LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[King Kill 'em]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

Zooming in on the Metropolis web cam, it appears that we may be seeing the first piece of cladding installed on the tallest tower of Oceanwide Plaza, on the northwest corner of the tower, on the first setback above the podium level. It's hard to tell, and could be white sheeting, but this looks different than what I have seen before, and I've been checking daily. #constructionstalker

I think it's framing actually. Looking at the rendering you see that in that corner there's a bit of an overhang and the windows and doors to the podium are placed a few feet in from the end.

[BrandonJXN]

• Video Link

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

• Video Link

I happen to be an eye witness to all of these buildings from the Occidental Life building (1965--wow!) to present. In fact, earlier in my life the each month that the family would travel to Silverlake from at first Covina and then Arcadia to visit my grandmother, I would literally beg my mother to exit the freeway downtown and drive past each new building. To me it was so exciting. Thanks Brandon

[sentinel]

I love that video

[blackcat23]

14th & Hill

[blackcat23]

Wilshire Grand showing off the LED crown

[circuitfiend]

And the spire is still f*cked up. Guess it's not that important.

[scania]

Originally Posted by circuitfiend

And the spire is still f*cked up. Guess it's not that important.

I'm starting to think that it's not going to be lit all the way up.

[Blesha13]

The moment they installed the LED lights on the bottom section (1st section) of the spire, I knew it wouldn't shine all the way up to the top of the spire. Is it possible to install more LED lights to each section (2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th sections) so the spire could be fully lit?

[Illithid Dude]

The LEDs are actually incredible and look amazing, but that spire has got to be fixed. I'd much rather the entire thing be dark instead.

[gurbie]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Wilshire Grand showing off the LED crown

Love it. Always thought it should be called the Korean Air Tower.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by circuitfiend

And the spire is still f*cked up. Guess it's not that important.

Or they could be holding out until it officially opens.

[SLO]

I was all around LA this weekend, and while I was a tad disappointed in the overall height for a while, I'm now pretty happy with the building in context. It really does add a lot to the skyline.

[Blesha13]

Does anyone want to do the favor and ask the workers if the spire will be fully lit come opening day?

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

• Video Link

Why was there about a 20 year period with little to no skyscrapers building in downtown L.A.?

[ChargerCarl]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Why was there about a 20 year period with little to no skyscrapers building in downtown L.A.?

LA's economy was pretty much murdered in the 90's with large recession + huge federal cutbacks in defense spending.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by Blesha13

Does anyone want to do the favor and ask the workers if the spire will be fully lit come opening day?

It seems like they've given up on lighting the entire spire. I'd rather they turn off the lower section and at least have it all uniformly lit.

[bzcat]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Why was there about a 20 year period with little to no skyscrapers building in downtown L.A.?

Cyclical down turn in the US economy + meltdown of Japanese bubble economy (that propped up lots of building projects in LA) + de-urbanization trend during the 1990s that continued into the 2000s = No new office or residential building in Downtown LA

Staples Center + adaptive reuse in the historical core kicked started the demand + re-urbanization trend in the late 2000s + Chinese $ flight in the 2010s accelerated the current building spree.

[black_crow]

Originally Posted by ConstructDTLA

It seems like they've given up on lighting the entire spire.

I doubt that, but we will see.

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by black_crow

I doubt that, but we will see.

That's a bummer, and with all the engineering prowess that the design firm had, one wonders what the Hell went wrong. By the way, even though it may have met all the technical definition of being a spire it always looked to me like a very large tapered "flagpole" whose only purpose was to give bragging rights to being the tallest building west of Chicago (1,100--including the 166 ft. "spire"). Thus to exceed the already planned and now being constructed Salesforce tower in San Francisco; a building which does have an actual height to roof of 1070ft.