LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[brudy]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

http://brighamyen.com/2013/03/21/hotel-c...ntown-la-facade-refurbishment/#more-9835

Hopefully they grey primer is just the undercoat.

And here I thought I had a scoop :-)

[colemonkee]

Coming from someone with intimate knowledge on how facade restoration and remediation (which this property needs desperately) works, this looks like a testing phase to me. Note the lack of a sidewalk canopy, which is required by the City. If they are moving forward with this in earnest, they will need to put a canopy on the sidewalk, or the work will be short-lived, as they'll be shut down by the City. There are only 3 firms (2, really) in LA county that specialize or are really qualified to perform historic facade restoration, so it shouldn't be too difficult to call and find out if this is the real deal or not. Remember that The Chetrit Group has a history of doing things under the table, and have been shut down by the City before, most notably for performing significant demo work on Giannini Place without a permit. Hopefully they've cleaned up their act and we'll see a canopy or more scaffolding go up soon. Only having to do two ornate sides of the building, the work should only take 2-3 months once they start in earnest.

[colemonkee]

Originally Posted by gerryberry

TRG is investing in housing in Downtown...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-property-report-20130321,0,7796562.story

Great find, gerryberry! Here's an image of the property they are talking about. It's a handsome looking old painted brick building that is currently workforce housing. The kind of building that's all over City West, and gives that area a charm few take the time to experience.


Image Source: Google Maps

And some notable quotes from the article:

A humble century-old apartment building in the shadow of the Ritz-Carlton hotel has sold for more than $3 million as the neighborhood around Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles proves to be a magnet for investors.

Los Angeles real estate investment firm TRG plans to turn the three-story brick building at 916 Georgia St. into small apartments it calls "micro lofts."

And another quote, which gives more insight into the scale of what TRG is planning downtown. Combined real estate and improvement costs for 916 Georgia are $4 million (which will probably ballon to $4.5 million, still less than 10 percent of the money they plan to invest in downtown over the coming months. Given their stated level of investment, we can probably expect more refurbishments or acquisitions like this, as opposed to ground-up construction. Still, this is a positive sign.

The acquisition is the first in TRG's plan to invest up to $50 million in downtown housing over the next 18 months. The company has lost tenants from its Westside apartment buildings because they moved downtown, Robin said.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Remember that The Chetrit Group has a history of doing things under the table, and have been shut down by the City before, most notably for performing significant demo work on Giannini Place without a permit. Hopefully they've cleaned up their act and we'll see a canopy or more scaffolding go up soon. Only having to do two ornate sides of the building, the work should only take 2-3 months once they start in earnest.

While it's a relief to see work finally....finally!....underway on the Clark, I'm a bit worried about the owners....they seem very undercapitalized. They seem like too much of a mom & pop operation.

In the rough & tumble world of a service business....where hotel guests in dt around Hill St can be as fickle or hard to find as potential customers are at the Figaro restaurant on broadway....I'm partly covering my eyes.....worried about what the actual future of that hotel really is. I hope it doesn't end up being another version of what happened to towne restaurant in the watermark apt tower.

the clark's outer wall is in very damaged condition, esp if ones looks closely from the street level. as you mention, unless there's massive scaffolding & large tarps all over the front of it, that makes me suspect the owners are still up to their old tricks. I hope not, but that's what comes to mind when I read that the cherit's workers are scrapping off the old paint....isn't there alot of lead in that?

threehundred, it would be & a joke on me ---> if after all the time I've been waiting for the exterior of the clark to finally....FINALLY!....be cleaned up & restored, that the owners end up doing underhanded...& fly by night....renovation work on it.

[brudy]

Chetrit definitely seems odd. I've seen some strange things in that building. Maybe five months ago late at night I saw a limo pull into the opened garage door and what looked like a pimp right out of central casting stepped out. I've seen lights in the room at night turned off and on, as if occupied. Strange place. But I think it will do well as a hotel. It's well situated in terms of location I think (except for convention types) - close to the metro, grand central market, Little Tokyo, California Plaza, Historic Core. I just hope this spurs more development around 4th and Hill, which desperately needs help.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Welcome everyone! I have just returned from my venture into a rapidly changing sector of Los Angeles..Downtown!

*Sorry, I couldn't get a shot of 9th and Olive due to time. Along with the Broad*

thanks for the pics....they help keep this thread up to date & alive!

I've grown to think the ross store signage looks perfectly fine, esp the blade sign & the little neon flourishes. TG the small pennants....which remind me of something strung over a used car lot....& the "now open" signs are temporary.

btw, since the broad has its own webcam, it's not as if ppl aren't able to take snapshots of it.

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Great find, gerryberry! Here's an image of the property they are talking about. It's a handsome looking old painted brick building that is currently workforce housing. The kind of building that's all over City West, and gives that area a charm few take the time to experience.

I came across that article last night & grabbed this image of its location....to show its relationship to the ritz carlton hotel tower. I have mixed emotions about this old apt bldg being bought by a new owner & saved.....



maps.google.com


^ since that image was taken by an aerial cam, the other old apt bldg perpendicular to it has been torn down & added to the adjoining parking lot. although it's good what the new owner is aiming for....considering ppl having to worry about rising rents.....I was hoping all the clutter north of LA live was going to be bought out & torn down & replaced with a set of large new projs. but this is better than letting it stay in SRO condition.....

Downtown L.A. apartment building sold

A humble century-old apartment building in the shadow of the Ritz-Carlton hotel has sold for more than $3 million as the neighborhood around Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles proves to be a magnet for investors. Los Angeles real estate investment firm TRG plans to turn the three-story brick building at 916 Georgia St. into small apartments it calls "micro lofts."

The small units are intended to house people who work in downtown's burgeoning bar and restaurant scene but can't afford much of the housing in the neighborhood, TRG Principal Rubin Robin said. He decided on that strategy after chatting up numerous waiters, bartenders and other hospitality workers.

"They want to be close to work but can't afford high-rise prices," he said. Monthly rents at the Georgia Street building will probably be $1,200 to $1,700 when the makeover is complete early next year, he said.

TRG said it will spend $1 million on improvements including a gym, a spa, a screening room and a roof deck. The building's 600-square-foot units will be reduced to 29 from 32.

[Valyrian Steel]

http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2013.03_grandcrane.jpg

[WonderlandPark]

The DaVinci is U/C for sure, taken just a few mins ago:

[Wally West]

Looks like the makeover of Pershing Square is probably not going to happen since Farmer's Field is in jeopardy of not happening.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/nfl_stadium_failure_could_tank_pershing_square_makeover.php

I completely forgot that AEG was willing to throw in 700,000 to help makeover Pershing Square. Talk about collateral damage.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by Pink Floyd

http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2013.03_grandcrane.jpg

The sea of cranes is back. Once the cranes for 9th and Olive, and 8th and Grand go up, there will cranes all over the skyline once again.

[blackcat23]

Originally Posted by Wally West

Looks like the makeover of Pershing Square is probably not going to happen since Farmer's Field is in jeopardy of not happening.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/nfl_stadium_failure_could_tank_pershing_square_makeover.php

I completely forgot that AEG was willing to throw in 700,000 to help makeover Pershing Square. Talk about collateral damage.

If/when something is proposed for the Park Fifth site, perhaps the city can get some money to re-do the park?

I know Brigham mentioned that there was a new proposal for the site several months back, but there hasn't been any news about it as of yet.

[ConstructDTLA]

3/24/2013

[Valyrian Steel]

This thread went to sleep for a while.

Here's the Newest Look For Huge Figueroa Street Overhaul






The stretch of Figueroa Street (and environs) between Seventh Street and Exposition Park has been seeing an enormous amount of action lately, so thank heavens LADOT's MyFigueroa project, which will majorly transform the street itself, is looking healthy following the setbacks of the past few years. MyFig completely redesigns the street to make it more friendly to bikers, pedestrians, and transit riders (in addition to, of course and as always, motorists). LADOT has just released new renderings, plans, and website for the project, and plans to hold a community meeting on April 9. MyFig will still feature "people-focused streetscape elements like pedestrian-oriented signage, transit platforms for boarding buses, and a three-mile bikeway complete with bike signaling ... high-visibility crosswalks, widened sidewalks, transit platforms, more street trees and landscaping, better signalization and signage, and public art," according to a press release. More generally, "the project will physically connect South L.A. and Downtown."

Streetsblog breaks down the details: "North of exposition the road design calls for five mixed use travel lanes. South of exposition it's down to four mixed use lanes and a bus only lane. The bus only lane provides a buffer of sorts for bike traffic heading south." The adjacent stretch of Eleventh Street (from Fig to Broadway) will also be reconfigured--it'll lose one of its two westbound traffic lanes and get a one-way westbound bike lane; its northern sidewalk will be expanded. Part of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the south end of the project will get repaired paving and more lighting and street trees.

Melendrez Design Partners is leading the design work on MyFig. LADOT is still doing a traffic analysis, but construction is supposed to start in January 2014 and wrap up by the end of that year.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/03/heres_the_newest_look_for_huge_figueroa_street_overhaul.php

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

i am very excited about this project and i am truly hopeful that most downtown LA streets will eventually get this redo. The next major street that needs a redo is Grand and they need to add planters, new street furniture and landscape the shit out of it.

I have noticed that the city has recently repaved at least half of the downtown LA streets (very recently 6th street and Wilshire) and as they are repaving, they are re-striping to add bike lanes.

[ziggy331]

Originally Posted by Pink Floyd

This thread went to sleep for a while.

Interesting that they used a bus in the renderings and not the street car... I wonder how that changes things, more so on 11'th. Fig is an easy switch.

[blackcat23]

Grand Avenue Rental Tower, today

[Quixote]

67' section only. The project is meaningless if you're not going to remove traffic lanes and widen sidewalks. Another 4 feet of sidewalk on the west side of Figueroa and 11 feet on the east side would be awesome.

[Muji]

Re MyFig: Build it now! By the way, does anyone know why 11th St is also part of the project? I don't have anything against it but it does seem a bit random to me.

Also in some minor news, Mendocino Farms plans to open their FIGat7th location on April 2, which so far is the best reason I'll have to go there. (source: http://la.eater.com/archives/2013/03/25/mendo_wire.php)

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

67' section only. The project is meaningless if you're not going to remove traffic lanes and widen sidewalks. Another 4 feet of sidewalk on the west side of Figueroa and 11 feet on the east side would be awesome.

i believe you misunderstood. The current width of the street north of Expo is 82 feet and south of it is 67 feet. They are just showing how that space will be re-purposed, not changing the width.

[Quixote]

^ Gotcha. I didn't even bother clicking the Curbed link, let alone reading the original Streetsblog article.

It's disappointing. I remember the original My Figuera concept was much more exciting than this current iteration.


http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs/4f960bdd85216d4e321d5ab5/figueroa_01.jpg