over this new rendering; great find westsidelife! Looks so much better than Williams/Dane's. I really like how they made setbacks minimal. Really improves pedestrian activity. Now if only we can get some ground retail at the lower right corner of the building.

[JDRCRASH]

And here's a recent article i found with the new rendering:

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/06/05/gbd-combines-two-brands-into-one-los-angeles-hotel/

[Illithid Dude]

From the article JDR posted.

[BrandonJXN]

So I went on down to South Park today (that sounds like the name of a Country Western song) and took a few pics of the goings on.

845 Figueroa
The renovation is making a lot of progress. The blank wall (north side) is being punched out for the new windows, the bottom is also being redone and the southside windows are all out.




Apex
Here is a shot of some mysterious construction going on at the ground floor of Apex. As well as a nice red Dodge Charger.


Marriott
A shot of the base of the crane.


The Met
Some month back, The Met underwent a repainting. From it's ugly green, purple, and orange balconies to what we though was going to be all black. Which would have looked nice. But instead, it's black, gray in the middle, and white on the south side of the building. It looks really nice and really complements 717 Olympic, and Apex's midrise. I really wish FIDM would hurry up and build because that would be a really nice and vivid area of DTLA. Sorry for the angle.


Towne
Didn't get to take an interior shot (the inside looks to be classic Americana but modern) but I snapped this quick shot of Towne.


And a bonus shot of the Wedbush Building which is a rarely talked about building in DTLA. Very interesting take on post modern I think.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

So I went on down to South Park today (that sounds like the name of a Country Western song) and took a few pics of the goings on.

Sorry for the angle.

thanks for the pics! I know colemonkee always apologizes for using his cell phone to snap shots of the hood, but they've always looked perfectly fine to me, & so do yours.

when I went by the former concerto bldg last wk, I don't remember it having that barricade around a part of it. But there was so much to take in or be on the lookout for, that I often don't notice alot of what's going on.

the next major proj....which is totally brand new from the ground up....that's supposed to begin construction is the angelena apt bldg south of the brockman. I can't think of anything else on the schedule right now, other than the proposed taller apt bldg on olive around 9th.

I'm only troubled that the new owner of the big parking lot where angelena is supposed to go up paid a record amt for the land. High prices for property is one reason that projs became increasingly harder to pencil out in the past, so owners were more likely to pay waiting games, & to buy & sell land mainly to turn around & flip it. that results in.... &

in terms of completion of renovation projs, there's the waiting game going on with the clark hotel, & then the embassy. I know work has started on the old UA theater bldg, but that's still a yr or two away from wrapping up. Then there's smaller projs like the renovation of cliftons on broadway, which has desperately needed a new facade....by replacing its fugly metal paneled front from the 1960s with its original exterior.

if all these projs were like the broad museum & the new marriott hotel, with their own onsite cams for the public, then we outsiders wouldn't have to rely on forumer like you for photo updates.

btw, the design of the rising courtyard/marriott hotel is fine & all, but to me it's not so exceptional that I'd go out of my way to praise it. The way all its windows purposefully lack parallel symmetry is similar to the new apt bldg that's proposed for the location next to the broad museum.

when I'm in the hood, I notice I find myself being more bothered by a lack of continuity....by bldgs that are vacant, abandoned, rundown, or given a fugly stuccoed facade similar to the hooters bldg....than whether existing or newer bldgs will or won't win a design prize or not.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

It's actually a street, strangely enough. I guess the block was too wide and they wanted to break it up?

Strange. Not much of a setback from the new street. Like the idea of breaking up the block though......LA tends to have long blocks.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

From the article JDR posted.

Really like the way the bldg meets the street in that photo. A very nice urban feel......let's hope it stays that way.