LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

I was really only referring to the block of Flower Street in between Venice and Pico, not the neighborhood at large.

that is also what I was referring to. iow, there are the cleaned up, improved parts of the hood. But scattered throughout that & then quite obvious in the southern section of dt....such as visible in the background of your pics of avant....there are the areas. Unless a person is actually in the hood....looking at everything personally & directly....it's easy to forget or underestimate the impact of the parts of the hood that are...as you describe them...in sad shape.

Originally Posted by colemonkee

This is a shot of Phase 1, which is the northern-most plot on the corner of 2nd and Los Angeles, looking south from 2nd St. You can see the beginnings of foundation work going on here, so this appears to be as far down as they will dig, maybe 12-15 ft. There was a small amount of heavy equipment movement on the Phase two plot immediately south.

either the following that's posted at downtownnews.com isn't accurate, or you're scooping the media about the 2nd phase...

Ava Little Tokyo: Avalon Bay Communities broke ground in the fall on Ava, a two-phase development at Second and Los Angeles streets. The first part, a six-story building now under construction, will hold 104 apartments and under 13,500 square feet of retail space. It is slated for a late 2014 completion. A second building with 176 units is expected to break ground around June 2013.

this also is at that website. if it's correct, then the large section of little tokyo across from the Double tree hotel....formerly the new otani....will be quite a boom town in new construction. I'm also going to assume that the upgrading of that site will result in the makeshift street lights on Los angeles st finally being replaced with something more suitable...just one block from city hall.

Little Tokyo: Sares-Regis Group in 2012 acquired a parking lot in Little Tokyo at Second and San Pedro streets, and reportedly plans to break ground in March on a seven-story, 240-apartment complex. The site is adjacent to Avalon Bay Communities' Ava project.

btw, thanks to you & blackcat for all the pics. They really help keep this thread informative & alive!

[bobbyv]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Grand Avenue Rental Tower

Thanx for the update, any rendering for this building?

[blackcat23]

^^^

[citywatch]

this upcoming wk will see a bit of VIP activity around grand ave....

Construction Heating Up in Downtown Los Angeles:
DS+R and Arquitectonica To Hit Benchmarks

Friday, January 4, 2013 | Sam Lubell


Broad Museum construction as of January 4, 2013. (Courtesy Broad Foundation)

Next Tuesday, January 8, The Broad in Downtown Los Angeles...Eli Broad’s new contemporary art museum with an arresting net-like “veil” facade by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will top out at the corner of Grand Avenue and Second Street. The project is set to open next year and will contain 120,000-square-feet over three-levels, including 50,000 square feet of gallery space on two floors, a lecture hall for up to 200 people, a public lobby with display space and a museum shop.



Rendering of DS+R's Broad Museum (DS+R)


As usual, the topping-out ceremony will include a theatrical event: in this case, the “flying of the beam,” in which a 294-foot crane lifts the final steel beam to the top of the structure. (In the meantime, take a fly-through of the new building in this video rendering.) In addition to Broad and DS+R, others on hand will be LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as well as 100 construction workers for the project. You can watch a live construction cam of the project here.

AN also learned that Related California will break ground on its new Arquitectonica-designed apartment tower on January 10, just two days after the Broad event. The 19-story building is the first major piece of the long-delayed Grand Avenue project. No more details on the event, but there are sure to be some fancy shovels and some bigwigs on hand. That’s some heavy symbolism for the transformation of downtown’s long-troubled Grand Avenue. Yes, it’s really happening.



Arquitectonica's Grand Avenue apartment building (courtesy Arquitectonica)

^ I don't know if palm trees really fit the front of the new museum, or that stretch of Grand ave. I hope that's just artistic license by the person who created the image.

[Lovetowers]

Soooo whats the full plan for the Grand Avenue project ? any renderings ?

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by Lovetowers

Soooo whats the full plan for the Grand Avenue project ? any renderings ?

2 things:

1. Here is the Grand Ave plan as we saw it in 2008ish.

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/05.19thegrand.jpg

2. I don't think any of the posters here have trouble seeing so could you please reduce the size of your font whenever you post?

[Lovetowers]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

2 things:

1. Here is the Grand Ave plan as we saw it in 2008ish.

http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/05.19thegrand.jpg

2. I don't think any of the posters here have trouble seeing so could you please reduce the size of your font whenever you post?

O ok nice so this IS still the plan, I thought they were changing things here too because of financing or whatever, but guess not . . . cool news

[blackcat23]

Since Related is expected to ask for another extension of the construction deadline beyond February of this year, they have to offer an alternative plan for the site.

We haven't seen any renderings of what the alternate plan is yet, but we should expect something smaller in scale than the original Phase I proposal.

[Lovetowers]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Since Related is expected to ask for another extension of the construction deadline beyond February of this year, they have to offer an alternative plan for the site.

We haven't seen any renderings of what the alternate plan is yet, but we should expect something smaller in scale than the original Phase I proposal.

Typical

[blackcat23]

Just walked by the Apex tower II site and saw a lot of dirt piled up next to it. Looks like they're getting ready to fill it in.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Since Related is expected to ask for another extension of the construction deadline beyond February of this year, they have to offer an alternative plan for the site.

We haven't seen any renderings of what the alternate plan is yet, but we should expect something smaller in scale than the original Phase I proposal.

I thought l.a was aiming for world class, why downscale now with the economy coming back?

[Valyrian Steel]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Just walked by the Apex tower II site and saw a lot of dirt piled up next to it. Looks like they're getting ready to fill it in.

Aren't they putting a park there?

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by Pink Floyd

Aren't they putting a park there?

It's going to be one steep park unless they fill it in

[Valyrian Steel]

lol yeah, just making sure I remembered correctly.

[Valyrian Steel]

A Fatburger is opening at 888 S. Figueroa in a couple weeks.

Downtown News

[JDRCRASH]

Spring Street tower in downtown L.A. to become creative offices

An active developer of aging properties in downtown L.A.'s historic core plans to renovate the 13-story Corporation Building and rent space to creative firms.

By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times
January 7, 2013, 1:47 a.m.

A Spring Street office building completed in 1915 has been purchased by a developer who plans to improve it as gentrification sweeps gradually through downtown Los Angeles' formerly depressed historic financial district.

The Corporation Building, at 724 S. Spring St., was acquired by Izek Shomof, one of the most active developers of aging properties in the city's historic core. Shomof said he plans to renovate the 13-story tower and rent office space to creative firms.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0107-property-report-20130107,0,1048619.story

[lenstern]

The Broad Museum will be friggin awesome when it's finally completed!

[BrandonJXN]

I'm not really sure if anyone cares about the goings on in the lobbies of skyscrapers but Cal Plaza 2 seems to be in the process of renovating it's lobby. It is fully enclosed by scaffolding. Cal Plaza 2 has been marketing itself a lot lately so it'll be interesting to see what this means in the long run.

[Dale]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I'm not really sure if anyone cares about the goings on in the lobbies of skyscrapers but Cal Plaza 2 seems to be in the process of renovating it's lobby. It is fully enclosed by scaffolding. Cal Plaza 2 has been marketing itself a lot lately so it'll be interesting to see what this means in the long run.

Call me weird, but I love prowling around office tower lobbies.

[Illithid Dude]

Originally Posted by Dale

Call me weird, but I love prowling around office tower lobbies.

There are a couple old Deco lobbies downtown that I love going into. Lobbies are fun!