LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[citywatch]

btw, ppl have been about the metal thingamajig that LA live has used for christmas since their plaza first opened 4 yrs ago. Looks like they've replaced the robo metal tree, but with another substitute for a real tree. Obviously artificial & sort of blah...ornaments in only silver & gold....but at least it does look a bit more like a real pine tree....



dnaonbroadway.blogspot.com


as for the nadel proj in city west, the renderings show the bldgs surrounded by what looks like coconut palm trees. That type of palm exists in places like miami or rio, but can't be found...or grow...in LA.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Oh my god, this might be the busiest building I have ever seen. There must be at least six different pattern/color combinations at work here. Blegh.

I think its an attempt to break up the massing and make the structure seem less monolithic and fortresslike. I think they've taken it too far here. Minor quibble though. I'm thrilled to see such a big mixed use project coming in to City West.

[Muji]

That building is clearly the second phase of the project that's finishing up at 1111 Wilshire, so it could be happening sooner than later. You can see the Wilshire portion on the left side of the last photo posted by DistrictDirt.

[112597jorge]

Originally Posted by citywatch

btw, ppl have been about the metal thingamajig that LA live has used for christmas since their plaza first opened 4 yrs ago. Looks like they've replaced the robo metal tree, but with another substitute for a real tree. Obviously artificial & sort of blah...ornaments in only silver & gold....but at least it does look a bit more like a real pine tree....



dnaonbroadway.blogspot.com


as for the nadel proj in city west, the renderings show the bldgs surrounded by what looks like coconut palm trees. That type of palm exists in places like miami or rio, but can't be found...or grow...in LA.

you can find them in newport beach

[StethJeff]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Oh my god, this might be the busiest building I have ever seen. There must be at least six different pattern/color combinations at work here. Blegh.

we're all happy to see more density but this is exactly the kind of crap that edluva would get furious about. i think youre absolutely right. this building looks terrible.

again, it's ok to celebrate density but i'd be concerned if anyone actually thought this looked good.

[The Dirty Goblin]

Wait, so this goes from 6th and lucas to wilshire and bixel? That is ginormous.

[StethJeff]

Bar Amá is Coming Together, Have a Look Inside
Tuesday, November 20, 2012, by Kat Odell



From the looks of it, Josef Centeno's Bar Amá should open before the end of the year, just one year after the chef shared his critically acclaimed Bäco Mercat with the denizens of downtown.

Though unfinished, a glimpse inside the space reveals yet another rustic industrial number and a painted tile backdrop in front of which sits a bar and fixed stools. As a reminder, here Centeno will serve a Tex-Mex menu with a wood-fired grill and Mexican beer plus tequila and mezcal.

=========================================

I admit it, I'm the biggest Baco Mercat homer. With that said, can't wait to see this place finally open.

[alki]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

Yes- the patio is actually on the grand avenue side. The lot you see in this picture is where the Angelina project is supposed to be.

Thanks. After I posted, I noticed the street traffic was one way......definitely not 7th.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by 112597jorge

you can find them in newport beach

yes, but fwiw, I understand that's one small coconut palm planted in a protected section of newport. It's not too different from the way that some hearty palm trees have been planted....& manage to stay alive...way up north in vancouver, canada.

as for a new apt proj planned for city west, once again....& is true of just about any & every new devlpt proposed for dt & discussed here....some ppl go . I don't mind forumers complaining about projs, but it's really not much less of a....



nagfans.com


As for the typical, average person.....whether a local, visitor from OC or tourist.....he or she is far less likely to go cuz some new devlpt isn't worthy of an award from the AIA. But such a person is very likely to go ....even more so after spending big $$$ to stay at the Marriott or certainly Ritz carlton....if he has to look out over this...



youtube/alpaljl


youtube/alpaljl


colemonkee, I notice you edited my previous post that contained a comment about dtla from the blog of a visitor from europe. When someone like that responds the way he does, & undoubtedly stumbles across parts of the hood not much better than what's visible from the hotels at LA live, you have to admit that the average person isn't going to go & cuz a new bldg isn't of pritzker prize caliber. Or cuz a new devlpt has too much parking, or has too much stucco instead of granite. Or cuz it won't have stores on the 1st floor, or plazas with enough seating, or won't meet the sidewalk in a friendly enough way. Or will be a bldg that is too short, & made of wood instead of steel. Or cuz the red line or expo lines are such & such....

we should be so lucky if those were THE big challenges bringing down the hood & its reputation.

[RuFFy]

Originally Posted by citywatch

youtube/alpaljl

This picture has dollar signs ALL over it.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by citywatch

youtube/alpaljl


youtube/alpaljl

These lots will be filled in our lifetime, but the question is with what and when. As I drove through the San Francisco downtown, it had rows of buildings along each side of Market. I can picture Figueroa to be a Market type of street. Not in the aspect of having those god awful bus only lanes, but becoming a city center. A place where you can drive through the heart of the city. Those lots need to be filled on that side of the city. Avenue of Angels has that on their agenda, but it's a long process

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by RuFFy

This picture has dollar signs ALL over it.

that would seem more the case if alot of this starts happening very shortly....


weather.com

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

These lots will be filled in our lifetime, but the question is with what and when.

and those are just the tip of the iceberg.

When I was in the hood several months ago, the thing that caught me off guard is how much of dt....definitely around the southern sections....still really needs to be cleaned up & razed. One of the reasons I got lulled into believing dt was better than it really is cuz of all the improvements that have taken place over the past few yrs. But also cuz of all the discussions in this forum, where, again, we spend so much time worrying about bldgs not being taller, or not having a great design, or having parking podiums instead of retail, that I found myself forgetting what the hood is really still like.

btw, mojeda, I replied to your post about your recent trip, which has since been deleted, cuz it strayed beyond the topics of this forum. But I did include a link to a blog that does contain a section relevant to this thread, cuz it relates to someone visiting dtla. And I think that does fit the purpose of this thread, cuz new devlpt....how much of it, & how successful it will be or won't be....is very dependent on how ppl feel about the hood....ppl who are staying in hotels in dt, who work in the hood, who shop there, or who are living there. iow, if too many ppl feel about dt, then all those things visible from the hotels at LA live are gonna take even longer to go farewell & sayonara.

[sopas ej]

Took these 2 pics yesterday, 11.25.12.

The Broad Museum is really coming along.

Photo by me

I like Perch.

Photo by me

[mdiederi]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

These lots will be filled in our lifetime, ...

It's already starting. Note the construction at the bottom of the photo:

Originally Posted by citywatch

[blackcat23]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

These lots will be filled in our lifetime, but the question is with what and when. As I drove through the San Francisco downtown, it had rows of buildings along each side of Market. I can picture Figueroa to be a Market type of street. Not in the aspect of having those god awful bus only lanes, but becoming a city center. A place where you can drive through the heart of the city. Those lots need to be filled on that side of the city. Avenue of Angels has that on their agenda, but it's a long process

Figueroa already has bus-only lanes during rush hour, and that's not a bad thing. Encourages transit usage and promotes pedestrian activity along the street. Getting more people walking down Figueroa opens up more opportunities for retail/development.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Figueroa already has bus-only lanes during rush hour, and that's not a bad thing. Encourages transit usage and promotes pedestrian activity along the street. Getting more people walking down Figueroa opens up more opportunities for retail/development.

The difference being that Fig is a one way street. It doesn't have a light-rail/trolley taking up a lane either. You have one lane to drive on Market in your typical car(at most 2). Assuming it's just one lane for the buses on Fig during rush hour, you still have a few more lanes to drive along. Driving on Market was one pain the ass. No wonder there is a subway running along it. Although these little things like the Figat7th will generate street activity anyway.

Originally Posted by mdiederi

It's already starting. Note the construction at the bottom of the photo:

I'm quite aware of the Courtyard Marriott, lol.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Pink Floyd

I read that too late.

Thats 717 Olympic

Thanks. Just looked up the bldg..........overall, its disappointing esp with the parking garage at its base but I do like that one section of facade.



[QUOTE[[I]No problem, and I'm from out of town as well. But I've been taking the Metrolink into downtown. [/I]QUOTE]

LOL. Metrolink doesn't go that far. I'm from out of state.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Oh my god, this might be the busiest building I have ever seen. There must be at least six different pattern/color combinations at work here. Blegh.

Its not horrible given how big it is.......too big......its going to be a pig to manage. Like someone else pointed out......they are doing different facade treatments to break up what could be a monolithic wall. Not horrible but not great either.

Curious..........are there any mid rise residential bldgs going up in LA you like? We must have close to two dozen under construction up here but I would say there are only 2 or 3 that I like architecturally. The rest are just okay. I will try to take some photos and post them.

I still think its hard to make mid rises architecturally interesting while still getting them pencil out. The need to pack in the units inevitably leads to rectangular bldgs........so already you have started at boring.

[alki]

Originally Posted by citywatch

alki, it's not that I disagree with the specifics of such comments, but it's that they rank way down the list of what most ppl think is wrong with dtla. My sense is that the average, typical person doesn't have a hard time warming up to dt cuz of the things you cite, or what many forumers here often point out. I'd say far more ppl are underwhelmed by, as one example, noticing things like what you mentioned about, that being the big parking lot on grand ave across from the new coco laurent.

I have a hunch that even the lonely, isolated nature of bunker hill makes fewer ppl go than what I've noticed mentioned by so many ppl....on blogs, in articles, what ppl have told me through the yrs....time & time again. things like dirty sidewalks &, most definitely, homeless ppl or aggressive panhandlers. Or, as I noted in my visit to the hood a few months ago with a friend from nocal, the general shabbiness of the hood.

Uh.........I've said it before citywatch.....if what you consider to be the criteria for a successful city.......clean sidewalks and a lack of homeless/panhandlers.......were in fact the necessary criteria, then Bunker Hill should be a raging success. And yet, its usually deader than a pile of rocks..........even during the day.

And the parts of DTLA that have always had lots of dirty sidewalks and homeless people...........and I am assuming the sidewalks are dirty because you keep bringing them up and not because I've paid much attention to them....those are the parts of DTLA that were always filled with people and fairly successful as an urban area. Yes, I know......many of those throngs of people were/are poor and lower middle class but that demographic didn't make that area of DTLA any less urbane.

iow, we should be so lucky if the short height of bldgs, or a lack of stores on the 1st floor, or exteriors covered in stucco instead of granite, or too much space built for cars, or windswept plazas.... or pink benches in the new civic ctr pk .....were the biggest problems throughout most of dt.

Then DTLA is lucky......because its those things you cite in the paragraph above that help determine whether a DT area is successful or not.

When asked, people may say they like the clean sidewalks of a successful DT area because the average person tends not to think beyond the surface of such a question but the answer continues to be much more complex...........and it takes far more effort to make DTs successful than most Americans think. And shabbiness has little to do with it.

[blackcat23]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

The difference being that Fig is a one way street. It doesn't have a light-rail/trolley taking up a lane either. You have one lane to drive on Market in your typical car(at most 2). Assuming it's just one lane for the buses on Fig during rush hour, you still have a few more lanes to drive along. Driving on Market was one pain the ass. No wonder there is a subway running along it. Although these little things like the Figat7th will generate street activity anyway.

This discussion is a little outside of the parameters of the thread, but SF intentionally makes it a pain in the ass to drive down Market Street because their goal is to discourage driving and encourage walking/transit usage.

Downtown is undertaking similar steps with Broadway (i.e widening sidewalks, eliminating lanes devoted to auto traffic). Wider sidewalks and slower auto traffic improves the pedestrian environment and makes the street more attractive to the higher end retail establishments the city hopes to lure in.