LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0 - Page 158

Illithid Dude · #**3141** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 4:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by alki

Brigham announced today that Walmart Express might be going into Chinatown.

I am curious what you all think of the building. Its no architectural dazzler.........that's clear. However I like that it comes right down to the sidewalk......no setbacks......retail on the first floor.....and the siding looks to be paneling, not stucco.

http://brighamyen.com/2012/01/26/walmart...g-to-chinatown-in-downtown-la/#more-6852

I believe the CRA were doing facade improvements to the building. Is this before or after?

alki · #**3142** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 6:36 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I believe the CRA were doing facade improvements to the building. Is this before or after?

I don't know........this is the first time I've seen the bldg. I suspect its 'after' because I don't think Walmart would go into a bldg under reconstruction.

travanx · #**3143** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 7:58 AM**

Nice shot, we actually have done some recent Single Family House projects with LeanArch, Architects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy331

Took a quick shot from my phone this weekend:

[IMG]

rendering by jazline2000, on Flickr[/IMG]

travanx · #**3144** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 8:05 AM**

I drive that street at least every other day, and it seemed like that paint came off within 24 hours. I kept scratching my head if any thought was put into this. Now all I see are buses driving down it. Useless and awful planning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I mean, my god, the bike lane is pathetic.

LA/OCman · #**3145** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 6:05 PM**

It looks like the Regent Theater on S. Main St. will be active again. A conditional use permit has been posted for a restaurant/bar/theater. The Regent is between 4th and 5th in the Old Bank District. They are looking at opening up in the Fall, 2012. One more dead space coming back to life.

LAsam · #**3146** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 7:43 PM**

The momentum building in 2012 is insane. Very exciting!

JDRCRASH · #**3147** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 3:16 AM**

^ Just wait; this is only the beginning of the rise. Its becoming no secret now that 2013 is gonna be downtown's best year in DECADES.

travanx · #**3148** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 8:25 AM**

Hung out in the Arts area last night and ended at LA Cafe. The night vibe in the city is definitely there. The crowd at the Exchange, a club, was huge.

Though it seems like we will probably not renew our lease, South Park area, as some of the issues I have mentioned before make it seem questionable to stay in Downtown. Especially for how expensive it is to have the pleasure of living in the filth. We are looking at getting a larger place in one of the safest cities in SoCal for close to $1000 less in rent a month. Makes no sense to stay here except for the 1 year of trying something different.

I really hope some of the new stuff being built down here has a good impact. I notice a lot more police patrolling between Fig and Main St. Also the Clippers having a better team might bring a little more awareness to LA Live.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

^ Just wait; this is only the beginning of the rise. Its becoming no secret now that 2013 is gonna be downtown's best year in DECADES.

Illithid Dude · #**3149** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 9:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by travanx

Hung out in the Arts area last night and ended at LA Cafe. The night vibe in the city is definitely there. The crowd at the Exchange, a club, was huge.

Though it seems like we will probably not renew our lease, South Park area, as some of the issues I have mentioned before make it seem questionable to stay in Downtown. Especially for how expensive it is to have the pleasure of living in the filth. We are looking at getting a larger place in one of the safest cities in SoCal for close to $1000 less in rent a month. Makes no sense to stay here except for the 1 year of trying something different.

I really hope some of the new stuff being built down here has a good impact. I notice a lot more police patrolling between Fig and Main St. Also the Clippers having a better team might bring a little more awareness to LA Live.

Well, it takes a certain kind of person to live in downtown. It's not a bad place by any means, but not a place for people who want the 'Irvine Experiance', or even the 'SaMo' experience. Glad you tried it, though.

citywatch · #**3150** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 4:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Well, it takes a certain kind of person to live in downtown. It's not a bad place by any means, but not a place for people who want the 'Irvine Experiance', or even the 'SaMo' experience.

You made a comment in the thread of pwright1's set of pics of LA in the "my city photos" pg that I think cuts to the chase....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

L.A., as I like to say, is a great big ugly city with patches of amazing beauty.

not sure if travanx is a burbanite at heart, but if such a person wouldn't mind living in a city like NY, SF, boston, chicago, or london, paris or tokyo, but doesn't feel the same way about dtla, then it wouldn't be right to classify that as strictly big city vs burban or small town preferences. Similarly, if a person said he'd rather live in the burbs of Cincinnati, st louis or detroit instead of the centers of those cities, that couldn't be called a favoring of small over big towns, since those cities have downtowns that are considered by many as quite

this gets back to all the ppl who think LA, esp dt, went downhill cuz of fwys, or cars, or lack of enough transit. Or ppl who assume that, while ignoring the fact that LA has a history of building lots of hoods that make ppl wanna call them ugly. I think hoods that look like

have chased away more ppl & everything good that goes with them than anything else. so the arrival of lots of fwys & cars, & many ppl not wanting to walk around instead of driving, came after the fact.

iow, even if rapid transit is made great, & parking podiums no longer are being built, & the front side of new condo bldgs come right up to the sidewalk, & most restaurants have sidewalk dining, & so on & so forth, if too much of the city still looks like

, lots of ppl still will want to write off LA.

citywatch · #**3151** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 4:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LA/OCman

What I love about this press release is what he said in bold...

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 23, 2012) – Councilmember José Huizar announced today that the Ace Hotel chain will soon call Broadway home, with the international hotel chain purchasing the historic United Artist Theatre and office building.

Councilmember Huizar indicates that even more good news is in the pipeline.

I'm glad huizar is trying to take a pro active approach to cleaning up broadway. why his predecessors ignored the problem for so many yrs & yrs & yrs makes me both

&

. I know some of that was due to the belief that broadway as it changed through the eons was merely reflecting an authentic transformation. I'm sure the slumlords loved that POV.

I only have to pause when guessing how much good news really is coming up since huizar was the one who called Ross dress for less----before everyone knew it was going to be them----a "department" store & got everyone's hopes up higher than justified. so when the announcement was made about ross, I felt kind of like --->

the conversion of the UA bldg into a hotel will further help the southern side of broadway. that part of the street has more potential cuz there aren't as many swapmeets there as there still are farther north. But broadway from around 2nd st towards 7th is a tougher problem since there still are many swapmeets & slumlords who feed off of that part of the hood.

SD_Phil · #**3152** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 6:34 PM**

^whoah whoah whoah, they bought the theater too? Can we expect some kind of rehab/reuse? That one's a classic:

Image Source

Easy · #**3153** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 7:32 PM**

I made a trip over to One Santa Fe to see if they had broken ground by the end of this month as required. Well, I guess that they have. There is maybe a 30k square foot section of pavement that was mostly, but not completely, removed. No construction trailer around that I could see. No activity on a Saturday (to be expected).

colemonkee · #**3154** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 8:43 PM**

SD_Phil, the theater is included in the plans, as a performance/events space, though it's not clear if Ace Hotels will be operating it, or if they'll bring in an operator/promoter. So that's a big win, in my opinion, as that is one of the better theater palaces on Broadway.

Easy, I would bet that's the start of soil testing, which means that excavation may begin soon (assuming the parking is going underground), but foundation work is likely a few months away.

SD_Phil · #**3155** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 8:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by colemonkee

SD_Phil, the theater is included in the plans, as a performance/events space, though it's not clear if Ace Hotels will be operating it, or if they'll bring in an operator/promoter. So that's a big win, in my opinion, as that is one of the better theater palaces on Broadway.

Great news! Thanks for the update colemonkee

Der Blut · #**3156** Posted **Jan 29, 2012, 4:23 AM**

I just got my notice in the mail regarding the Regent Theater. It'll be really nice to see that part of the block reactivated. Huge news for me considering that it's about all I can see from my place in the Rowan.

DistrictDirt · #**3157** Posted **Jan 29, 2012, 7:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Der Blut

I just got my notice in the mail regarding the Regent Theater. It'll be really nice to see that part of the block reactivated. Huge news for me considering that it's about all I can see from my place in the Rowan.

Walked around the neighborhood snapping some photos today, and happened to take one of the theater in question:

Can't wait to see what they do with the place.

Quixote · #**3158** Posted **Jan 29, 2012, 3:00 PM**

We are approaching the end of January. Any activity going on at the One Santa Fe site? It was supposed to break ground this month.

Quixote · #**3159** Posted **Jan 29, 2012, 3:30 PM**

Here's the latest photo update on the progress of the Civic Park revamp...

http://civicpark.lacounty.gov/c/01192012/constructionphotos2.html

alki · #**3160** Posted **Jan 29, 2012, 5:10 PM**

SOM moved to this building in DT Detroit from one of its suburbs:

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/201...o-gilbert-owned-madison-theatre-building

And this is what they did to their space [see gallery]:

http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2012/...dmore-studio-in-the-madison-building.php