LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by kelbeen

High quality renderings for Second/Broadway. Had difficulty resizing the images.

[blackcat23]

Photo tour (+ a construction cam) for Circa

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by King Kill 'em

^And the design looks like it only really uses stucco on the side walls. Another improvement in shitbox design.

You can have 7 story buildings and have them not look like total shit. Which isn't saying that all 7 story buildings in DTLA have been crap (even though a lot of people think that the sky is falling whenever one of them gets proposed). But it looks as though little by little the designs of infill projects are improving. Though I wish LA would look at cities like Minneapolis as they do infill right.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

Though I wish LA would look at cities like Minneapolis as they do infill right.

opus-group.com

Recently, VÉLO received the Minnesota Shopping Center Association’s STARR award in the mixed-use category. The annual STARR (Shopping Center Tribute Awards for Retail Real Estate) awards honor outstanding Minnesota projects and individuals in the retail and shopping center industry.

VÉLO is a mixed-use, boutique, luxury apartment complex in the popular North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. It includes 101 apartment units and features 12,000 square feet of dynamic retail space at the ground level. VÉLO brings a convenient urban shopping experience to its residents, the neighborhood and all of Minneapolis due to its close proximity to bus and light rail systems and more importantly, the city’s bike paths. VÉLO, which is French for “bicycle,” is situated directly in the center of the city’s renowned bike path system, making its retail spaces extremely accessible to cyclists who use the well-traveled system.

I still recall an urban essayist based in a city famous for cable cars, fog & a rust red colored bridge saying that the large underground parking garage of Disney hall was a sign of what was wrong with LA. Then when I did a google street view of SF's counterpart to Disney, davies concert hall, I noticed a very visible, ugly surface parking lot notched out of a very visible corner of that bldg.

there was another forumer here who a few yrs ago said that new devlpt in seattle was much better than what's going up in LA. I remember paying a google street view to that person's city & coming across no lack of fairly bad looking newer bldgs.

It's easy to buy into the notion that the grass is either greener....or browner....on the other side of the hill. sometimes it's a bit of both.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

It's so exciting to see such a huge space get activated like this!



Karl Strauss Brewery Opens Massive LA Flagship in Downtown LA:

http://brighamyen.com/2016/11/22/karl-strauss-brewery-opens-massive-la-flagship-downtown-la/

[DJ1272]

I really hope they don't stick with the yellow in that rendering.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

It's so exciting to see such a huge space get activated like this!

Karl Strauss Brewery Opens Massive LA Flagship in Downtown LA:

http://brighamyen.com/2016/11/22/karl-strauss-brewery-opens-massive-la-flagship-downtown-la/

I just got back from there and I also went once during the preview. The food is much better than typical pub food and the beer of course is great. A great edition to downtown.

[bobbyv]

Reef project approved, from curbed:
http://la.curbed.com/2016/11/22/13721062...ntroversial-reef-development-in-south-la

[Doctorboffin]

^Great news!

[funhaus]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

You can have 7 story buildings and have them not look like total shit. Which isn't saying that all 7 story buildings in DTLA have been crap (even though a lot of people think that the sky is falling whenever one of them gets proposed). But it looks as though little by little the designs of infill projects are improving. Though I wish LA would look at cities like Minneapolis as they do infill right.

7 story buildings have their place, as long as adjacent developments push higher - Grand Lofts next to ten50 is a good example. Here's a view from South Park from the same vantage point, ten years apart.

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I still recall an urban essayist based in a city famous for cable cars, fog & a rust red colored bridge saying that the large underground parking garage of Disney hall was a sign of what was wrong with LA. Then when I did a google street view of SF's counterpart to Disney, davies concert hall, I noticed a very visible, ugly surface parking lot notched out of a very visible corner of that bldg.

there was another forumer here who a few yrs ago said that new devlpt in seattle was much better than what's going up in LA. I remember paying a google street view to that person's city & coming across no lack of fairly bad looking newer bldgs.

It's easy to buy into the notion that the grass is either greener....or browner....on the other side of the hill. sometimes it's a bit of both.

What it really comes down to I think is the use of materials. In LA, a lot of our recent midrises use too much stucco. I think most of us prefer higher quality materials like different kinds of metals and stone. In the photo of the Minneapolis development the problem is the colors/textures don't go well together. In cities like Seattle and Denver, they use more of these materials and less stucco than us in their recent midrises, but the buildings still can look kind of boring I guess. I definitely prefer their midrises to ours but I can't complain. At we don't have midrises that poorly combine brick and stucco like they're building in Texas cities right now. Lastly a city to look to for good recent architecture is Rotterdam. Luckily I think we have with this 2nd/Broadway tower.

[blackcat23]

Hotel + apartments + retail space in the Arts District

[NativeOrange]

Cool. That structure (built 1908) has a lot of character. Glad they are preserving the facade and adding density. Exactly what I hope for in a lot of the lower rise areas of downtown with nice little historic details.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by King Kill 'em

What it really comes down to I think is the use of materials. In LA, a lot of our recent midrises use too much stucco.

what really drives me up the wall....about stucco....is many builders don't even have enough sense to use a better style of that material.

the gravely form of stucco looks cheap, cheap, cheap...



thestuccoguy.com


thestuccoguy.com

some of these finishes are less objectionable...


thestuccoguy.com


I've seen bldgs with the smooth style of stucco....applied to appear like a plain painted plaster wall....& it looks perfectly fine to me.

what really frustrates me is I don't believe smooth vs gravely even has anything to do with cost. unless I'm wrong, the cheap looking bumpy style is not less expensive than the smooth version. Builders or architects must select the gravely style out of personal taste & not due to a need to reduce the budget.


as for a city like rotterdam, you'd never see so much of what's captured in blackcat23's pic of the arts dist. however, unlike the style of stucco that's chosen by a devlpr, in this other instance we're dealing with a matter of money. But originally....if not still today....it was also a case of too many ppl in LA not caring one way or the other.


• Video Link

[Doctorboffin]

Has there been any news on the Hill Tower Lofts and SB Omega? I thought those guys should have broken ground long ago.

[cesar90]

• Video Link

• Video Link

[Doctorboffin]

http://urbanize.la/post/new-details-13-story-arts-district-development

13 stories is pretty impressive for that location.

[Easy]

So now that the sidewalk is open next to the shorter of the two Broadway Palace buildings I have a few comments/observations.

The good news is that the inside (and outside I guess) appears to be an homage to old Hollywood. Both in the floor and wall finishings as well as the artwork. I really dig it.



A downside is the width of the sidewalk along Broadway. It's about 3 feet narrower than every sidewalk before, after, and across the street. It's very noticeable and I don't know why he went this route. Just 18 more inches would have been a big improvement. I can't think of a new building downtown that ended up with a sidewalk this narrow. Then they have a utility box, a light pole, and a handicap ramp one after the other on the south end of the building which makes the sidewalk only two people wide. Terrible.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Doctorboffin

http://urbanize.la/post/new-details-13-story-arts-district-development

13 stories is pretty impressive for that location.

And W. PA Works Partnership Architecture is one of the best firms working in Portland, if not the US. This building will end up looking great.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by citywatch

opus-group.com

Recently, VÉLO received the Minnesota Shopping Center Association’s STARR award in the mixed-use category. The annual STARR (Shopping Center Tribute Awards for Retail Real Estate) awards honor outstanding Minnesota projects and individuals in the retail and shopping center industry.

VÉLO is a mixed-use, boutique, luxury apartment complex in the popular North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis. It includes 101 apartment units and features 12,000 square feet of dynamic retail space at the ground level. VÉLO brings a convenient urban shopping experience to its residents, the neighborhood and all of Minneapolis due to its close proximity to bus and light rail systems and more importantly, the city’s bike paths. VÉLO, which is French for “bicycle,” is situated directly in the center of the city’s renowned bike path system, making its retail spaces extremely accessible to cyclists who use the well-traveled system.

That Minneapolis building reminds me of this, in Little Tokyo. But somehow I think the building in Little Tokyo looks better. I took a picture of it on Saturday after I went to the LA Auto Show.

Photo by me