LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

According to various sources on twitter, Forever 21 is opening a store in dtla at 6'th and grand (next to Industiel? not sure which exact space)

Maybe this will be the start of more retail coming into the area. It's something downtown desperately needs. I'm for sure keeping my fingers crossed.

That is awesome news! But the location is incredibly weird. I actually am worried that it will not do well because of the weird location. 6th and Grand is way off the beaten path, and mostly surrounded by office buildings. Why would they not open up on Broadway, or 7th, or Spring? There's much more foot traffic in those areas, which drive up sales. Just very strange.

[LAofAnaheim]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

This is some very exciting news:

According to various sources on twitter, Forever 21 is opening a store in dtla at 6'th and grand (next to Industiel? not sure which exact space)

Maybe this will be the start of more retail coming into the area. It's something downtown desperately needs. I'm for sure keeping my fingers crossed.

Please be 100% sure. Once we got bamboozled about a huge opening (forgot what it was), but it was for a filming shoot. Unless I heard about this from Curbed or BrighamYen....I wouldn't put much legitimacy on this ad. Remember, downtown LA has TONS of advertisements.

[LAofAnaheim]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

That is awesome news! But the location is incredibly weird. I actually am worried that it will not do well because of the weird location. 6th and Grand is way off the beaten path, and mostly surrounded by office buildings. Why would they not open up on Broadway, or 7th, or Spring? There's much more foot traffic in those areas, which drive up sales. Just very strange.

Are we 100% sure this is not a commercial shoot? Let's make sure before we speculate. This is too good of news for Curbed, blogdowntown or BrighamYen to miss. My guess is that this was for filming.

[ziggy331]

Well that would suck

Originally Posted by LAofAnaheim

Are we 100% sure this is not a commercial shoot? Let's make sure before we speculate. This is too good of news for Curbed, blogdowntown or BrighamYen to miss. My guess is that this was for filming.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

Well that would suck

Would it? It is common knowledge that Forever 21 is interested in opening downtown. I would rather them open in a location that makes sense instead of this strange location.

[ziggy331]

Looks like I jumped the gun. Damn you twitter. Too bad! That would have been an awesome addition for downtown. Maybe sometime in the not-so-distant future we will see these type of stores open up.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

This is some very exciting news:

According to various sources on twitter, Forever 21 is opening a store in dtla at 6'th and grand (next to Industiel? not sure which exact space)


Twitter

Maybe this will be the start of more retail coming into the area. It's something downtown desperately needs. I'm for sure keeping my fingers crossed.

fantastic... it has begun.. bring on the retail!

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I would rather them open in a location that makes sense instead of this strange location.

In this case, I think your wish will come true. I'm guessing that's only a staged backdrop, maybe a prop for a catalog shoot or something? moreover, forever 21 has been known to set up stores with increasingly large spaces. I don't think that area on the 1st floor of the milano lofts is very big.

the joke is on us --->

btw, I didn't want to keep the thread moving in the direction of one of your postings several days ago about filming, since that's somewhat OT. however, I would like to say that it's the LONG TERM trends that you should think of when dealing with activity behind things like a staged setting for a "forever 21 store". this was at latimes.com last wk.....

Feature film activity on the streets of Los Angeles rebounded in the first quarter of this year, but the gains were offset by a continued falloff in television shoots that's due to competition from New York and other cities.

Location filming for movies — those shot on streets and in noncertified soundstages — generated 1,019 production days in the first quarter, up 16% over the same period a year ago. That was a welcome turnaround from the fourth quarter of 2011, when feature production dropped 26%, according to data from FilmL.A. Inc., which handles shooting permits on behalf of the city and county.

Commercial production rose 11% in the quarter, accounting for 2,309 production days, continuing its strong performance from 2011. But the increase in features and commercials wasn't enough to prevent a 2% quarterly drop across all categories of location production in L.A.

The quarter saw a 9% decline in TV filming, which generated 4,277 production days, with the biggest drops in dramas and reality shows (each down 19% in the quarter), while pilot production plummeted 11%. The pilot season typically runs from February through April and has been slower than normal even though the number of pilots ordered by the major broadcast networks is up slightly this year (87 compared with 84 in 2011).

The slowdown reflects the ongoing challenges that L.A. faces to keep shows from shooting in other states with strong film incentives, especially New York, which allocates about $400 million a year in tax credits — four times as much as California. New York had a record year for TV production in 2011, with 23 prime-time series.

[JRinSoCal]

I don't understand why it would say "coming soon" if it was a staged backdrop for a film shoot. Perhaps brigham yen can confirm this.

[pesto]

The "Forever 21" sign is a good one for fooling people. If it had been "Neiman Marcus" it would have been fairly obvious that it wasn't real. But I would expect Forever 21 to open sometime in the near future since it is in line with the general demographic.

btw, is it just me, or is Beverly Center looking older and seedier? I hadn't been there in a few years and was surprised how dated it looked.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by citywatch

It's not just old vs new, or urban vs burban.

you'll get this view from near a bridge going over a river called the thames, which is in an old, old CITY & not in a new, new burb......

Seriously, stop it. I'm beginning to prefer Ed Luva's occasional trolling over your dead-horse-beating posts and Google streetview images. Every one of your posts could be summarized in a single sentence: "The ugly side of LA- parking lots, run-down storefronts, and overhead powerlines, bothers me a lot."

Got it.

[LAofAnaheim]

Originally Posted by ziggy331

Looks like I jumped the gun. Damn you twitter. Too bad! That would have been an awesome addition for downtown. Maybe sometime in the not-so-distant future we will see these type of stores open up.

I told you. People need to CALM DOWN. A Forever 21 opening in downtown would be HUGE NEWS that the Downtown News, BrighamYen or CurbedLA will let us know first before a random sign appeared out of nowhere.


There is NO Forever 21 opening in downtown LA at this moment, unless confirmed by an official news source. Back to our regular discussions

Also, I agree with DistrictDirt and others about CityWatch and his constant "debbie downer" downtown LA photos. The same nasty areas can be found outside of Manhattan, Chicago, etc.... Each city has both bad and good parts, stop accusing LA of just being "bad".

[Illithid Dude]

Brigham brings us a rendering of the Astani project. Ta da.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

Every one of your posts could be summarized in a single sentence: "The ugly side of LA- parking lots, run-down storefronts, and overhead powerlines, bothers me a lot."

but are those things really ugly? to you maybe, but not to certain other sspers. Ppl who say they either don't mind or even like the gritty feel or "real" look of LA. I recall one SSPer even saying that he didn't mind seeing, or even liked, the look of graffiti on fwys. Guess who that was? no less than brigham yen, originally known as "LAbeautiful".

I remember reading yrs ago some writer say that broadway's shabbiness & swapmeet culture wasn't bad cuz it was authentic. It was down home. it was real. The ppl who've kept the sidewalks of broadway quite crowded for over 30 yrs----& allowed the swapmeets to make enough $$ to stay in business----would agree with that.

The pic I posted most recently was in response to those who might incorrectly assume the city is the way it is cuz it's either too old or too new, or it's urban instead of burban. In actuality, that's not the case.

You say the things I've shown in streetview shots of LA are fugly. If you think they are, then why do you suppose very little has been done about such things in yrs & yrs & yrs? Not enough $$, not enough time, not enough interest, not enough support? maybe too many ppl reacting to news, or comments that would make the local chamber of commerce , in a way similar to this?:



And laofanaheim, I certainly don't wanna be a debbie downer. But look at all those sspers who when a new proj is proposed, or a new devlpt finally is completed will complain about it not being----in their eyes----architecturally wonderful & perfect. they'll complain about a new devlpt having too much parking, or not meeting the sidewalk in the best way possible, about a lack of stores on the 1st floor, about it being too short or too tall, about it being wood instead of steel, about the design not being urban enough, about the layout not being friendly to transit or pedestrians, or what not.

I at least subscribe to the notion that the 'best is the enemy of better".

[goom]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Brigham brings us a rendering of the Astani project. Ta da.

It's nice that they are finally building something on the many parking lots in downtown, but can't it be any taller?

[Trojan]

I'm fine with 7 stories, I'd rather have the Brockman building not get overshadowed by a taller building in the same block.

[BrandonJXN]

I'm fine with 7 stories too. It'll be interesting to see how well Angelina contrasts with The Brockman. That's going to be an interesting looking block if all does well.

[JDRCRASH]

Actually I am really liking the new rendering. And it looks it'll have ground, street-facing retail.

Ill update page 1 today.

[pesto]

Originally Posted by citywatch

but are those things really ugly? to you maybe, but not to certain other sspers. Ppl who say they either don't mind or even like the gritty feel or "real" look of LA. I recall one SSPer even saying that he didn't mind seeing, or even liked, the look of graffiti on fwys. Guess who that was? no less than brigham yen, originally known as "LAbeautiful".

I remember reading yrs ago some writer say that broadway's shabbiness & swapmeet culture wasn't bad cuz it was authentic. It was down home. it was real. The ppl who've kept the sidewalks of broadway quite crowded for over 30 yrs----& allowed the swapmeets to make enough $$ to stay in business----would agree with that.

The pic I posted most recently was in response to those who might incorrectly assume the city is the way it is cuz it's either too old or too new, or it's urban instead of burban. In actuality, that's not the case.

You say the things I've shown in streetview shots of LA are fugly. If you think they are, then why do you suppose very little has been done about such things in yrs & yrs & yrs? Not enough $$, not enough time, not enough interest, not enough support? maybe too many ppl reacting to news, or comments that would make the local chamber of commerce , in a way similar to this?:



And laofanaheim, I certainly don't wanna be a debbie downer. But look at all those sspers who when a new proj is proposed, or a new devlpt finally is completed will complain about it not being----in their eyes----architecturally wonderful & perfect. they'll complain about a new devlpt having too much parking, or not meeting the sidewalk in the best way possible, about a lack of stores on the 1st floor, about it being too short or too tall, about it being wood instead of steel, about the design not being urban enough, about the layout not being friendly to transit or pedestrians, or what not.

I at least subscribe to the notion that the 'best is the enemy of better".

I don't think that denial is much of a solution. If something is ugly, you take a good hard look at it and then resolve to improve it.

This is the story behind a number of multi-millionaires and billionaires (Vanderbilt taking the rails underground on Park Ave., and a thousand other cases of looking at slums, docklands, industrial areas, decaying apartment blcoks). The key is understanding that the land could be worth a lot more.

[pesto]

The renderings are fine but I would like to see how it connects to the rest of the 'hood. A few more stories wouldn't have hurt it either.

In any event, this is more speculation than news. I don't see anywhere near enough financing, a start date, or specifics.