LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 3.0

[colemonkee]

The signage request on the Wilshire Grand project is a little ostentatious, and frankly, I don't expect it to be approved by the City Council. I love this project, and what it will do for the LA skyline, but putting supergraphics on it will just make it tacky, IMO. I say keep them in Dubai, where they ruin perfectly well-designed buildings.

And take them off the Ritz! That Bud Light ad is like Hooters: delightfully tacky, yet unrefined.

[JDRCRASH]

Keep them in South Park. That's pretty much what AEG intended it to be.

[colemonkee]

Some good news on The Medallion, from the Downtown News:

Medallion to Open Doors
First Tenants Expected to Move in this Weekend

The long anticipated Medallion project will slowly start coming to life this weekend as a few residents are expected to begin moving in.

Project developer Saeed Farkhondepour said Thursday morning that 10 people have signed leases for the 96-unit mixed-use project that also includes 200 retail spaces.

Rest of the story here: http://www.ladowntownnews.com/articles/2010/08/05/news/doc4c5b2d0110392115392259.txt

[petescafe]

How timely.

Here is a shot of the Medallion tonight.
Some before and after action.

Before



After


Back in my day that use to be a parking lot.

[dachacon]

i've been wondering if it would be economically feasible to build park fifth and market them as rentals like the watermarke on 9th street. my guess is no, between hanover's 717, the century, and watermarke there is to much luxury housing stock to get rid of before we start adding more.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

9 years to building a couple of skyscrapers? Are they serious???

It should take no more than 3-5 at most.

i think its 9 years for full occupancy, not full build out.

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by LAsam

More rumblings about the Wilshire Grand project on CurbedLA... there's discussion of potential Blade Runner-esque digital signage on the buildings as well. The article mention construction is supposed to commence in 2011 with occupancy in 2020.

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/08/wi...ect_may_really_up_the_sign_ante.php#more

I was a little late to the convo on Curbed so I don't know if anyone saw this, but I took the liberty of creating a more accurate rendering, based on the lowest-common-denominator ads that we all know will be displayed once the gates are opened to advertisers:

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesBeauty

Haven't you ever heard that Wilshire Blvd. is the "elongated downtown" of LA? Essentially it plays the role of that since 33% of all the office space in the entire Southern California region lies within the sphere of Wilshire Blvd.

You should really chime in over on that thread where they're determining the borders of the downtowns of all the large American cities. I mentioned Wilshire earlier but was pretty much ignored. Last time I checked the bounds they had decided on for Downtown LA were quite small.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

You should really chime in over on that thread where they're determining the borders of the downtowns of all the large American cities. I mentioned Wilshire earlier but was pretty much ignored. Last time I checked the bounds they had decided on for Downtown LA were quite small.

The LA Times already did our work for us:

http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/downtown/

Estimated 2008 population was 34,811. Daytime population of 207,440.

[Thomas_H]

Originally Posted by Der Blut

Hi guys,

A little off topic, but does anyone know of a place where I can get a nice print of the Eastern Columbia building? I'd love to have something in my place displaying my love for this building.

Thanks

Der Blut,

One of my photographs happen to be of the Eastern Columbia building. I'm a photographer, I live downtown, and I've taken photos of some of the buildings I find interesting. This one happens to be an HDR photo (which stands for High Dynamic Range).

If you'd like a print, just send me a private message.

[colemonkee]

That's a great shot, there, Thomas_H, and welcome to the forums. The HDR makes it look like a watercolor. I know a few people who might want a print of this.

[Thomas_H]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

That's a great shot, there, Thomas_H, and welcome to the forums. The HDR makes it look like a watercolor. I know a few people who might want a print of this.

Thank you for the welcome, colemonkee. I actually found this forum because I was searching for information regarding the Trinity Auditorium building, which is near where I live. I noticed that they have been doing some work in there and I'm curious to know if they are finally doing something with it.

I went to USC in the early 90's and I've been in that building when it was off campus housing. I was in the film school and I shot a scene in the auditorium. It's a beautiful building and I wish the owners would restore it so we all can enjoy it again.

And thank you for the nice comment about my photography. If you would like to see more, visit my website at www.thomashargis.net. When you click the "photography" link, it defaults to the HDR section. You'll see other familiar buildings, including Union Station, The Orpheum, and The Commercial Exchange.

Here is a taste:

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

So i finally moved Downtown last week, and im enjoying it here. Took a look inside the Trinity as i walked by earlier, and they are definitely doing some work in there and its not just cleaning. Hopefully well hear something soon.

Its also great to see the new restaurants on 7th street. The dream of restaurant row is getting closer every day.

here is a wish list of what i think would make Downtown a little better. ill keep it general.

1) I think that all the streets should be two way.
2) We need uniform lighting, signage, landscaping and furniture all over and removal of a lot of these tacky signs. After spending a few weeks in major eurpoean cities, it was fun and enjoyable to walk around. with our weather, Downtown LA should be just like that and then some.
3) Downtown can be great for bikes and pedestrians, but we need to encourage it and promote it. Each main street should have a lane dedicated to bikes, pedicabs scooters and the like. It should be painted green and ideally would be separated from the flow of traffic.
4) The sidewalks need some serious repairs and cleanings.
5) More outside seating and drinking areas.
6) and of course, i wish pershing square would be redone asap. Just go back to what it was 40 years ago.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

Also, Chipotle restaurant will be opening catty-corner from Bottega Louie (across from the SugarFish which is under construction). Dublin's Irish Pub in the Fine Arts Building on 7th opens Monday, I hear.

Just walked by but i didnt see any signs. is this confirmed?

[RAlossi]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Just walked by but i didnt see any signs. is this confirmed?

As of earlier this week, there was a sign up (either a notice of application to obtain liquor license, or building & safety construction license, can't remember which) that stated "Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc." It was on the corner space. I passed by today but didn't think to look again. So it was confirmed in the sense that that's what the sign said, lol.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

6) and of course, i wish pershing square would be redone asap. Just go back to what it was 40 years ago.

I'm thinking more like the Pershing Square of 80 years ago.

Pershing Square, 1930

LAPL

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

1) I think that all the streets should be two way.

You hit the nail on the head.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by RAlossi

As of earlier this week, there was a sign up (either a notice of application to obtain liquor license, or building & safety construction license, can't remember which) that stated "Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc." It was on the corner space. I passed by today but didn't think to look again. So it was confirmed in the sense that that's what the sign said, lol.

i just walked by and saw it. i was looking at the wrong building earlier.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

The long anticipated Medallion project will slowly start coming to life this weekend as a few residents are expected to begin moving in.

Project developer Saeed Farkhondepour said Thursday morning that 10 people have signed leases for the 96-unit mixed-use project that also includes 200 retail spaces.

Originally Posted by petescafe

How timely.

Here is a shot of the Medallion tonight. Some before and after action. Back in my day that use to be a parking lot.

Seems like both a thousand yrs ago but also quite recently that the devlpr finally started work on that proj. it's completion couldn't have come a day too soon.

would be great if a store like trader joes decided to occupy one of the prime spaces. That would help bring visitors to the devlpt, even more so since the medallion has lots of retail space. maybe too much retail, esp in today's economy? I wonder if Farkhondepour should have turned over more of the space to apts instead of stores.

Major relief that one of the hood's biggest gaps finally has been filled in.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

So i finally moved Downtown last week, and im enjoying it here. Took a look inside the Trinity as i walked by earlier, and they are definitely doing some work in there and its not just cleaning. Hopefully well hear something soon.

Good to hear that, both your moving to DT & work on the embassy/trinity bldg! That vacant bldg has been a major gap in the hood for way too long. same thing true of the other old hotel owned by the same company, that being the cecil on Hill north of 5th St.

watching old classic bldgs in dt finally being cleaned up & reactivated is almost better than seeing groundbreaking on totally new highrise projs. hearing about start of work on a big proj like parkfifth would be the only thing a bit better right now. But it isn't realistic to expect that kind of news. So the revival of old bldgs is even bigger news nowadays.

even before you moved to dt, you'd have really informative posts that gave specific details on the latest in the hood, like the one above about the embassy/trinity. keep up the reporting!