LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by pwright1

thanks for the pics, pwright.

before Covid hit, the expansion of the Colburn school was still iffy due to their need to find a lot of money...the budget for the proposed new bldgs was a big gray area. When Gehry went around his client & released to the media work he had done on Colburn for the past 2 yrs, I notice it already seemed to be cut back in scope....it was supposed to include more class & dorm rooms. Now his plans look like they just contain concert halls.

someone mentioned that with the Grand ave proj, other bldgs around there now look old or tired. But they're nothing compared to the parking lot along Hill st at 1st.



designboom.com, gehry partners



btw, if anyone takes a shot of the area where the old healthcare partners bldg on 9th east of the fwy once stood....where the olympia proj is supposed to be built....I'd be interested in seeing what it looks like now....mainly from the fwy. That part of dt finally being cleared is a long needed step in the right direction. I've had to look out over healthcare's warehouse bldg for yrs when passing through dtla on the fwy....thousands of other ppl too each day when driving by that section of dt.

[bhunsberger]

Here is a skyline photo I took yesterday, along with a closer shot of Grand Ave Project.

[pwright1]

Wow! The Grand is definitely making an impact.

Citywatch: I walked by the site you're referring to and to my surprise it's a parking lot now. Blacktop with brand new white lines. With all the excitement that was definitely a downer.

Thanks everyone.

[caligrad]

^^^ Not necessarily a bad sign. If i remember correctly, the second part of metropolis was paved for a short time and people lost their cool. Same with oceanwide (the irony of it all) and the new tallest in Long Beach also got repaved and used as a parking lot for a year.

Also. Am I the only one that getting underwhelmed with the size/scope of the Ghery project? the impact isnt as big as i thought it would be.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by caligrad

^^^ Not necessarily a bad sign. If i remember correctly, the second part of metropolis was paved for a short time and people lost their cool. Same with oceanwide (the irony of it all) and the new tallest in Long Beach also got repaved and used as a parking lot for a year.

It's a bad sign for anyone hoping for a groundbreaking anytime soon. I think that a few parking lots were repaved and eventually broke ground, but it takes at least a year. In your example above, Oceanwide was a parking lot for several years after if was initially fenced off for the start of construction only for the real estate crisis to happen. This could mean that they plan Staples/LA Live parking for awhile. Hope not though.

[Niftybox]

Caligrad you pulled the thoughts out of my head. Is The Grand on a downward slope? Those buildings are almost topped out and Bunker Hill towers are dwarfing it pretty badly. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice taper to the skyline but I didn't think it was going to be that much of a drop off. The taller one is currently at 32 stories count, so 7 to go might help considerably along with the 'crown'.

I really miss the original Ghery proposal for that site, single tower and it was actually jaw dropping and really tall. I assume the street level is far better for this project than the older one(s), seemed to be the deal breaker here.

[nmkef]

It's less a big impact and more a filling in. Another couple of pics from a morning run a few weeks back. Glad we have some smaller projects like this to add variety beyond boxes to the cityscape...just hope we can add some classy parks as well where some of our parking lots are. Think we'll see pershing square redone in our lifetime?

[edale]

Originally Posted by Niftybox

Caligrad you pulled the thoughts out of my head. Is The Grand on a downward slope? Those buildings are almost topped out and Bunker Hill towers are dwarfing it pretty badly. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice taper to the skyline but I didn't think it was going to be that much of a drop off. The taller one is currently at 32 stories count, so 7 to go might help considerably along with the 'crown'.

I really miss the original Ghery proposal for that site, single tower and it was actually jaw dropping and really tall. I assume the street level is far better for this project than the older one(s), seemed to be the deal breaker here.

Only 7 stories to go for the taller tower? Damn, I agree that the skyline impact is pretty minimal from this project. I was thinking it would be more impactful since the project is on Grand which is just about the top of the hill.

It has a tremendous impact from the east, though. I was driving on Temple near City Hall the other day and it really is dramatic from down there. The view from Griffith Park? Not so much.

[bhunsberger]

Originally Posted by nmkef

It's less a big impact and more a filling in. Another couple of pics from a morning run a few weeks back. Glad we have some smaller projects like this to add variety beyond boxes to the cityscape...just hope we can add some classy parks as well where some of our parking lots are. Think we'll see pershing square redone in our lifetime?

Honestly though. Just jackhammer the concrete & lay down sod. A great lawn until it can be completed!

[Niftybox]

Originally Posted by edale

Only 7 stories to go for the taller tower? Damn, I agree that the skyline impact is pretty minimal from this project. I was thinking it would be more impactful since the project is on Grand which is just about the top of the hill.

It has a tremendous impact from the east, though. I was driving on Temple near City Hall the other day and it really is dramatic from down there. The view from Griffith Park? Not so much.

7 stories will make a difference, I can edit a photo that represents my estimate of the final height so we can see ahead of time. I also removed the cranes.

[nmkef]

To answer the question a few posts back about Oceanwide - well they finished removing the middle crane, and now the site is back to looking like a set for some crime drama. Absolutely no movement for the past week. Best I got is somebody "in an adjacent industry" on nextdoor claiming that the developer was just now seeking for new funding to arrive by the beginning of 2021. We'll see...

[caligrad]

^^^ I just need somebody to finish it. IF they asked to people of LA for donations to finish, i swear i was ready to donate a solid 20 bucks.

[Radio5]

Originally Posted by Niftybox

7 stories will make a difference, I can edit a photo that represents my estimate of the final height so we can see ahead of time. I also removed the cranes.

Nice! thank you. Will be interesting to see if the tower above the new 2nd/broadway and the Times towers will show from there as well.

[hughfb3]

Thanks for the updates pwright, bhunsberger, and nmkef!!! Looks Great!

I was downtown on Saturday visiting a friend who lives in Onni's Hope+Flower. When I was there, my friend introduced me to 2 new people who moved to Los Angeles from out of state. One of them lives in the smaller tower, and moved here a month ago from Tennessee, and the other moved from Atlanta, here earlier this year and is looking for an apartment to rent in downtown. I was surprised at meeting real life people who have moved to Los Angeles during the shutdown and have chosen downtown as the place to look... and that it's in the year 2020 at that.

Also, the Onni Hope+Flower complex has the only TOWER (above 13 floors) rooftop pool in all of Los Angeles, and they have 2 at that. I never realized that up until that project, every property that has advertised "rooftop pool" either meant that it is the rooftop of a 7 story or its advertising rooftop for a pool on the podium of a taller tower. These Onni buildings have pools on their tower summit and they are the highest pools in Los Angeles on a building. Whoa! Epic!! I was in the hot tub looking at eye level of the rooftops of Circa, Aven, and the rest of downtown and the city. These Onni people must know people in city hall to be getting the first dibs on what could be relaxing building codes.

Other updates
Fig+8th is now a big hole in the ground and they are moving. Fig+Pico is on its 4th floor above ground.

And we have the disappearing logos of CBRE and Citibank

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New lighting on Herald Examiner looks great... the new home of Arizona State University's school of Journalism


We also got Lighting on Onni's office building a while back (seen in the bottom right) and how the heck is Onni the only residential developer with logos at the tops of their RESIDENTIAL buildings, like... EVER?! I'm a little bit obsessed with them now in how they are getting all these exemptions. I do wish for us to take down all physical logos on the tops of towers from now on, and replaced with see through digital that doesnt impact the aesthetics of building (looking at you US Bank tower).

[Zapatan]

Originally Posted by edale

Only 7 stories to go for the taller tower? Damn, I agree that the skyline impact is pretty minimal from this project.

Does that 7 stories count mechanical + parapet etc? That could easily be another 100 feet which can make a difference.

At the end of the day the taller tower is only 500+ something feet, I wouldn't expect much more skyline impact than that. LA's skyline isn't that huge but still big enough to make a 500 foot building pretty insignificant.

[Doctorboffin]

Tried to recreate the angle. Their impact isn't massive, but it isn't unnoticable.



Here they are with everything else in the pipeline.



Really their only issue is geography and the fact that the Bunker Hill towers are just incredibly bulky. The grand looks much more impressive from the south.

[Niftybox]

Yeah doc! you're right, that angle from earlier also showed the grand fading away from the bunker towers making them appear even smaller. Thanks again for your unique 3d maps project.

[caligrad]

True. I always forget how massive the bunker hilll towers are in comparison.

[Niftybox]

I'm noticing how much The Grand drew inspiration from US Bank tower, look at the stacking of the facades.

[Doctorboffin]

Plans call for a 14 story modern structure with 184,629 SF of Office Space and an additional 4,325 SF for first floor retail with 397 parking stalls. The building with rise to a total of 195 feet (203 including the mechanical penthouse), and be separated from the new Produce LA building nextdoor by a 20-foot paseo.
This paseo will connect with Mesquit with a passthrough which the building will straddle. Additionally, floors 7-14 will cantilever over much of the 6th floor which will contain an amenity deck, and there will be an additional open-air amenity deck on the roof. All told the project will contain a total of 15,547 SF of open area, 3,286 SF of which will be landscaped.

All photos belong to EYRC Architects except for the three Google Earth Images which belong to me.