LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[citywatch]

^ I don't think dtla has the luxury of dealing with the angelus senior apt towers, preformed concrete bldgs from the 1970s, when the area can't even manage to take care of this, the NE corner of Hill & 4th st. This still hasn't even been torn down....



yasabe



downtownla.com


The beacon apt tower is right next to a station of the MTA & is supposed to contain units for ppl with modest incomes. New apt projs in dtla have filled up rather quickly, so a proj that I assumed was guaranteed to be underway by now remains an abandoned food stand & a parking lot. Why hasn't at least basic demolition occurred?

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by NIMBY Slayer

She was bigger in the 30s through 50s. By the 60s she was slowing down quite a bit so she wasn't as big of a star as she was (though a legend). Of course she was in Casablanca with Bogart in 1942, which is one of her best. Anyhow, sorry, I'm a movie nerd.

I do agree with Caligrad on getting ride of all those 60s and 70s ugly no style apartments on Bunker Hill, especially the senior ones that are over the 3rd street tunnel. They kill the ped experience on Olive. Though I know unless someone comes in and builds a replacement for them, it won't happen anytime soon. They should have never been approved when built unfortunately.

As long as they're serviceable (ie seismically safe) and presumably full of residents, they're not going to be torn down. It wouldn't make economical sense, especially when there's plenty of surface lots and empty/derelict buildings remaining to demolish and develop first.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by homebucket

It wouldn't make economical sense, especially when there's plenty of surface lots and empty/derelict buildings remaining to demolish and develop first.

I've noticed various ppl in LA....pundits in the media, residents, daytrippers, preservationists...for yrs have often focused negatively on aspects of dtla that I think are passable while saying nothing about the really weak parts of the area. I've read articles going back over 20 yrs that imply, for example, old bunker hill in the past was somehow ideal or charming...shouldn't have been torn down....& that newer devlpt ruined it.

Regardless, dt for over 90 yrs has never inspired ppl to say, write or sing things like....'I left my heart in dtla'.

[citywatch]

speaking of older bldgs...but ones that certainly should never be torn down... it's great to see 3 classic old bldgs, now the Proper & Hoxton hotels & Arizona State, on lower broadway brought back to life. But as with the former parking lot (now the broadway palace apt bldgs) that used to sit across from the Ace hotel...formerly the UA bldg....the land south & east of the hoxton & proper hotels does need to be filled in too.


https://youtu.be/e1XIdiUtkjw?t=40

dtla...broadway...used to attract a huge number of ppl over 60 yrs ago. For awhile there, it was described as drawing the largest number of pedestrians on the west coast. Whether that's correct or not, visitors to it increasingly moved further & further away from the center of LA. Bunker hill started losing its higher income residents as far back as the early 1900s. DT now has to compete with areas like this found throughout Socal.


https://youtu.be/G8Dlv_tADII

Look at what broadway was like as recently as 2007...however, better late than never:


https://youtu.be/0tgUGE32OLo?t=411

[Easy]

Maybe it's been discussed but has anyone else noticed that the Nissan expansion at Washington and Figueroa just keeps going up and up? It's very visible just East of the 110 fwy if driving through downtown. I thought that I had maybe missed some high rise apartment building because this can't possibly be for a car dealership, right? Wrong! Lol. Looking at the permits it's going to be a 117 ft tall parking structure for Nissan/Infinity. How can this make sense?

[scania]

Originally Posted by Easy

Maybe it's been discussed but has anyone else noticed that the Nissan expansion at Washington and Figueroa just keeps going up and up? It's very visible just East of the 110 fwy if driving through downtown. I thought that I had maybe missed some high rise apartment building because this can't possibly be for a car dealership, right? Wrong! Lol. Looking at the permits it's going to be a 117 ft tall parking structure for Nissan/Infinity. How can this make sense?

I’ve noticed that…was wondering what they were building.

[LAisthePlace]

Originally Posted by scania

I’ve noticed that…was wondering what they were building.

It is bonkers. I am no fan of height limits, but this might just have me doubting myself....

Where are all the NIMBY protesters saying something is too tall when you finally need them...

[colemonkee]

Oh man, so THAT's what that is?

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by LAisthePlace

In today's disappointing news... the transformative 1111 Sunset Boulevard has been put up for sale by Palisades after securing entitlements.

Still seems there is a chance this gets built as designed, but a smaller one than before it was put up for sale

https://www.theeastsiderla.com/real_esta...cb2f1.html#tncms-source=article-nav-next

— it. The best proposal in the city... of course

[citywatch]

• Video Link

[Easy]

Originally Posted by caligrad

I honestly expected this to happen. The entitlement process for LA (not sure how it rates in other cities) feels incredibly slow in comparison to almost anywhere else. I could imagine a developer coming in saying "dude I just want to build without dealing with the 4-5 year waiting period".


This is easy money for the developer.... Deal with all the red tape and waiting period....to sell a shovel ready project, at double, to someone else with the funds and capital to build. I can understand a year for processing. But I feel it takes the city 2 years just to say, "can you change the type of gate for the garage before we approve?".

Imagine a developer doing this for 20+ projects all around downtown, specifically the arts/6th street bridge area, to quickly sell to the highest bidder. Just have to pray it doesn't turn into the Barry Shy/ Chetrit affect.

The problem as I see it is that you can get a project approved that may not make sense financially to developers. It doesn't seem like many entitled projects offered for sale, especially big ones like this, ever work out as envisioned unless there's already an interested, silent developer waiting in the wings. Most never seem to happen at all and the few that do happen get smaller. The Relevant Group project on Grand between 8th/9th was initially entitled by others and is getting a little bigger, but that seems to be the exception. There's just no way of knowing whether this will interest anyone.

Look at what's happened to the entitled property with the obscene electronic Billboard on Washington. It's just sitting there with no interest.

I've always tried to not get my expectations too high unless there's an actual developer that's built something tied to the project. Maybe this is an example.

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

— it. The best proposal in the city... of course

The article is pretty vague and doesn't give much in the way of detail regarding this but it seems it's not totally cancelled, just may be built by another developer.

Still seems there is a chance this gets built as designed, but a smaller one than before it was put up for sale

To add to the above yes, but what are you basing this on and why do you think it would be smaller?

This?

“We are proud to have laid the foundation for a reimagined 1111 Sunset Blvd.,” said Brian Falls, Vice President of Development at Palisades Capital Partners, the company that listed the property. "We are exploring investment opportunities to take this transformative project through its next chapter.”

Formerly the headquarters for the Metropolitan Water District Headquarters, the site has been cleared for a Century City-like development with several towers, two acres of open space, and possibly a hotel. It is being offered for sale along with a parking structure on the other side of Beaudry Avenue.

Construction has been expected to finish in 2028, but Palisades has not said whether a sale might impact this timeline. The cost has not been officially released, but it has been estimated at $1 billion.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by dax_gray

This: https://la.urbanize.city/post/universal-studios-hollywood-office-campus-nbcuniversal

Thanks!

Originally Posted by caligrad

I honestly expected this to happen. The entitlement process for LA (not sure how it rates in other cities) feels incredibly slow in comparison to almost anywhere else. I could imagine a developer coming in saying "dude I just want to build without dealing with the 4-5 year waiting period".


This is easy money for the developer.... Deal with all the red tape and waiting period....to sell a shovel ready project, at double, to someone else with the funds and capital to build. I can understand a year for processing. But I feel it takes the city 2 years just to say, "can you change the type of gate for the garage before we approve?".

Imagine a developer doing this for 20+ projects all around downtown, specifically the arts/6th street bridge area, to quickly sell to the highest bidder. Just have to pray it doesn't turn into the Barry Shy/ Chetrit affect.

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

— it. The best proposal in the city... of course

Originally Posted by Zapatan

The article is pretty vague and doesn't give much in the way of detail regarding this but it seems it's not totally cancelled, just may be built by another developer.

To add to the above yes, but what are you basing this on and why do you think it would be smaller?

This?

I worked for several years at a firm that represented owners and developers of skyscrapers in San Francisco. It is not at all uncommon to market an entitled project--it's worth more than just a parcel of land. Entitling large projects requires a lot of time that some developers don't want to deal with. I don't want to give anyone false hope, but assuming the proposal is entitled, we shouldn't automatically assume false despair. The reports of the death of 1111 Sunset are premature.

[colemonkee]

citywatch, THAT is the kind of YouTube video I think everyone in this forum can get behind. Great find!

[scania]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

citywatch, THAT is the kind of YouTube video I think everyone in this forum can get behind. Great find!

Oh well, too many of us have him on the ignore list.

[colemonkee]

^ It's a video of the foundation pour for The Alloy, the artist formerly known as 520 Mateo, or the soon-to-be tallest building in the Arts District (by a long shot).

[citywatch]

I was wondering what this was all about....

https://youtu.be/yQiJV2tmWME?t=9629


Look at the ppl walking on the archways....no fear, no acrophobia.

• Video Link


btw, one definition of 'troll' is 'is someone who harasses other people online to try to get a negative reaction from them'. I'd say that focusing on the subj of ppl who post here instead of the subj of what they're posting about...& lots to talk about in today's era of dtla....comes close to fitting that definition. Sometimes so called trolls may not even get a user's pronoun down correctly.

[38 Geary]

I guess it was only a matter of time given the sideshow culture in California. Even though I’m an avid car enthusiast, I absolutely hate sideshows. Gives car culture a bad rap. Hope they get caught and their cars impounded permanently, license suspended, etc.

[JDRCRASH]

That culture’s always been around (and it is Whittier Blvd after all), but I can’t help but wonder if Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, etc have had a big indirect hand in making it less underground like it used to be.

[scania]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

^ It's a video of the foundation pour for The Alloy, the artist formerly known as 520 Mateo, or the soon-to-be tallest building in the Arts District (by a long shot).

Oh ok cool!