LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[LAofAnaheim]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

You should come to Chicago. The problems this city is facing puts LA inability to build a park to shame. Problems such as a very high murder rate (50 percent higher than Los Angeles), closing schools (50 schools were closed in May), rabid gang infestation, 100+ year old infrastructure (let me just say that Chicago's traffic is much worse than LA's), and a mayor that nobody likes (Chicago wises it had Eric Garcetti). I've been here since March which is long enough to say that Chicago's problems far outweigh those of LA. Not turning this into a city vs city debate but when you look at the overall scheme of things, LA's future is a much brighter one than a lot of cities. You yourself asked me despite LA's problems would I live here or Chicago and I said that I'd live in Los Angeles in a heartbeat.

LA is at a tipping point. It can go one way or it can go the other. Unlike a lot of major cities with over a million + people, LA has a lot of growing left to do. Sure we are frustrated with the wave of 7 story TCA wonderboxes popping up downtown. But I see LA as a ball of clay waiting to be molded. This city can go so many different directions. It's that that makes me excited for better or for worse about the future of LA.

(It should also be said that Chicagoans view those from Indiana the same way Angelinos view those from The OC. But change rich to hicks. Just sayin).

This. Thank you ThreeHundred for some reasonablenss.

HunterK - grass is always greener on the other side, but don't forget to appreciate what is in your backyard.

[bighomey3000]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

You should come to Chicago. The problems this city is facing puts LA inability to build a park to shame. Problems such as a very high murder rate (50 percent higher than Los Angeles), closing schools (50 schools were closed in May), rabid gang infestation, 100+ year old infrastructure (let me just say that Chicago's traffic is much worse than LA's), and a mayor that nobody likes (Chicago wises it had Eric Garcetti). I've been here since March which is long enough to say that Chicago's problems far outweigh those of LA. Not turning this into a city vs city debate but when you look at the overall scheme of things, LA's future is a much brighter one than a lot of cities. You yourself asked me despite LA's problems would I live here or Chicago and I said that I'd live in Los Angeles in a heartbeat.

LA is at a tipping point. It can go one way or it can go the other. Unlike a lot of major cities with over a million + people, LA has a lot of growing left to do. Sure we are frustrated with the wave of 7 story TCA wonderboxes popping up downtown. But I see LA as a ball of clay waiting to be molded. This city can go so many different directions. It's that that makes me excited for better or for worse about the future of LA.

(It should also be said that Chicagoans view those from Indiana the same way Angelinos view those from The OC. But change rich to hicks. Just sayin).

Very well said, some much needed perspective on this board.

[blackcat23]

Originally Posted by LA/OCman

And the Federal Courthouse? That has to do with the cut backs in DC, not here.

I don't even think SOM's design for the courthouse is bad. It's just that Yazdani's 2nd place design was clearly better looking. But like you said, that's the result of political gridlock in Washington. It's not Los Angeles' failure.

We're still getting a pleasant looking building, just not a head turner.

And thanks to ThreeHundred for posting a much needed reality check.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by LAofAnaheim

Sure, lets blame the city for every blunder. Farmers Field was actually moved through city approvals really fast due to political support. But so is really the cause of delay now? Hint: AEG and the NFL. Nice try to pawn this to the city.

Convention Center upgrades is tied in to the above. City wants this done, but was contingent on the above.

Park Fifth is an LA problem? How about the developer not lining up financing and a world wide recession?

Grand Park is a bad design? It was paid 100% with private money, how is this tied to the city?

I would agree on Pershing Square and Angels Knoll.

It's easy to pawn things of without looking at the facts. Here is the good of the City: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Staples Center, Adaptive Reuse ordinance to bring back the Historic Core, Cathedral of our Lady of Angels, Angels Flight (until the non-profit took over in 2001), Olvera Street, Hollywood, cicLAvia, etc...these were all city planning objectives and completed. No 3rd party held up the process.

There's a lot that can be done, but you can't blindly blame LA for everything.

excellent post. thank you

[inSaeculaSaeculorum]

You actually can pin development shortfalls on the city and state where environmental regulations, zoning laws, parking requirements and other red tape makes it difficult to get a project going. So I'm not sure what LAofAnaheim is talking about. The city has done some nice things but it's also been at a snail's pace in other instances. Progress is happening but it should have/could have been happening quicker.

Suburban minded developers and the city's own residents--as its been pointed out before just seem to have bad taste in design or just disregard public minded projects outright--are just as much to blame. The culture of urbanism just hasn't caught on in this city. I delude myself sometimes because I spend most of my time in Ktown and DTLA so I have a very urban impression of this city, but when I venture out into the westside or south LA, I realize how un-urban this city is. And when the western part of the city does get a mixed use project, tends to be much nicer than stuff going up in and around DTLA.

Sadly I feel the city's biggest problem lies in the intangibles, the attitudes of its residents (particularly those with money), and other things you can't just fix with a change in laws or regulations. I can imagine how easy it is to live west of La Brea and really not give a damn about things like Park Fifth or the convention center.

This is why I think the purple line extension is more important than any of these projects cause that's the only thing I can think of right now that will change attitudes/culture of this city (as a WHOLE)

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Steve2726

Take your clueless political garbage somewhere else.

Which part is clueless?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/20...ourthouse-in-downtown-la-under-fire.html

August 2012: Budget Hawks Take Aim at Courthouse Construction

"A key House Republican has been particularly opposed to the LA courthouse project: Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), chair of the House subcommittee overseeing GSA, introduced legislation last year to put the building site up for sale at an estimated price of $25 million. That measure was passed by a House committee and divided the California congressional delegation. In June, Rep. Denham went further and had language inserted into a House appropriations bill that prevents the Justice Department from spending money to place staff of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Marshal's Service in the building, whenever it is built."

http://fedbar.org/Advocacy/Washington-Watch/WW-Archives/2012/August-2012.aspx

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

You should come to Chicago. The problems this city is facing puts LA inability to build a park to shame. Problems such as a very high murder rate (50 percent higher than Los Angeles), closing schools (50 schools were closed in May), rabid gang infestation, 100+ year old infrastructure (let me just say that Chicago's traffic is much worse than LA's), and a mayor that nobody likes (Chicago wises it had Eric Garcetti). I've been here since March which is long enough to say that Chicago's problems far outweigh those of LA. Not turning this into a city vs city debate but when you look at the overall scheme of things, LA's future is a much brighter one than a lot of cities. You yourself asked me despite LA's problems would I live here or Chicago and I said that I'd live in Los Angeles in a heartbeat.

LA is at a tipping point. It can go one way or it can go the other. Unlike a lot of major cities with over a million + people, LA has a lot of growing left to do. Sure we are frustrated with the wave of 7 story TCA wonderboxes popping up downtown. But I see LA as a ball of clay waiting to be molded. This city can go so many different directions. It's that that makes me excited for better or for worse about the future of LA.

(It should also be said that Chicagoans view those from Indiana the same way Angelinos view those from The OC. But change rich to hicks. Just sayin).

ThreeHundred,
the contrasts that you mentioned are well said. I've been to Chicago only a few times, and each time I visited I came to appreciate the city more and more. The problems that you mentioned deeply sadden me. The thought of such a great and historic city having such problems should be a wake-up call to the entire nation, and we as a nation cannot have another "Detroit" happen.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I think the facade is still there, just everything else is changed.

I don't think so........its looks like a major rehab. And if it is, I think its a huge mistake.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by alki

I don't think so........its looks like a major rehab. And if it is, I think its a huge mistake.

No, you can see the mullions in the windows on the front of the building are unchanged. And besides, a developer simply wouldn't be able to rehab a historic building like this. City Council simply doesn't allow it. A few years back, a developer tried to rehab just a one story building on broadway, completely unimportant if not for the fact that it was relatively well-preserved, and he wasn't able to.

[alki]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

No, you can see the mullions in the windows on the front of the building are unchanged. And besides, a developer simply wouldn't be able to rehab a historic building like this. City Council simply doesn't allow it. A few years back, a developer tried to rehab just a one story building on broadway, completely unimportant if not for the fact that it was relatively well-preserved, and he wasn't able to.

You're right........that kind of redo doesn't make sense since the bldg is in the Historic Core.

[alki]

Originally Posted by inSaeculaSaeculorum

Suburban minded developers and the city's own residents--as its been pointed out before just seem to have bad taste in design or just disregard public minded projects outright--are just as much to blame. The culture of urbanism just hasn't caught on in this city. I delude myself sometimes because I spend most of my time in Ktown and DTLA so I have a very urban impression of this city, but when I venture out into the westside or south LA, I realize how un-urban this city is. And when the western part of the city does get a mixed use project, tends to be much nicer than stuff going up in and around DTLA.

Sadly I feel the city's biggest problem lies in the intangibles, the attitudes of its residents (particularly those with money), and other things you can't just fix with a change in laws or regulations. I can imagine how easy it is to live west of La Brea and really not give a damn about things like Park Fifth or the convention center.

This is why I think the purple line extension is more important than any of these projects cause that's the only thing I can think of right now that will change attitudes/culture of this city (as a WHOLE)

I agree with what you are saying here......one of things that surprised me when I moved to LA was all the incredible historic architecture close to the city center that had not been touched.......had been allowed to deteriorate. Other cities would have killed for those buildings. And it wasn't like it was the 1950s.......it was the 1990s. By then, nearly every American city had whole neighborhoods of historic architecture that had been restored and revitalized.

Having said that, I think LA now is developing an urbanist POV and the negatives we see are just the two steps forward one step back that happen when a large, complicated city is changing and moving forward.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

We've all grown to be cautiously optimistic about any project in LA regardless of what it is but all you seem to do is moan and groan and belittle every single thing that DTLA does.

I think plenty of LA forumers have been guilty of being debbie downers on occasion, including me. but the ones who I have the most trouble with are the ppl who complain about a new proj or devlpt not being totally perfect in their eyes, or who feel about a design cuz it doesn't fit their idea of correct urbanism, whatever that may be.

the complaint about the street car on broadway being delayed even more than originally estimated....& feeling very about that....& then being exasperated cuz its completion means a person might be old & gray before he'll be able to ride it....is a reaction I do share. My patience has been tested repeatedly...regularly....& sometimes to the breaking point. So unhappiness about dragged out timelines & the slow pace of things is a feeling I can relate to.

otoh, I have trouble relating to unhappiness about a new nightclub...assuming it's well managed....or a new mainstream store....& NOT a swapmeet....opening on broadway. that to me is excessively negative, imo, but I also don't live in dt, so my sense of things might be different if I were in the middle of things.

as for the old may co bldg, that will be a tough property to sell. The bldg's floor pans are huge, more suitable for a warehouse than conversion to housing. but the idea of stripping off the bldg's original facade would be a desecration, as bad as was done over 40 yrs ago to the classic old haas bldg that's next door to cliftons cafeteria.

[blackcat23]

LASportsFan mentioned a few months back that the city was looking into ways to deal with 7 story buildings taking up prime all the prime real estate in downtown. Huizar submitted a motion yesterday that should help deal with the problem.

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2013/09/la-city-council-looks-to-facilitate.html

LA City Council Looks to Facilitate High-Rise Development in Downtown

Recently, many Downtown Los Angeles stakeholders have lamented the low-rise building boom which has swept through the neighborhood. Parcels entitled for high-rise developments are instead giving birth to squat, wood framed apartment buildings. While these mixed-use projects bring more residents to the neighborhood and eliminate pedestrian dead zones, do they truly meet the standard of "highest and best use?" This is a neighborhood with ample transit connectivity and little opposition to high-rise development. At this critical juncture in Downtown's rebirth, many worry that the neighborhood is not on trajectory to reach its full potential.

Luckily, LA's elected officials have not been deaf to these concerns. Yesterday, 14th District Councilman Jose Huizar introduced a motion that may help solve the problem. Councilman Huizar's motion proposes that the Department of City Planning look to incentivize high-rise construction in Downtown through a variety of measures, including:

...streamlined entitlement processing; mixed zones; floor area bonuses; expedited site plan review or waiver of site plan review for projects adhering to the adopted Downtown Design Guidelines; context-based reduction and/or elimination of parking regulations; by-right off-site parking; reductions on density limitations for hotels; programmatic environmental review; increased flexibility to meet open space requirements; greater opportunity for by-right development; and to expediently address issues of zoning and land use requirements that negatively affect the siting and development of hotels including conditional use permit requirements and limitations on the use of adaptive reuse provisions for hotels

These are the kinds of changes that developers and urban enthusiasts alike have been clamoring for. Expedited site plan reviews and streamlined entitlement processing? Eliminating parking requirements? Somebody pinch me.

But wait, there's more! Councilman Huizar's motion also includes an 18 month interim control ordinance that regulates the construction of wood framed Type III, IV and V buildings. The temporary nature of this ordinance buys time for a more permanent fix when city finishes updating its zoning codes. Anyway, here are the details:

1. Zone 1: Prohibit Type III, IV or V construction on parcels fronting either side of Figueroa Street or Flower Street between Venice Blvd. and 7th Street, and on parcels fronting either side of any street between Georgia Street and Flower Street between Olympic and 7th Street near the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Pico Station and the 7th & Metro Station in Downtown Los Angeles;

2. Zone 2: Prohibit Type III, IV, or V construction on any parcels fronting either side of any street from the eastern boundary of Zone 1 to the west side of Olive Street between Venice Blvd. and 7th Street, and within 1,000 feet of the portals of the Pershing Square transit station in Downtown Los Angeles when such developments consist of 60 percent or more (based on floor area) Type III, IV, or V construction.

3. These restrictions shall exclude each of the following: parcels zoned 3:1 FAR when such developments would utilize less than 95 percent of allowable floor area prior to any floor area incentives or Transfer of Floor Area (TFAR); any adaptive reuse projects; any public works/public facilities projects; any remodeling, and/or any expansion of existing buildings when such expansions occur on the same parcel and constitute an expansion of less than 20% of the existing building size.

Here are the boundaries of Zone 1 and Zone 2, as described above:

[WonderlandPark]

Umm, no Chiago traffic is not worse than LA. Lived there, go there multiple times a yesr...in a car. Its not comparable. Everything else about Chicago...schools...unreal explosion in crime....sucky leadership...creaky infrastruture is true. Not traffic, tho.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

LASportsFan mentioned a few months back that the city was looking into ways to deal with 7 story buildings taking up prime all the prime real estate in downtown. Huizar submitted a motion yesterday that should help deal with the problem.

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2013/09/la-city-council-looks-to-facilitate.html

fantastic! great job Blackcat

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LAofAnaheim

but don't forget to appreciate what is in your backyard.

I think the following makes a nice segue to your point....


• Video Link


^ that musician appears to live in the savoy condo bldg, which was built about 7 yrs ago, on alameda st, between 1st & 2nd st in little tokyo.

I think in certain ways dtla is better today than it has ever been in the history of the city. for instance, even before burbinization started to really impact....& bring down....dt over 40 yrs ago, there never was many or any nice places to live in that part of the city like there is nowadays.

there's a scene around 3:05 in that vid where the view....of 2nd & san pedro st....were it shot today, would show new a new apt bldg finally under construction on a former parking lot.

[brudy]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

LASportsFan mentioned a few months back that the city was looking into ways to deal with 7 story buildings taking up prime all the prime real estate in downtown. Huizar submitted a motion yesterday that should help deal with the problem.

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2013/09/la-city-council-looks-to-facilitate.html

Great piece! It's very good news to read that Huizar is trying to ameliorate the situation. Any idea on when it will be voted on and its chances for passing?

[LAofAnaheim]

Thank you to Councilman Huizar! See, get the right politician in office and things will change!

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by LAofAnaheim

Thank you to Councilman Huizar! See, get the right politician in office and things will change!

I believe that he and Garcetti will really make things happen. I saw that piece this morning and was very encouraged. Even though the outcome of these suggestions is still unknown, half the battle of solving a problem is recognizing that there is one.

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

You are the kind of person that if Christina Hendricks walked into your bedroom totally naked, willing, and horny, you would harp on the fact that she's 10 minutes late. We've all grown to be cautiously optimistic about any project in LA regardless of what it is but all you seem to do is moan and groan and belittle every single thing that DTLA does. No matter if it's positive or negative. It's silly. And very annoying.

(Btw, I'd totally revoke my homosexuality card for Christina Hendricks).

In other news...from Curbed:

I concur with Illthid Dude, this rendering appears to show the interior courtyard after the remodeling of the structure, the exterior looks to be intact. Besides, if the building is listed as an historic structure the developer cannot easily change the facade. The important point is that for this conversion take place it must economically feasible for the developer. I have no idea as to the cost of this type of construction, but remember the original building had a floor area of over a million square feet, which is a lot of space. Notice the height of the floor plates, would this not make it an excellent location for "creative office" use? Or even including mixed use, such as fine retailing and hotel use. And, as we know, that part of Broadway is rapid changing for the better, and a project of this nature extends this change further north. What an interesting possibility it would be to have a major tenant such as Otis Parsons College of Art and Design move their main campus from Westchester to downtown, which I think is the most logical place for this type of institution. This kind of move would not only complement, but also reinforce the importance of downtown as focal point or hub of anything that is creative, not only for the region, but for the state (or even the Western United States). You name it: music, art, fashion, jewelry, fashion accessories, toy design, architecture, food, advertising, entertainment, electronic entertainment design, live entertainment, sports entertainment, and so on. There can be a day when downtown Los Angeles goes from being a joke to being "one hell of a great place." The possibilities are boundless.