LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 4.0

[brudy]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I generally don't make a big issue of new devlpt that isn't architecturally ideal or wonderful to me. But I have to say that the jia apt bldgs do look like they've been overly value engineered to me. I know that the large stucco walls of the proj as viewed from the side along broadway are not too inspiring. however, I still think the average person....& not fanboys (or fangirls) of big highrises or sleek urban design....is more likely to grade LA negatively due to really rundown or deadzone parts of hoods like dt, & not cuz of newer devlpt like jia.

That's the most interesting view of the Jia that you'll see. The view from the Hill St side is monolithic and kinda awful. Broadway isn't as bad, but up close the materials don't look as good as in Mojeda's fine pictures.

[brudy]

And speaking of Pershing Sq, we have this from curbed today: http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/th..._makeover_efforts_at_pershing_square.php

[Muji]

Also from Curbed, a recent shot of the Star Apartments:

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by brudy

It will be right next to the Canvas LA building, which isn't bad. There's not much to walk to with the school across the street, but you're only a hill climb away from Music Center, WDCH, Bunker Hill. Definitely still outskirts at the moment, but it doesn't have remain that way, especially as the rest of the Related stuff gets built. I think this area could be highly desirable. Walkable, yet not in the sometimes craziness of the historic core.

That immediate area of Echo Park will turn over in 5-10 years and those single family houses will shoot through the roof. You can't get closer to downtown and get single family home.

I feel the same way about City West. People dog on here but that little area is going to become a interesting area in the next 5 years.

[Muji]

Right on, ThreeHundred. One thing that makes downtown LA relatively unusual is that it doesn't connect up well with any immediately adjacent residential neighborhoods. Tying it back together with Westlake via City West is probably the best shot we've got.

[LA/OCman]

One thing I love about the development going on Downtown is that it really is happening in every direction. Check out more development at Alameda Square, east of the Historic Core and South of 7th. Here is an article from Racked LA of another business opening in there.

http://la.racked.com/archives/2013/08/26...ng_into_dtlas_stylish_alameda_square.php

[brudy]

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

I feel the same way about City West. People dog on here but that little area is going to become a interesting area in the next 5 years.

I've come around to City West. Once the Wilshire Grand is in, it's going to feel seamless. And you're a stone's throw from South Park and Financial District. But downtown will still be an island for a long time to come until City West goes further west, MacArthur Park starts to turn around and Ktown spreads east.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

More very good news regarding Downtown LA office space and sales.... According to an article in the LA Business Journal, the City National complex (two towers, Gensler offices, underground retail and parking is in escrow for $900 million dollars. The buyer is CommonWealth Partners LLC and should close escrow by september. The buildings are 90% leased.

[alki]

Originally Posted by brudy

And speaking of Pershing Sq, we have this from curbed today: http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/th..._makeover_efforts_at_pershing_square.php

What I like about this concept is that Gensler did it gratis.........because they have become a stakeholder DT. DTLA needs more of that kind of committment.

[ConstructDTLA]

Originally Posted by alki

What I like about this concept is that Gensler did it gratis.........because they have become a stakeholder DT. DTLA needs more of that kind of committment.

Sadly they did a pretty bad job at it. I hope the powers that be don't take it too seriously or we will have yet another over-engineered park on our hands.

Parks aren't difficult. I don't understand why (DT)LA has such issues creating a decent one.

[DtlaCuriousity]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Sadly they did a pretty bad job at it. I hope the powers that be don't take it too seriously or we will have yet another over-engineered park on our hands.

Parks aren't difficult. I don't understand why (DT)LA has such issues creating a decent one.

I actually don't think this is a very accurate statement. Most parks in Los Angeles seem to be a perfect amount of grass and trees. I was just at North Hollywood Park and Barnsdall park recently. They seem perfectly fine. Parks specific to DTLA, maybe. We'll have to see what they're planning here. I really think equally important if not more, is the revitalization of the streetscape across the streets from the park. The immediate area is pretty barren - especially the building fronts right across the streets. Not only is there no real reason for me to hang out at Pershing Square, but there is absolutely no reason from me to hang out in the immediate area.

[StethJeff]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Sadly they did a pretty bad job at it. I hope the powers that be don't take it too seriously or we will have yet another over-engineered park on our hands.

Parks aren't difficult. I don't understand why (DT)LA has such issues creating a decent one.

Exactly. Their vision will end up looking like the current Pershing Sq in 20 years. I love how much computers were needed to do something that isn't that fucking difficult, like you said. It's a park. A square one just to make things even easier. Grass. Trees. Benches. Food. Rocket science.

[alki]

Originally Posted by HunterK

Sadly they did a pretty bad job at it. I hope the powers that be don't take it too seriously or we will have yet another over-engineered park on our hands.

Parks aren't difficult. I don't understand why (DT)LA has such issues creating a decent one.

I think they are more difficult to design than you suggest but yeah, you don't have to be a rocket scientist. However, I think the problem sometimes with LA is that they try too hard to be cutting edge. And I think that's true with bldg architecture as well as parks.

As for Gensler, I think they did that proposal in order to start the conversation.......not necessarily to end there. I hope they get it right this time. For me, Pershing Square is one of the most important focal points DT. Its a transition area between the gov't center, Bunker Hill, Broadway and 7th Street/South Park. If they get it right and the area around it is developed accordingly, it could be a huge draw DT.

[gerryberry]

i also think this is encouraging...

Brookfield Bets on Downtown L.A. Rebirth

...Brookfield also is hoping to give the properties more pizazz by replacing staid plazas and ground floors with trendy restaurants and outdoor seating

While he said it hasn't been determined how much the company will invest, the concept is to bring more life to streets that have traditionally been barren after the workday. "Cities need something fresh and a new look to get people interested and excited about going places, and that element has been missing," he said. "It's pretty much the same experience that it was in the 80s.

...from an article in the wall street journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906304579039030405257034.html#

[ByTheBay]

Originally Posted by BrighamYen

Using San Francisco's Union Square as a model for LA's Pershing Square future redesign efforts?






http://brighamyen.com/2013/08/26/ideas-d...-model-la-pershing-square-redevelopment/

Last time I did a side by side photo comparison of LA's broadway street to SF's Powell street my post got deleted...just sayin!

I agree that Union Square can be a great example for Pershing Square, the same way I feel that Powell Street serves as a great example for Broadway Street. LA and SF can't be any more different when you look at it from the outside, but downtown LA and downtown SF have very similar backbones, SF's is just a lot more developed. Pershing Square isn't as bad as many people make it out to be, it's just "uninviting" right now, opening it up to the sidewalk would definitely liven it up a bit, and the color scheme, though great for the Lakers, doesn't fit in with the park.

[gerryberry]

does anybody know what´s going on with the clark hotel?
hotel chatter is suggesting that king and grove left the deal...
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2013/8...oing_on_With_King_%26_Grove_Hotels_in_LA

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Do you know how many empty lots there are in South Park? Even if ten low rise buildings started construction each year, it would take years before all the lots were filled up, and we all know ten low rise building won't start in South Park next year and every year following that. South Park will be fine.

My timeline may be a little too strict, nevertheless, I hope that you are right and I am wrong. However, there is a huge difference between creating policy and implementing policy. Thirty years ago ago there was an old joke passing around the Cal (U.C. Berkeley) planning program. "Did you know that Los Angeles is one of the best planned cities in the United States?" "One looks around and says, how can this be I don't see any evidence of this. No, it's true--you just need to be looking at the shelves."

[DistrictDirt]

Originally Posted by Wilcal

My timeline may be a little too strict, nevertheless, I hope that you are right and I am wrong. However, there is a huge difference between creating policy and implementing policy. Thirty years ago ago there was an old joke passing around the Cal (U.C. Berkeley) planning program. "Did you know that Los Angeles is one of the best planned cities in the United States?" "One looks around and says, how can this be I don't see any evidence of this. No, it's true--you just need to be looking at the shelves."

LA needs a general plan that is simpler, allows developers to do more within the plan BY RIGHT, and then the city needs to follow up by allowing less exceptions when developers want to go outside the plan. Right now we have a completely outdated zoning code and overlays, with lots of exceptions being made to compensate. Its not a recipe for a coherent city landscape.

I'm confident that the zoning rewrite will help tremendously, but I just wish it could happen quicker. Unfortunately, these things take years.

[Wilcal]

Originally Posted by DistrictDirt

LA needs a general plan that is simpler, allows developers to do more within the plan BY RIGHT, and then the city needs to follow up by allowing less exceptions when developers want to go outside the plan. Right now we have a completely outdated zoning code and overlays, with lots of exceptions being made to compensate. Its not a recipe for a coherent city landscape.

I'm confident that the zoning rewrite will help tremendously, but I just wish it could happen quicker. Unfortunately, these things take years.

I think that you are right-on with your observation. The part that dismays me, as I've mentioned before, is that the city should have recognized the need for revisions during the last downtown building boom a few years ago. Now it must catch up to that reality. The fact that there is such developer interest in downtown currently, even with this somewhat iffy economy, speaks volumes about the area's appeal and potential. I just hate to see sub-par development (e.g. squat stucco boxes) take place within the limited amount of economically developable space in Southpark and other areas of downtown. Despite what others say, I still maintain that there is approximately 100 acres of land occupied by parking lots in the area I surveyed downtown. Probably 65 of those are the smaller lots not part of major planned developments (Metropolis, LA Central, etc.) in South park. Lot by lot, acre by acre, with the development momentum downtown is currently experiencing this finite amount of land will be exhausted. I'd say within the last four months news of developments concerning the block around Olympic and Grand--now three 7 story buildings are planned (where it was rumored that Hyatt was interested)--are examples of more of that valuable acreage that will for a long time be underutilized. I just hate to see wasted potential.

[alki]

Originally Posted by gerryberry

i also think this is encouraging...

...from an article in the wall street journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906304579039030405257034.html#

Good article. I worry that DT will have trouble competing with Playa Vista for tech:

There, companies such as Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.19% YouTube division and advertising company 72andSunny inhabit the low-slung former headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Co.—founded by aviator Howard Hughes—and relax at picnic tables outside their offices, flanked by barbecue pits installed by landlord Ratkovich Co.

For now, many of the tech and media tenants Mr. Friedrich plans to target have been expanding elsewhere in the city, particularly at Playa Vista, an area just north of the airport where a series of landlords have transformed industrial buildings into hip offices for tech companies.

Carl Muhlstein, a veteran Los Angeles broker at Jones Lang LaSalle who handles leasing for a large development in Playa Vista, said once the adapted, former industrial buildings in Playa Vista fill up, tech companies will need to look elsewhere, and downtown is a likely candidate given the growth of hotels and apartments.