LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[112597jorge]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

Anyways, I have some news regarding the Wilshire Grand tower. The highest inhabitable floor of the tower will not make this the tallest tower in the city. However, assuming all goes according to plan with the city and fire department signing off on this (and it's looking like it will), the spire will push this building to be the new tallest tower in the city at 1100'

can you post the email sent to you by the wilshire grand executive, thank you.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

Yeah, I agree, L.A. should have its own style...

Bravo...that is awesome

Did you 'shop that yourself? Or find it online?

[WonderlandPark]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

Bravo...that is awesome

Did you 'shop that yourself? Or find it online?

Shopped very quickly myself, couldn't resist. thx

[LAmarODom420]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

Shopped very quickly myself, couldn't resist. thx

Don't give Geoff any ideas!

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

A Vancouver style residential tower is nice don't get me wrong but DTLA should aim higher in terms of design and quality.

With that said, I think that iHope is an attractive building.

that photo is actually shocking to me cuz it's a wake up call of how dtla....too much of it....by comparison, must feel & look surprisingly poor to a casual visitor. While you're talking about high quality design, dtla's devlprs & land owners will be lucky if they can come up with all the $$ to remove even a fraction of the many parking lots & other gaps before we're all old & gray.

I see all the apt & condo towers that have been created in other cities, then think of how amazed....& relieved....I am when even a few new larger bldgs manage to break ground right now, & I do feel like this ----->

Knowing how much highrise devlpt has occurred elsewhere....& I won't say anything about seeing pics at ssp of cities like sao paulo in brazil several months ago.....I can understand why some forumers in LA become so when projs are cancelled or end up very reduced in scale.

[JDRCRASH]

Sorry I haven't updated things here in a while, folks. See, last month i started my part time job at a new Wal-mart that opened up this past Wednesday out here in the Valley, and the managers this past week have REALLY boosted my hours to almost full time numbers (35). Bottom line, I've been pretty darn busy lately.

This weekend im pretty sure ill update it, tho!

Anyway... Just got back from work, and I'm exhausted...

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by citywatch

Knowing how much highrise devlpt has occurred elsewhere....& I won't say anything about seeing pics at ssp of cities like sao paulo in brazil several months ago.....I can understand why some forumers in LA become so when projs are cancelled or end up very reduced in scale.

I understand where they are coming from. Our city of Angels is the second largest city in the United States and yet it's downtown pales in comparison to cities of half or even a quarter of the population with much more centered downtown's. Some just can't accept the fact that we are a sub-urban city that is spread too far to be anything like Chicago or New York. Cities like Seattle and San Francisco got it right, but just look at our downtown! Granted, it's impressive, but there are so many parking lots in the heart of the city with buildings of 7 stories taking their place when a 30+ should. It's not very dense. It's getting there, and I love all this development going on. It's going to take time to see our city have something like the others. We are unique city with multiple "mini" centers(Ie: Century City, Wilshire Blvd, Downtown, Hollywood) and we need to accept what we have and enjoy it while we can before we ultimately become Coruscant.

[Kingofthehill]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

I understand where they are coming from. Our city of Angels is the second largest city in the United States and yet it's downtown pales in comparison to cities of half or even a quarter of the population with much more centered downtown's. Some just can't accept the fact that we are a sub-urban city that is spread too far to be anything like Chicago or New York. Cities like Seattle and San Francisco got it right, but just look at our downtown! Granted, it's impressive, but there are so many parking lots in the heart of the city with buildings of 7 stories taking their place when a 30+ should. It's not very dense. It's getting there, and I love all this development going on. It's going to take time to see our city have something like the others. We are unique city with multiple "mini" centers(Ie: Century City, Wilshire Blvd, Downtown, Hollywood) and we need to accept what we have and enjoy it while we can before we ultimately become Coruscant.

I love DTLA and all, but I have to wonder if "impressive" really is the proper word for it. Also, as long as the seven-story buildings stick to the fringe areas, namely Little Tokyo and South Park, what's the problem? I mean, we would all like to see more height and density, but until developers feel that the market is ready for such, there is little we can do besides gloat and whine.

[BrandonJXN]

I'm a big fan of skyscrapers don't get me wrong but I also think that in an urban landscape as large as LA's, we don't need to look at cities like New York and Chicago and aspire to be like them in terms of skyline size. (Holy run on sentence Batman). But areas like South Park, Little Tokyo, City West, and even areas like Hollywood, Santa Monica, and all over the Westside would benefit better with buildings between 7-20 stories as opposed to a single 40-60 story building.

I'd much rather see South Park and Little Tokyo resemble areas such as The Pearl District in Portland.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I'd much rather see South Park and Little Tokyo resemble areas such as The Pearl District in Portland.

I still don't get how Vancouver = bad, but the Pearl District = good. Having visited both Portland and Vancouver, I found Portland's Pearl District and Vancouver's Yaletown to be strikingly similar. Both are old warehouse districts transformed through adaptive reuse. Both have sprouted gleaming mixed use towers with 1-2 floors of retail and condos above. Both are waterfront neighborhoods. Yaletown is taller but besides that - pretty much the same thing.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

I still don't get how Vancouver = bad, but the Pearl District = good. Having visited both Portland and Vancouver, I found Portland's Pearl District and Vancouver's Yaletown to be strikingly similar. Both are old warehouse districts transformed through adaptive reuse. Both have sprouted gleaming mixed use towers with 1-2 floors of retail and condos above. Both are waterfront neighborhoods. Yaletown is taller but besides that - pretty much the same thing.

Vancouver isn't bad by any means. Nor are any of their towers. It's just that they're pretty boring and architecturally uninteresting. A similar city would be Miami: beautiful buildings if not dull. I'd love to have a 40 story Vancouver style condo tower but I also don't want to see Park La Brea downtown either.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I'm a big fan of skyscrapers don't get me wrong but I also think that in an urban landscape as large as LA's, we don't need to look at cities like New York and Chicago and aspire to be like them in terms of skyline size. (Holy run on sentence Batman). But areas like South Park, Little Tokyo, City West, and even areas like Hollywood, Santa Monica, and all over the Westside would benefit better with buildings between 7-20 stories as opposed to a single 40-60 story building.

I'd much rather see South Park and Little Tokyo resemble areas such as The Pearl District in Portland.

Agreed 100%! I'd also add that manhattan has many more short buildings than some evidently imagine. My father lives in a 3 story building in the middle of midtown. I don't know the percentage but there are tons of buildings under 10 stories in manhattan.

[JDRCRASH]

Originally Posted by Easy

Agreed 100%! I'd also add that manhattan has many more short buildings than some evidently imagine. My father lives in a 3 story building in the middle of midtown. I don't know the percentage but there are tons of buildings under 10 stories in manhattan.

Except those are pretty old buildings, and New York is tearing down A LOT of them. Not saying don't build below 10 stories but don't simply make a resolve to not build high rises for no reason, especially since you had no problem building the Ritz and perhaps one day LA Central.

I hear some people keep talking about a neighborhood's "character", and how building taller would ruin it. Well guess what, you might as well call what has happened to South Park over the last 10-15 years precisely that, because a neighborhood DID prior before that. It was all demolished for parking lots...

Others don't want more tall buildings like the Ritz and want the skyline the way it is, but it has already changed tremendously in the last decade. Isn't it being kind of "pick and choose"?

I can understand somewhere like Little Tokyo not to build tall, but not South Park.

[BrandonJXN]

What was destroyed in South Park in the last 10-15 years? Last I remember there being any sort of destruction was for the Convention Center expansion in the early 90's and the old North Hall of the Convention Center being torn down and replaced with the Staples Center. As well as a street (Bryam or something). And even then it was ratty low income buildings.

[kelbeen]

South Park in the 90's before the neighborhood (that JDR mentioned) was turned into massive parking lots. Staples Center and LA Live has changed the area dramatically, and now that Marriott Courtyard is already rising from the ground, a stadium to come, West Convention Hall to be moved, and Wilshire Grand to be replaced.

[BrandonJXN]

Actually, all that low rise stuff above the Convention Center is now LA Live.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Some just can't accept the fact that we are a sub-urban city that is spread too far to be anything like Chicago or New York. Cities like Seattle and San Francisco got it right, but just look at our downtown!

I've never thought LA suffered cuz of burbanization....meaning too many different centers & mainly lowrise devlpt. for instance, if much of LA were like hancock pk or bev hills....or pasadena, or samo.....instead of the that's shown in the pic posted by kelbeen where LA live now is located, I bet most ppl would have had a more positive impression of LA.

the average person has never visited dtla & felt cuz there weren't more skyscrapers, or cuz bldgs didn't have stores on their 1st level, or cuz of parking podiums, or cuz new projs didn't win awards from the AIA. Those issues rank way down the list for the typical person.

I believe that dt fell apart quite quickly starting from around the time before all of us were born cuz it was a place that too many ppl didn't mind walking away from. iow, if it had always been a nice hood, more ppl....& businessess.....would have been less interested in moving or going elsewhere.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by kelbeen

South Park in the 90's before the neighborhood (that JDR mentioned) was turned into massive parking lots. Staples Center and LA Live has changed the area dramatically, and now that Marriott Courtyard is already rising from the ground, a stadium to come, West Convention Hall to be moved, and Wilshire Grand to be replaced.

that's a reminder of how really things were, not really all that long ago. I'm so accustomed to the idea that something now worthwhile exists next to the convention ctr, that I forget how much of that area still was even after the ctr had been expanded in the 1990s.

And back then ppl running the convention ctr & others who were trying to promote the hood couldn't figure out why it was so difficult in attracting more conventions to dtla?! sorry, but I have to.....

[pwright1]

They finally took the Guess Wall down at that new restaurant on 7th across from Louie Bottega. It's really quite beautiful and big with lots of outdoor seating.

[Valyrian Steel]

Downtown was busy yesterday evening.


IMG_0042 by Nightsky86, on Flickr

Anyway, here's my first attempt at a photo update. It was getting dark and there was overcast so I had to make it quick.

Civic Center Metro entrance

IMG_0012 by Nightsky86, on Flickr

Broad Museum

IMG_0021 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0024 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0025 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0027 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


Wilshire Grand

IMG_0039 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0044 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0047 by Nightsky86, on Flickr

845 Figueroa

IMG_0051 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0052 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0054 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0055 by Nightsky86, on Flickr

Courtyard Marriott

IMG_0058 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0059 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0061 by Nightsky86, on Flickr


IMG_0062 by Nightsky86, on Flickr

And here's a bonus pic of one of the L.A. Live decorations on Olympic Blvd.


IMG_0066 by Nightsky86, on Flickr