LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[brudy]

Originally Posted by Muji

If the Walgreens going into the Chester Williams Building looks anything like the new one they opened at Sunset and Vine, we're in for a real treat.

If it ever opens. They have been working on that space for almost a year and have done almost nothing on the inside. It won't be like the sunset and vine, which is a 'flagship' store, but I wish it were. That one is insane. As it is, it will be the best thing to open since Target, albeit just practical. That Rite Aid across the street is very awful.

[ChelseaFC]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

? I think you mean . This is Barry Shy we are talking about here. The chance of his tower being anything worthwhile is extremely slim.

Good. Hope you're right. Towers do not belong in the Historic Core. Unless you want it to become the Historic/Unhistoric Garbage Mishmash District.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

Good. Hope you're right. Towers do not belong in the Historic Core. Unless you want it to become the Historic/Unhistoric Garbage Mishmash District.

Hey, I don't mind towers as long as they are well designed. I can almost guarantee that anything Barry Shy is in charge of will not be.

[ConstructDTLA]

Remember my pic of Rowan earlier today? A unit just came up in there 1 hour ago. They did quite a nice job on the pictures.

Rowan Porn:


http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/460...instant_listings_update#property-history


Mmmmmm. Best 3 historic conversions in my opinion; Eastern, Rowan, El Dorado. I wish more would be done, but it seems cost inefficient now

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Mmmmmm. Best 3 historic conversions in my opinion; Eastern, Rowan, El Dorado. I wish more would be done, but it seems cost inefficient now

More adaptive reuses? Aren't like ten planned to start in the next year, and aren't there three or four underway right now? It seems like plenty more are being done.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

More adaptive reuses? Aren't like ten planned to start in the next year, and aren't there three or four underway right now? It seems like plenty more are being done.

King Edward and The Baltimore are supposed to start converting into hotels I think sometime this year if they haven't started already.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

More adaptive reuses? Aren't like ten planned to start in the next year, and aren't there three or four underway right now? It seems like plenty more are being done.

I'm not sure how many are being converted into hotels/apartments at the moment. There are (to my knowledge) none being converted to be to-own condos.. Probably wont be for a long while.

I know there are a ton 'planned'. Like the beautiful art deco Title Insurance building across from Rowan into a hotel. And Banco Popular.


Honestly I was just changing the subject before anyone went on an off-topic tangent.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Coco lunch crowd. I could be imagining it, but there seems to be a few more people here week by week. I hope they do very well.


I <3 restorations.

as usual, you're doing the heavy lifting & helping keep this thread alive. for some reason you have a knack for capturing glimpses of less prominent parts of dt that various other forumers through the yrs have ignored or never got around to taking shots of....perhaps cuz it takes too much patience & leg work. for example, before you started posting your pics to this thread several months ago, no one else ever made an effort to snap the outside of the clark hotel or cliftons, well after its old facade from the 1950s or 60s was torn down.

As for broadway, I don't care what race or ethnicity has been associated with it...with either its customers or property owners. All I know is it has been a disgrace for yrs & yrs & yrs & yrs. It has made LA look like a joke....like a place where all the flops ended up in the heart of the city, while the successful ppl ran to the burbs or the coast. It's a part of LA that must make ppl in other cities (I'm looking at you SF, seattle, portland, nyc, chicago, & certainly london, paris, & so on & so forth) snicker & look down their noses at.

some ppl through the yrs have said that broadway reflects the latino culture. I hope not, cuz that in itself is an insult. after all, I don't believe any major shopping street in, for example, mexico city is such a shambles.

[ChelseaFC]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Mmmmmm. Best 3 historic conversions in my opinion; Eastern, Rowan, El Dorado. I wish more would be done, but it seems cost inefficient now

El Dorado, for one, was a financial disaster.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Remember my pic of Rowan earlier today? A unit just came up in there 1 hour ago. They did quite a nice job on the pictures.

I'm always amazed at how low window sills were in many old bldgs from the early 1900s. I guess very few ppl were acrophobic back then.

I look at those vertical sliding windows & get nervous at how easy it would be to open them & accidentally trip over a ledge that looks like it's only two few feet above the floor. then again, threehundred posted a photo a few days ago of the hall of justice bldg when it was rising....or some bldg....& it shows a man standing on a thin girder, hundreds of feet above the ground. OMG.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

El Dorado, for one, was a financial disaster.

How bad? Do you have a story?

Wish I could get in on that financial disaster. That building is incredibly desirable now.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by citywatch

as usual, you're doing the heavy lifting & helping keep this thread alive. for some reason you have a knack for capturing glimpses of less prominent parts of dt that various other forumers through the yrs have ignored or never got around to taking shots of....perhaps cuz it takes too much patience & leg work. for example, before you started posting your pics to this thread several months ago, no one else ever made an effort to snap the outside of the clark hotel or cliftons, well after its old facade from the 1950s or 60s was torn down.

As for broadway, I don't care what race or ethnicity has been associated with it...with either its customers or property owners. All I know is it has been a disgrace for yrs & yrs & yrs & yrs. It has made LA look like a joke....like a place where all the flops ended up in the heart of the city, while the successful ppl ran to the burbs or the coast. It's a part of LA that must make ppl in other cities (I'm looking at you SF, seattle, portland, nyc, chicago, & certainly london, paris, & so on & so forth) snicker & look down their noses at.

some ppl through the yrs have said that broadway reflects the latino culture. I hope not, cuz that in itself is an insult. after all, I don't believe any major shopping street in, for example, mexico city is such a shambles.

100% agree. Why it was allowed to get into the shape that it's in now is really mind boggling. That Broadway is not one of the world's great streets is absolutely because of what's there now.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by HunterK

How bad? Do you have a story?

Wish I could get in on that financial disaster. That building is incredibly desirable now.

Opened during the recession, making the condos be priced lower then the developer prepared for. Also, inexperienced developer didn't understand the complexities of adaptive reuse, driving up the price.

[JDRCRASH]

So i'm in downtown right now getting some cupcakes at BigManBakes on Main. There isn't all that much ped activity, but the outdoor seating areas of the restaurants nearby look full.

I have to say, I really like the suspended lights hanging across the the street.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

El Dorado, for one, was a financial disaster.

jdrcrash thought I was being too cautious or overly conservative about the pace of fixing up dt. here's another reason why I feel the way I do. Look at how much money vanished from the time the 1st owner of a classic old bldg across from pershing sq dug down deep to finally renovate it, to what the second current owner was able to get out of the bldg.

South Korean investors have shelled out approximately $30 million for the 1931 Title Guarantee apartment building, paying the second-highest per-unit price in Downtown, according to the LA Business Journal (sub. req.). With 74 refurbished units in the Art Deco Title, the Koreans ended up paying $405,000 a loft, while the nearby Brockman building on Seventh Street was purchased for $484,000 a unit in the spring.

Back in 2004, developer Daniel Schwartz bought the Title--designed by John and Donald Parkinson, who worked on City Hall--for $10 million. He spent $38 million to renovate it and placed it on the market in 2007 (eek). He quickly realized that the units would have to work as rentals and the building quickly filled up. That wasn't enough to pay back debts, though, and the building went into foreclosure, with Bank of America taking over and putting it on the market last year. BofA added a gym and fixed up common areas to get the Title ready for a sale, and it apparently worked like a charm.

^ so the previous owner spent a total of $48 million on the bldg, while the new owner was able to get it for $18 million less than that....in spite of that still being considered a very high price.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

So i'm in downtown right now getting some cupcakes at BigManBakes on Main. There isn't all that much ped activity, but the outdoor seating areas of the restaurants nearby look full.

I have to say, I really like the suspended lights hanging across the the street.

Good to hear! Petes & Baco & Kitchen Table across the street are always hopping. Great restaurants all around.

Big Man Bakes is so insanely delicious. I wish it was them instead of over-rated Sprinkles coming into Fig@7th.

[ConstructDTLA]

I took a bunch of pics inside the United Artist/Ace Hotel last November during construction.

At the time they had a few demo rooms set up. They were pretty basic, very small, very boutique-y. Their construction offices were set up on the stage of the main theater itself (theres a screening room in the building as well). The plans were massive. Thats where I first learned they planned to put a pool on the rooftop. I think the pool is a must. That will be a huge draw for the area.

Here are just a couple pics from that.

[BrandonJXN]

Wow. Outstanding.

[NYC2ATX]

I feel like many people don't realize how much historic architecture there is in Los Angeles, or associate L.A. with any type of historical significance, and that's a shame. I hope all these restorations and new crowds drawn to Downtown (by the new apartments, the Regional Connector and streetcar, among other things) bring the oldest sections of L.A. to the national stage.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by citywatch

as usual, you're doing the heavy lifting & helping keep this thread alive. for some reason you have a knack for capturing glimpses of less prominent parts of dt that various other forumers through the yrs have ignored or never got around to taking shots of....perhaps cuz it takes too much patience & leg work. for example, before you started posting your pics to this thread several months ago, no one else ever made an effort to snap the outside of the clark hotel or cliftons, well after its old facade from the 1950s or 60s was torn down.

I'm guilty of such actions. I never found interest in such buildings but when I saw the enthusiasm of the other posters in regards to the conversion projects, I was hooked. I didn't get a chance to do it last trip due to time constraints, but I'll be sure to go now that I know better parking lots to go to. I used to spend up to 18 dollars for parking due to how much time I spent in downtown. Once arrived at 8 AM, and stayed until 11 PM. Time flies when you are in Downtown. I promise to take a good look at the historic projects next time. I'm really looking forward for the Iphone 5s. Rumored to have a 13MP Camera, great improvement!

In the summer time I'll be there every other day. Hopefully by then, things such as the Streetcar, and the Barry Shy tower will be well underway and hopefully a project or two will have been revived(rooting on Park Fifth, Park Tower, and LA Central).