LOS ANGELES | Central City Project Rundown 5.0

[citywatch]

Wow! exciting news, brighamYen & a very helpful, very informative post, blackcat!

I've long wanted to see the old bldg across from the much admired Italian restaurant, colori, finally cleaned up & brought back to life. Properties like that, rotting away for yrs, have long brought down the vibrancy & appeal of dt. So the revival of the commerce exchange bldg won't come a second too soon.

I'm also now far more impressed by the metropolis proj, not only if its second phase breaks ground sooner than expected, but if it's larger in scale than I would have thought possible not all that long ago.

Little by little, the pieces of the puzzle are being filled in!

as for talk about the site of the former park fifth proj finally breaking ground next yr & how that may hurt the ppl in the neighboring metro 417 apt bldg....or the former subway terminal bldg....by spoiling their views & disrupting their peace & quiet, I'm bothered by such unhappiness since I can easily see that leading to pangs of nimbyism. So if nimybism isn't necessarily a foreign concept even in a section of dtla, then imagine how strong that reaction will be in the hoods that are very burban or residential in nature.

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Great stuff, blackcat! We now have official heights for each of the four towers:

19 stories (271 feet)
38 stories (442 feet)
40 stories (451 feet)
58 stories (647 feet)

26-foot sidewalks along Francisco, 12-foot sidewalks (minimum) along 8th

http://dlanc.org/sites/dlancd7.localhost/files/2014-0710_Metropolis%20DLANC.PDF

Something interesting to read in the link. I was scrolling down for important info. On the page with the page number "4 of 64", It describes how there was a request to modify the original plans of five towers to only four to basically have less mass/bulk and to allow more variations in height. so......maybe its good that this wasn't a site with 5 towers squeezed onto that plot of land.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

The larger building would become Los Angeles' tallest residential structure, narrowly edging out the proposed tower at 820 Olive Street (50 stories/637').

Whoa, 8 more floors but barely 10 feet taller. I wonder what the difference in floor height is.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

I just got off the phone with John Eichler, Executive Director of Fig Central. He told me the project will finally commence construction between 5-6 months. He really gave me optimism and hope. The project is updating their fire safety code to meet the current standard since they were still using the same code they used from 6 years ago. The code has recently been updated but that would only take a few months, and after that the project would essentially be shovel ready with Oceanwide wanting to start once they get the greenlight. Oceanwide will be making slight changes to the design, but nothing major. The project will still retain it's basic amenities in terms of hotel rooms and residential units so we won't be seeing any downsizing or upscaling. He was giving his opinion and he is happy to be claiming the biggest project in LA. He said his is around 1.5 million square feet compared to Grand Ave. being around 1.3. He gave his opinion on the news of Metropolis today and he believes that Greenland are still about a year from construction based on the permits and approvals they have yet to recieve.

This is it guys. By summer we should be seeing LA Live's neighbor rise

Well, it's been 5-6 months. Would it be possible to get an update for us?

I find it puzzling why we haven't heard anything on Fig Central ever since China-based Oceanwide purchased the site from the Moinian Group. This momentum built from projects like Metropolis, 888 S Hope, and the Glass Tower coming back to life has gotten to my head and my patience is wearing thinner and thinner by the day. To refresh everyone's memory...





http://www.ilongterm.com/news/act-newdetail__newid-11656.html

[LA/OCman]

Good news about a merger that benefits Los Angeles, especially DTLA! Aecom is based in the City National Plaza building.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aecom-merger-20140714-story.html#page=1

[alki]

Originally Posted by LA/OCman

Good news about a merger that benefits Los Angeles, especially DTLA! Aecom is based in the City National Plaza building.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aecom-merger-20140714-story.html#page=1

Good news for LA; better news for DTLA.

[BrianMojo]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

I'm always amused at how these renderings green the area up, especially landscaping near on&off ramps. Take a look at this same perspective in Google Earth:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0453601,-118.2578675,492a,35y,299.66h,60.54t/data=!3m1!1e3

[rajuncajun]

Fence just went up. A lot of seven stories in that immediate vicinity. No more available parking lots for the FIDM folks. When these four complexes along Olympic get built/leased up that could add 1,500 folks to that area. Danny's Taco's owner will be able to retire a few years later. Here's the old link from Building LA.

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2013/11/shiny-new-rendering-for-olympic-olive.html

"The seven-story project from Lennar Multifamily Investors would contain 201 apartments and just over 4,000 square feet of ground floor retail to South Park. Not to mention a reasonably sized 228 car underground garage, supplemented by 221 bike parking spaces."

[citywatch]

dtla....or at least little tokyo....has certainly arrived when it can attract pedestrians like the following....

btw, one of the scenes in this vid captures a brief glimpse of the location of the new apt proj rising at the SW corner of 2nd & san pedro str....




• Video Link


^ quite seriously, such a stunt several yrs ago, if not more recently, probably would have been attempted not on the sidewalks around dtla but instead would have been tried out closer to hollywood or venice, or samo.

dt is getting too cool for its own good.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by rajuncajun

Fence just went up. A lot of seven stories in that immediate vicinity. No more available parking lots for the FIDM folks. When these four complexes along Olympic get built/leased up that could add 1,500 folks to that area. Danny's Taco's owner will be able to retire a few years later.

so the parking lot to the east of....next to....the other parking lot...the one where the taco truck was located several months ago....is now also closed off & being prepped for new devlpt?! if so, that means 2 solid chunks of land to the east & south of the old federal reserve bldg, & its newer replacement, will finally have either a decent backdrop or decent foreground.

fantastic!

As for the LA central proj, I guess the only reason why, in my case, I'm a bit more patient about groundbreaking finally taking place on it is due to so many other new apt & condo projs now underway throughout dt that I'm getting a bit nervous about the hood becoming inundated with too much new housing in the next 2 or 3 yrs. I'd hate to see devlprs getting spooked all over again by too much supply & not enough renters or buyers that they again freeze up on the hood as they did a few yrs ago.

[StethJeff]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Great stuff, blackcat! We now have official heights for each of the four towers:

19 stories (271 feet)
38 stories (442 feet)
40 stories (451 feet)
58 stories (647 feet)

26-foot sidewalks along Francisco, 12-foot sidewalks (minimum) along 8th

http://dlanc.org/sites/dlancd7.localhost/files/2014-0710_Metropolis%20DLANC.PDF

Glad to see that at least one of the towers is tall enough to give the skyline a bit of needed height.

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by citywatch

dtla....or at least little tokyo....has certainly arrived when it can attract pedestrians like the following....

btw, one of the scenes in this vid captures a brief glimpse of the location of the new apt proj rising at the SW corner of 2nd & san pedro str....







^ quite seriously, such a stunt several yrs ago, if not more recently, probably would have been attempted not on the sidewalks around dtla but instead would have been tried out closer to hollywood or venice, or samo.

dt is getting too cool for its own good.

Citywatch,
where on Earth did you find this? I don't know anything about being too cool, but I thought this was cute--good choreography, good dancing, and great agiltity!

[colemonkee]

^ That was a promo for VH1's new show "Dating Naked". The advertising trades picked this one up this morning. Looks like citywatch beat them to the punch!

[kelbeen]

I opened a new photo thread and I have about 200 photos of Downtown that I'll be uploading in small batches.
The photos shows how our streets really look like, how certain projects will influence an area, how many vacant spaces we still have, and misc.

Link to thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=212222

But here is a small set of photos, all taken Saturday, 07/12/2014

Since I always start my photos with skyline shots:


Union Station


First I've seen it open to public!




Little Tokyo


GCM


Streetscape


Hotel Rosslyn going through some renovation


I will post photos of the Pershing Apartments later in the other thread


I like this photo


Figaro


Do you see any retail in this photo?


The Arcade closes early but there are still people eating (at Uli's?)


Haha


Though across from each other, Walgreens and Right Aid are both doing well.


So is this how Clifton's facade will remain?


Globe


The hip part of Broadway


Onni + 8th/Grand




The flat side of WGT


Chinatown Blossom Plaza


Annnnnnd get ready for Chinatown photos!






Hope you all liked it!

[colemonkee]

Great photos, kelbeen! Thank you for posting! Looks like 8th & Grand is finally getting above ground.

[bobcat]

US Bank Tower observation deck could open up as soon as next year on floors 69-70. Tickets estimated at $25. 500,000 annual visitors expected.
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-downtown-tower-20140716-story.html

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by bobcat

US Bank Tower observation deck could open up as soon as next year on floors 69-70. Tickets estimated at $25. 500,000 annual visitors expected.
http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-downtown-tower-20140716-story.html

That's great news. US Bank Tower should have had an observation deck YEARS ago. Another thing to notice is that the owners have decided to scrap the plans to make it a mixed use development. keeping it completely an office building and not adding any residential or hotel unit. I may be the only one to say this but I'm actually happy those plans didn't go through. I rather it stay an office tower. I think changing the floor layouts to make it more of a "creative working space" will help it lease up more quickly.

[blackcat23]

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2014/07/new-details-emerge-for-massive-sola.html

Some extra info on SoLA Village:

Largest tower would be 420' tall (35 stories). Hotel would be 240' tall.

[alki]

Originally Posted by kelbeen

I opened a new photo thread and I have about 200 photos of Downtown that I'll be uploading in small batches.
The photos shows how our streets really look like, how certain projects will influence an area, how many vacant spaces we still have, and misc.

Link to thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=212222

But here is a small set of photos, all taken Saturday, 07/12/2014

Since I always start my photos with skyline shots:

Great photos...........I've never seen photos with such high definition clarity. What kind of camera are you using?

And I have to comment on that street leading to the rehabbed DWP bldg. That is one cool street. I like the hill effect and the way the houses are stacked up one on top of the other as they go up street.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.com/2014/07/new-details-emerge-for-massive-sola.html

This is the scale and quality of development we should be seeing north of the 10 Freeway. This is how all the rectangular-shaped blocks in South Park should be filled, and it's a nice mix of high-rise and low-rise.