LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[colemonkee]

For fans of rendering porn, here's a larger one of the Star Apartments from Michael Maltzan's web site.


(Image Source: www.mmaltzan.com)

[brudy]

Originally Posted by citywatch

When ppl complain about a new proj not having stores on the 1st floor, that really does puzzle me. That's cuz I wonder if such criticism is made by ppl who are in the hood on a regular basis & see how many customers are supporting the existing stores already in dt. While some of the biggies are doing well, inc the Ralphs, reportedly the new target & food places like bottega louie, I'm hoping that I won't have to worry about some of the other businesses reaching a saturation point.

The area is far better today than it was several yrs ago, but the overriding sense I almost always have after visiting dt is that millions & millions & millions of additional $$$ still need to be invested in the hood in order to create a sense of completeness & good urban flow.

I see quite a few smaller shops & eating places throughout dt that I suspect could use some more customers...perhaps greatly so....to allow the owner to really survive & thrive. so lots more new housing & lots more new potential customers in dt are a must. ASAP!

Well, as a downtown resident I kind of see what you're saying but it's a chicken and egg thing. Example - there are a ton of lunch only places that are packed to the gills, but try to find a cheaper place to eat at night and your options are severely limited. We can't eat Bottega Louie every night. I think we could use more options somewhere between cheap tacos and Industriel. That middle tier is almost completely missing (especially at night and weekends). So residents just leave downtown for that kind of stuff. OTOH, try getting a reservation at some of the nicer restaurants on the weekend. It can be difficult. Shopping is similar - there are some boutiques and a few consignment vintage stores (and a few of these are great), but they're scattered everywhere from the Arts District on west. There isn't any cohesion to downtown, it's very patchy. Broadway and the jewelry district are a huge black hole that separates Historic core from Olive on west. Some of that is changing with the Ace Hotel, Clintons, etc, but there isn't any cohesiveness yet.

But I agree that we need more residents to make this happen. With 96% capacity right now, there's no room for growth until some of these larger projects come online and I don't think downtown has reached critical mass in terms of population to support a lot more retail. Do I want it - yes - but would it survive? I'm not sure. Places like Poketo and Apolis in the arts district are awesome, but their worlds go beyond brick and mortar. That said, I think all new buildings in downtown should be required to have retail. It's essential. Maybe not quite at this moment, but in 2-4 years the population of downtown will be growing again at a rapid pace and the built environment needs to support that. That will be the only way to have that urban flow you're talking about.

[BrandonJXN]

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews....4ef-0019bb2963f4/50c63d99202d0.image.jpg


http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews....215-0019bb2963f4/50c63d5c89194.image.jpg

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Federal officials this morning announced that Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architects has won the contract to build a $400 million Downtown courthouse.

SOM, which has a Los Angeles office, will partner with Clark Construction on the 500,000-square-foot building slated to rise on the southwest corner of First Street and Broadway.

“Today, the new federal courthouse is that much closer to becoming a reality for downtown Los Angeles,” said Congresswoman Louise Roybal-Allard in a prepared statement. The selection, she said, “means we are moving toward the groundbreaking of a critically needed facility that will resolve long-standing security and space issues.”
The team beat out four other finalists who had been announced in March. Design work will begin immediately, with construction tentatively scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2013. Completion is expected by 2016, according to Roybal-Allard’s office.
Early renderings depict a simple rectangular design that appears to be fronted by glass.
The project will rise on a 3.6-acre eyesore property that once held a state office building. The Civic Center project will include 24 courtrooms, 32 judges’ chambers and 110 parking spots. It would house district judges, jury assembly facilities, offices for the U.S. Marshals service and others.

SOM’s credits include the 31-story Chicago Civic Center, the FBI Denver Field Office and the under-construction NATO Headquarters in Belgium.

This marks the second current Civic Center project for Maryland-based Clark Construction. The company is partners with architecture firm AC Martin on the $231 million renovation of the Hall of Justice.

[ChelseaFC]

More than two years of construction.

[Dale]

Stumpier and more conservative than I expected.

[Illithid Dude]

I love it, but then again, I'm an unapologetic fan of modernist glass boxes. SOM projects always look better then their rendering, so this should turn out very nice.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

Yikes. Looks like something built in DC in the 90s. I hope these are just unflattering renderings or something

[202_Cyclist]

Exactly! DC wants its ten-story glass box back. It should at least be a Clarendon-style 15-story box of a building.

[WonderlandPark]

I am fine with a nice elegant box, its all in the details and SOM should do well. Wondering what the heck is to the right of the courthouse, the Related Gehry (Dead?) thing is rendered across the street from Disney Hall but the one across the street from the courthouse is?

[brudy]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

I am fine with a nice elegant box, its all in the details and SOM should do well. Wondering what the heck is to the right of the courthouse, the Related Gehry (Dead?) thing is rendered across the street from Disney Hall but the one across the street from the courthouse is?

I think that's supposed to be the Related high-end mixed user that hasn't happened yet.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by WonderlandPark

I am fine with a nice elegant box, its all in the details and SOM should do well. Wondering what the heck is to the right of the courthouse, the Related Gehry (Dead?) thing is rendered across the street from Disney Hall but the one across the street from the courthouse is?

http://thegrandla.com/#/intro

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

in regards to Towne, ive seen it pretty packed numerous times before, so i wouldnt take one night as the end all be all.

After seeing how quiet it was saturday evening, I wondered if there was possibly poor word of mouth about the restaurant. So I checked the reviews at yelp & they're generally good to so-so about towne. There are a few complaints about how brightly lit the room is. however, the one review that stood out to me was the person who visited it on a recent weekday & mentioned there weren't too many customers in the place. That along with what I saw on saturday is what made me a bit concerned.

however, I will say on that same night I did see a group of customers lined up outside of hooters on fig. I'm assuming they were waiting for tables to open up. Not too surprising that they appeared to be mainly or only guys. the LA auto show taking place across the street certainly didn't hurt with that restaurant's target audience.

I don't know when the saturation point in the hood will be reached, but I hope that's still way, way, way off into the future. I know that point was reached a long time ago for office space, which has yet to recover. There also was an oversupply of hotel rms not too many yrs ago, although I like to think that's no longer true. That means whatever slack still exists has to be taken up by space for ppl living in dt & for stores, inc restaurants.

I noticed through the yrs that quite a few bldgs, older & newer, throughout dt have 'for lease' signs tacked up on their sides. Those make the hood seem like it's always struggling to attract ppl...businesses....stores. considering how some of those signs seem to be permanently nailed onto certain bldgs, I've wondered if they ever really help bring in potential tenants?

Originally Posted by brudy

Well, as a downtown resident I kind of see what you're saying but it's a chicken and egg thing.


That said, I think all new buildings in downtown should be required to have retail. It's essential.

Since you live in dt, you're a better judge of how the typical store is doing there. But I know when I was in the hood 2 nights ago, there were some businesses....inc stores & restaurants.....scattered around spring st, the OBD, broadway & little tokyo that looked like they'd have been quite happy to see more customers streaming through the front door.

But whether they're in dt or some other part of town that's a work in progress, so many smaller shops really do struggle to make ends meet. That's why I think it makes little sense to expect all new projs to include retail on their main floor. When all the swapmeet stores & vacant 1st floor spaces throughout dt are a thing of the past, then I'd understand a desire to have more shops in totally new projs.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by threehundred

the image that formerly had been used for several yrs to represent what the new courthouse was going to look like was more dramatic & impressive to me. The design from SOM seems to be nothing more than a.....plain box! I believe some newer federal bldgs in a few other cities display more flair & pizazz than this one.

My reaction to this design reminds me of the way I felt about the angelena proj not too long ago. when that devlpt was still controlled by Astani, the original artwork was so snazzy & flashy, that what has since been proposed by the current owners is sort of a .

however, I will have to say, again, that such new devlpt at least is better than a big hole in the ground....literally.....or a parking lot. Still, there's a sense that the economy is causing certain projs to be value engineered.

as for Maltzan's Star apt bldg, that worries me only cuz it looks like it may be form over function....at least when it comes to a bldg located in earthquake country. iow, when corners of a bldg lack pillars, that may look unique & dramatic, but how will that design work if the earth starts shaking?

[blackcat23]

Here's a version of the picture zoomed in a bit, provided by the LA Times.



On closer inspection, the rendering shows a smaller 5-6 floor building next door to the courthouse (on the 2nd street side). I'm assuming this is intended to be a stand in for the federal office building that the GSA also wants to put on the lot.

It's also nice to see that the building will only have 110 parking spots. At least the GSA seems to realize that there is already enough publicly available parking in downtown. Plus this thing will literally be across the street from a subway station.

[brudy]

Originally Posted by citywatch

After seeing how quiet it was saturday evening, I wondered if there was possibly poor word of mouth about the restaurant. So I checked the reviews at yelp & they're generally good to so-so about towne. There are a few complaints about how brightly lit the room is. however, the one review that stood out to me was the person who visited it on a recent weekday & mentioned there weren't too many customers in the place. That along with what I saw on saturday is what made me a bit concerned.

however, I will say on that same night I did see a group of customers lined up outside of hooters on fig. I'm assuming they were waiting for tables to open up. Not too surprising that they appeared to be mainly or only guys. the LA auto show taking place across the street certainly didn't hurt with that restaurant's target audience.

I don't know when the saturation point in the hood will be reached, but I hope that's still way, way, way off into the future. I know that point was reached a long time ago for office space, which has yet to recover. There also was an oversupply of hotel rms not too many yrs ago, although I like to think that's no longer true. That means whatever slack still exists has to be taken up by space for ppl living in dt & for stores, inc restaurants.

I noticed through the yrs that quite a few bldgs, older & newer, throughout dt have 'for lease' signs tacked up on their sides. Those make the hood seem like it's always struggling to attract ppl...businesses....stores. considering how some of those signs seem to be permanently nailed onto certain bldgs, I've wondered if they ever really help bring in potential tenants?



Since you live in dt, you're a better judge of how the typical store is doing there. But I know when I was in the hood 2 nights ago, there were some businesses....inc stores & restaurants.....scattered around spring st, the OBD, broadway & little tokyo that looked like they'd have been quite happy to see more customers streaming through the front door.

But whether they're in dt or some other part of town that's a work in progress, so many smaller shops really do struggle to make ends meet. That's why I think it makes little sense to expect all new projs to include retail on their main floor. When all the swapmeet stores & vacant 1st floor spaces throughout dt are a thing of the past, then I'd understand a desire to have more shops in totally new projs.

You know, living downtown can feel like such a dichotomy. There are moments when it feels like any other city and other moments where I wonder where the rest of 40,000+ residents are. There are moments when you feel like it's such a creative hotspot, and others where you question the civility of our society. Downtown feels like all high and low, very little middle. I wonder how some of these shops survive? Some places seem to do well, but others I have no idea. Perhaps shops are just trying to hang on till more growth. But then you'll stumble on an event (Apolis last weekend had an art opening, there was a pop up shop across the street, and Poketo was having a sale) and it's like this crazy crowd out of nowhere. It feels like a lot of LA to me - semi-secret, but somehow successful. But yeah, there are a lot of first floor vacancies in new and old buildings, but it seems a fait accompli that downtown will continue to grow. Shouldn't new buildings be designed with the relatively short term future in mind?

[pwright1]

Walked past the new Figaro's Bistro on Broadway today. Looks like its just
about ready to open.








Also walked by the old Woolworths where Ross will be. The windows were all opened and the one of the front doors was wide opened. Of course I took a peek.




The Broad is coming along. I was pretty excited when I saw it tonight.






Earlier today I had lunch at the new Coco Laurent. I have to say my angus burger and fries were A++ and that ice tea was excellent.





That's it for now.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

BAM! Figaro looks awesome and so does that burger

[bjornson]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Here's a version of the picture zoomed in a bit, provided by the LA Times.

I guess I shouldn't have expected any sort of visionary design from SOM. It's very middle of the road and crowd pleasing. I suppose there's just a lot of precedent with the Portland and San Francisco's federal courthouses designed by LA based Morphosis. Then again we are in an entirely different era of austerity and restrained ambition in design. There's definitely a way to design glass boxes but I'm afraid this may just end up tame and a lesser version of the Perkins+Will proposal.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by bjornson

I guess I shouldn't have expected any sort of visionary design from SOM. It's very middle of the road and crowd pleasing. I suppose there's just a lot of precedent with the Portland and San Francisco's federal courthouses designed by LA based Morphosis. Then again we are in an entirely different era of austerity and restrained ambition in design. There's definitely a way to design glass boxes but I'm afraid this may just end up tame and a lesser version of the Perkins+Will proposal.

Knowing SOM, my guess is that the cladding will be incredible, and make the entire building. I actually think this courthouse will turn out great. SOM hasn't disappointed me yet.

[bjornson]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Knowing SOM, my guess is that the cladding will be incredible, and make the entire building. I actually think this courthouse will turn out great. SOM hasn't disappointed me yet.

As an aside, if you ever decide to go to architecture school, let me know and you'll better understand what point I'm trying to get across.

The question is how this will better engage the civic center area that can sometimes feel a bit awkward when you think about it cohesively. I suppose what I'm referring to is the way the LAPD (AECOM) and the Caltrans (Morphosis) buildings engage passerby and those working in them on a daily basis. There's a way to go about things especially with so many limitations like federal courthouse. But it's a courthouse so the expectations weren't super high.

Cladding could potentially do wonders for this project but I'm afraid SOM will just stick to what they know and there are going to be strict federal guidelines that will limit what they can do especially with the design already in place.