LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[LAisthePlace]

Originally Posted by dax_gray

omg LA Central/Figueroa Central has unlocked a part of my memory that I've archived away. I feel old now.

That sounds really interesting. Any renders to see what might have been?

[dax_gray]

Originally Posted by LAisthePlace

That sounds really interesting. Any renders to see what might have been?

https://ccdg-la.com/figueroa-landing

Those familiar correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like there was a version even before this.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by dax_gray

https://ccdg-la.com/figueroa-landing

Those familiar correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like there was a version even before this.

It also is discussed in the first few pages of this archived thread, but the renderings are pretty low quality. There are probably more, but the search feature doesn't appear to work.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Easy

It's not just fencing though. They also installed concrete barriers along Olympic to allow pedestrians to pass once the sidewalk is closed.

But your point is well taken. Remember when Moinian put up fencing for LA Central? For those not around, Moinian was the original owners of the Oceanwide site and iirc they were just about to break ground on "LA Central" when the 2008 financial/real estate crisis started. The fencing stayed up for at least a year with nothing happening.

Similar things have happened for other projects around LA, but I'm very optimistic about this one!

I remember The Grand had fencing up too, and Park Fifth was eternally about to break ground. Those where the days...

[LAisthePlace]

Originally Posted by Easy

It also is discussed in the first few pages of this archived thread, but the renderings are pretty low quality. There are probably more, but the search feature doesn't appear to work.

Very cool to see, though I'd say we got a much better project with what Oceanwide should (hopefully, eventually, etc.) turn out to be.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I remember The Grand had fencing up too, and Park Fifth was eternally about to break ground. Those where the days...

Park Fifth was supposed to be much taller and had a sign up for quite some time. I don't think that it ever made it past the sign though. That was probably marketing so that it could be sold, which it was wasn't it? Just like the Glass Tower sign for the property that became Ten50.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Easy

Park Fifth was supposed to be much taller and had a sign up for quite some time. I don't think that it ever made it past the sign though. That was probably marketing so that it could be sold, which it was wasn't it? Just like the Glass Tower sign for the property that became Ten50.

Not so. Park Fifth was so far alone and so close to breaking ground that they even opened a sales center. I remember they had a massive scale model of the tower. It was my favorite project. A shame!

Edit: Even found an article announcing the sales center

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/developmen...72193cd-b319-59db-b375-30ff6c6873c7.html

[MAC123]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Not so. Park Fifth was so far alone and so close to breaking ground that they even opened a sales center. I remember they had a massive scale model of the tower. It was my favorite project. A shame!

Edit: Even found an article announcing the sales center

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/developmen...72193cd-b319-59db-b375-30ff6c6873c7.html

Do you know why it didn't go through?

[Easy]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Not so. Park Fifth was so far alone and so close to breaking ground that they even opened a sales center. I remember they had a massive scale model of the tower. It was my favorite project. A shame!

Edit: Even found an article announcing the sales center

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/developmen...72193cd-b319-59db-b375-30ff6c6873c7.html

I forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by MAC123

Do you know why it didn't go through?

2008 happened.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by MAC123

Do you know why it didn't go through?

The date in the article linked was right before the financial/real estate crisis. I'm sure that played a role. Also, that article reminds me of something. Those names ring a bell and I think that there was something fishy about their financial partners. I can't recall what it was.

[caligrad]

^^^ You're right. Something about the finances actually didn't make sense or they didn't have money for the project because of money laundering or something, rings a bell. The developers were looking for new financing and came close to securing it but then the economy sank like the titanic (too soon?) in a matter of weeks so yeah.

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I remember The Grand had fencing up too, and Park Fifth was eternally about to break ground. Those where the days...

Everytime i think about the original plan for Park 5th and see what we got....I cry a little.

[Doctorboffin]

Olympic and Hill is going to be an absolute beast, especially from the south. It makes 825 S. Hill look puny.









It will be all the more impressive once the Crescent Heights tower rises...

[colemonkee]

Boom! That's what I'm talking about! I think Olympic & Hill might be a little tall in that model (Crescent Heights is a good 50 ft taller), but it gives us an idea of the impact these will have.

[Quixote]

Great work as always, DB!

Would anyone else be willing to sacrifice some height in exchange for a more "wedding-cake-like" massing or something similar to 200 S. Broadway? One of the things I loved about the original Park Fifth design was how the design was flush with the legacy 150-foot cornice line of the Historic Core. A podium like Perla would be nice.

I dunno, I personally like stuff in the 125-150-foot range. I think it would yield a pretty unique urban vernacular in NA — slightly taller than DC, slightly shorter than Manhattan's Midtown South.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Not so. Park Fifth was so far alone and so close to breaking ground that they even opened a sales center. I remember they had a massive scale model of the tower. It was my favorite project. A shame!

I remember posting something back then & asking a few questions about the sales center. Someone who had never been a member of ssc before replied with a strangely hostile response....it was really off the wall....I wondered where that had come from.

I could tell by his reaction that something was off about park fifth....it would have been the most amazing new projs in dtla, but its price points would have been probably too high for even beverly hills or bel air, much less dt.

the eventual bldg isn't nearly as tall or impressive. But the parking lot cater corner from the biltmore hotel was one of the major gaps of dt & long needed to be finally filled in.

One thing about the tower from onni on hill st is a lot of properties around there also still need to be filled in. In little tokyo, what's known as the mangrove are....the NE corner of 1st & alameda also needs to be filled in....But the new metro station should give a nice boost to that part of dt.


• Video Link

[craigs]

HOK moves to DTLA

Steven Sharp
Urbanize Los Angeles
March 26, 2022

After 20 years on the Westside, HOK is on the move.

Billed as the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm, HOK has decamped from its Culver City offices to a 20,000-square-foot space at the ROW DTLA campus in Downtown.

ROW DTLA, a former produce market, spaces roughly 32 acres at the intersection of 7th and Alameda Streets. The property features more than 1.3 million square feet of office and commercial space.



[EDIT: Yes, I know it's an older rendering, but that's what Urbanize LA posted with the news snippet]

[Quixote]

Is there another city in the world with more untapped potential? Look at all that room to grow. Between the current core and LA River, you could build one of the biggest, densest, and tallest urban cores in the world. This is why the huge project proposed at 4th/Central is my favorite. We already know that South Park is going to fill in and resemble something like Chicago's River North, Miami's Brickell, or Toronto, and that the Historic Core will eventually be a high-end district. The question is between Main and Alameda.

Originally Posted by craigs

[craigs]

Well, if we want a visual to help us ponder downtown's possible future, here's a massive aerial from the river to downtown proper, from LA Reddit:



Now that pic shows some serious, long-term development potential!

[Quixote]

^ Wish all the industrial junk in the foreground could become a giant forest preserve.