LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[Yackemflaber69]

I went to the new bar at the top of the moxie hotel last night. Great view, highly recommended

[craigs]

I followed the link provided in the article I linked to above, to the report by the California Department of Finance, and downloaded a spreadsheet with more fascinating statistics about housing in the state, as well as in the counties and cities. The most interesting one I found provided housing totals and broke down housing units by type.

City of Los Angeles: Population 3,766,109 (1/1/2023)

Housing Units
Total: 1,546,228

Housing by Unit Count
Five+ Units: 741,893
Single Detached: 561,979
Two to Four Units: 140,031
Single Attached: 92,857
Mobile Homes: 9,468

Average Persons per Household: 2.53

[citywatch]

this story goes back several months....

• Video Link

but what is shown in this vid totally amazes me....

https://youtu.be/8c2HkBlmMxw?t=642

^ In a way, dtla, with things like its skid row & its still limited transit system of the mta (Mexico city's subways come closer to the completeness of a Paris than LA's do, much less a tramway that serves a low income section of MC) is a reminder that all cities are in it to win it & are constantly one upping one another.

meanwhile, the architect of this devlpt in SF from the 1970s, & in a news report yesterday, is the same architect of the bonaventure hotel...

https://youtu.be/BongAcs4v5U

• Video Link

^ I don't know how the oceanwide proj, if it's ever completed, or the Grand LA proj on bunker hill, can get around the dead mall syndrome....which is happening to various retail centers throughout the country. I'm not sure how the Grand LA proj or the older Bloc at 7th & Hope will do or is doing in terms of leases & sales volume. I've always thought if the Related Co could get a Trader Joe's into the Grand LA that would help.

In the 2020s, a shopping area like the Grove or the americana in glendale, both owned by the same person who ran for mayor last yr, might succeed, but a non theme park approach to that type of devlpt may no longer work.

[citywatch]

the tracks of the bunker hill station of the new connector line are very far down & reached by only stairs or elevators....no escalators. Not sure if that's going to be a problem for the station....elevators have a lower capacity than elevators....& someone mentioned how elevators are prone to being used as a bathroom.

If the ppl managing the city...at both city hall & the MTA...don't get their act together, billions of dollars invested in transit & devlpt in dt itself in general are at risk. The sleekest new projs in the area won't pan out if things aren't kept clean & safe.

• Video Link

the subway under Wilshire Blvd compared with transit in other cities experienced by a person originally from Sydney....

https://youtu.be/mWA6O4bpRtI?t=387

transit to dtla compared with Washington DC's metro....

https://youtu.be/iYyU4hnoNRg?t=196

"least favorite subway..."

https://youtu.be/FCGg2sLfs4c

Can LA’s Fashion District Survive Downtown’s Housing Boom?


Samanta Helou Hernandez/LAist

The Los Angeles city council recently passed a new plan for 100,000 new homes in Downtown L.A. over the next two decades. The new Downtown L.A. community plan, which city planners worked on for years, doubles the areas where developers can build housing. The city will allow apartments and condos in areas previously reserved for manufacturing — areas like the Fashion District.

Garment workers and clothing brands in L.A.’s already fragile apparel industry now worry they could be pushed out by a new wave of downtown development.

After working for larger fashion companies for decades, Mary Price started a small brand called Ocean + Main that makes its clothing in downtown’s Fashion District. “New York used to have a very robust fashion district, just like L.A.,” Price said. “But unfortunately, because of real estate development there, that has completely gone away.”

If you buy clothing made in the U.S. there’s a good chance it comes from a factory just like this. L.A. accounts for an estimated 83% of all sales of clothing cut and sewn in America, and downtown’s Fashion District is the epicenter of that activity.

L.A.’s garment industry won some major protections in downtown’s new community plan, such as requirements for manufacturing space in future Fashion District housing developments. But some downtown business advocates say those provisions could stifle housing growth. “Everybody wants housing, but it’s got to make sense,” said Mark Chatoff, owner of the California Flower Mall, a Fashion District property he hopes to redevelop.
If you buy clothing made in the U.S. there’s a good chance it comes from a factory just like this. L.A. accounts for an estimated 83% of all sales of clothing cut and sewn in America, and downtown’s Fashion District is the epicenter of that activity.

The L.A. Fashion District Business Improvement District estimates the neighborhood has an 18% vacancy rate in buildings dedicated to manufacturing.

Roberto Vazquez thinks the Fashion District’s future can accommodate both clothing and housing. He’s an architect with Omgivning, a firm that specializes in repurposing old downtown commercial buildings into housing. “We just haven't created enough housing” over the past 60 years, Vazquez said. “The city of Los Angeles is in a housing crisis.”

Some downtown property owners say city council members ended up putting too many restrictions on new housing in the Fashion District. The family of Chatoff ran the California Flower Mall property as a textile factory for decades. In 2008, he repurposed the building, trading fabric for flowers. “I had to switch from textile to floral because there was no textile business,” Chatoff said. “That business has been dying, unfortunately, for a long time.”
Now, Chatoff wants to build 323 units of housing in a 15-story tower above the flower market. But he said height restrictions and requirements to include manufacturing space in future Fashion District housing developments, as well as freight elevators and loading zones in some areas, could kill those plans.

[38 Geary]

^ Any update on the status of the CRRC MA HR4000s?

[citywatch]

^ this is from a yr ago, but I'm sure nothing has changed design wise since then. I wish it looked sleeker, more like the tramway cars of the Getty center, BART or trains in certain other cities. Or even the new people mover at LAX. But the rolling stock from 30 yrs ago, with its corrugated exterior & red, white, blue theme, always made me think of a winnebago.


• Video Link

interesting how the manufacturing of LA's subway stock has taken place in a part of the US not known for low cost or a lack of red tape....& also with the same name as the fictional town in the Simpsons.

dtla's future depends in part on how city hall & the MTA manage transit to the area.

[citywatch]

urbanizela.com

LuxUrban Hotels Inc. which utilizes an asset-light business model to lease entire hotels on a long-term basis and rent out hotel rooms in these properties in key major metropolitan cities, announced today that it has signed a 25-year Master Lease Agreement (MLA), inclusive of two five-year options, to operate the Condor Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (“Condor Hotel”). The Company also signed a 15-year MLA, inclusive of one five-year option, to operate the Trinity Hotel (“Trinity”) in Los Angeles, California.

The Company expects to commence operations at the Condor Hotel and Trinity on or about July 1, 2023. In total, these new properties will add 214 units to the Company’s growing portfolio of short-stay hotel rooms.

“New York City is expected to welcome more than 60 million visitors in 2023 and approach pre-pandemic levels of tourism.....,” said Brian Ferdinand, Chairman and CEO of LuxUrban Hotels. “Downtown Los Angeles offers a wide array of cultural, entertainment, and business activities and the region’s improving hospitality market reflects the abundance of opportunities that this bustling commercial and residential hub provides.”

The Trinity Hotel, which will operate under the “LuxUrban Ultra” brand, is a 179-room property opened in 1914 and was where the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra held its first concert in 1919. The property has undergone a complete renovation and is ready to open. Nearby attractions include the Grammy Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The property for over 40 yrs has been rattling along, first managed by another hotel operator in the 1980s & then managed by USC. The bldg along with the Clark hotel near 4th & Hill St, is now owned by the Chetrit group...I don't have too much confidence in them.

• Video Link

this article dates back over 12 yrs. Good thing that Chetrit finally sold the giannini bldg, which became the nomad hotel & now is the hotel Per LA.

Several of Downtown’s fallow properties have been sidelined by the recession, and every stalled plot or building has its own particular backstory. However, three large, long-vacant edifices are owned by the same New York City-based firm. The lack of progress on the structures is sparking criticism from multiple Downtown stakeholders.

The Chetrit Group, a family-run batch of investor-developers led by Joseph Chetrit, is as well funded as it is low profile. It owns the Hotel Clark in the Historic Core, the Embassy Auditorium and Hotel in South Park and Giannini Place in the Financial District. In each instance the buildings are notable for the length of time they have remained empty, their key locations and the activity happening around them (Chetrit also owns a fourth Downtown property, an office building at 611 W. Sixth St. formerly known as the AT&T Center).

Some Downtown property owners say that attempts to reach out to the Chetrits about the condition of their buildings have been ignored. “We just ran up against a brick wall,” said Karen Hath­away, president of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, which stands across from Giannini Place at Seventh and Olive streets. “It appears to be truly an absentee owner, and that’s not good for the community.”

Michel Attias, a Chetrit Group representative based at 611 W. Sixth St., said last week when reached by phone, “What other landlords think about my buildings, I don’t give a damn. I don’t care about their buildings. I conduct my business the way I want.” The firm does not have a working website, and past media reports depict its principals as press-shy operators who routinely shun interviews.

“They often feel it’s better to leave the property vacant, so when a particular market comes back it’s positioned for sale for that particular use,” said Baxter. He cited a property on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan that the Chetrits purchased a few years ago for $400 a square foot.

The Chetrit Group has owned the Embassy and Clark since at least 2001 and Giannini Place since at least 1998, according to documents filed in the county recorder’s office. The firm purchased the AT&T Center in 1999. The Embassy and Giannini Place are both city-designated Historic-Cultural Monuments, according to the preservation organization the Los Angeles Conservancy.

The eight-story, 1913 Embassy, originally known as the Trinity Auditorium, stands just north of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Though it is close to the school’s core of students and less than half a mile from L.A. Live, the Beaux Arts structure once owned by the University of Southern California has been vacant for more than 10 years. Some local stakeholders have eagerly awaited the property’s redevelopment for years.

Then there’s the long-empty former Hotel Clark. The 11-story building stands on Hill Street just south of Fourth Street, near Pershing Square and adaptive reuse projects such as Metro 417 and the Title Guarantee lofts. It was previously owned by the People’s Republic of China, according to information provided by the University of Southern California’s Geography Department website.

“It’s not great to have that building there,” said Daniel Swartz, a developer who oversaw the $35 million transformation of the Title Guarantee building into housing three years ago. “Spring and Broadway continue to clean up and get nicer, and Main Street has gotten to be one of the chic addresses and it’s a shame to have that in the middle of everything.

there is the idea that land or a bldg should be taxed at a higher rate not based on how nice it is, but based on how rundown or neglected it is. Property owners right now are incentivized to not improve their land or bldg...they instead may worry that if they improve it, property taxes will go up, but that not enough new revenue will necessarily be generated to cover the higher taxes.

[pwright1]

Went to an exclusive grand opening party and tour of the new Beaudry Apartment Tower last night. The night was full of fun, a tour, live music, great food and drinks and even a party bag at the end of the night. One of Orange County's most well know restaurateur's is opening his Spanish restaurant Vaca inside the Beaudry sometime early next year. The Beaudry is absolutely beautiful and I was thoroughly impressed.

[pwright1]

[pwright1]

[202_Cyclist]

Nice photos. That looks like it was a fun event and those views aren't too bad!

[colemonkee]

The Beaudry looks great, and hope it fills up quickly. Mitsui is also turning out quite nice. Was worried about the crown for a while there, but love the layers of glass.

citywatch, great find on the Embassy Hotel. That's been a frustrating mess for over 15 years. Glad to see that property finally come to life. Now if we can get those parking lots across Grand developed!

[scania]

Great pics!!! I toured a couple of weeks ago…the views and amenities are stunning in person!

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Looks fantastic! Great pictures as well.

[Blesha13]

Great pics!! The people at Beaudry will have a fantastic view of the Wilshire Grand’s NYE countdown

[SC_00_05]

Citywide, awesome new about the Trinity...it'll be July in no time, seems like a pretty quick switchover in control. Wonder when it'll actually open for guests.

[ChelseaFC]

LA mayor looks to purchase historic Mayfair Hotel on 7th St to turn into homeless housing

https://www.latimes.com/california/story...air-hotel-for-fight-against-homelessness

[SC_00_05]

Originally Posted by ChelseaFC

LA mayor looks to purchase historic Mayfair Hotel on 7th St to turn into homeless housing

https://www.latimes.com/california/story...air-hotel-for-fight-against-homelessness

Just what downtown needs, more concentration of poverty and homeless services...good Lord.

[Illithid Dude]

I wonder when The Beaudry is going to replace all of their temporary and off color windows. I can't imagine they are going to let the random blue colored window panes stay...

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by SC_00_05

Just what downtown needs, more concentration of poverty and homeless services...good Lord.

I don't get these comments. People say the city doesnt do anything about homeless, IT DOES SOMETHING. And there's comments like this.

Do you just want to complain or what? There's housing projects in the upper eastside of Manhattan for fucks sake. The homeless housing has to be built SOMEWHERE.

Concentration of poverty? Do you know how expensive it is to live in downtown LA?