LOS ANGELES | METRO Project Rundown 2.0 (non-downtown)

[edluva]

Originally Posted by Flavius Josephus

SMRR is now pretty much anti- even affordable housing. They've come pretty close to turning even on their founder, Denny Zane, who currently leads the MoveLA pro-transit lobby. Santa Monica is pretty close to being LA's hukou city - good if you already live there, but if you don't, they'll make it impossible for you to move there.

I think in time, with Expo and eventually more lines, the current closed-doors attitude will diminish somewhat. The question is how much damage they'll do in the meantime. The nutty Residocracy folks have been mumbling about an initiative to require all new development go to a popular vote. If they're ever that explicit about banning new housing, they'll probably get sued for violating state planning and fair housing law, but the situation definitely isn't good.

Now, I think this election was worse than most--with no competitive state or federal races, the key things driving turnout were the Supervisorial race, SD-26, and the airport ballot measures. None of those are really going to fire up the sorts of young voters who are feeling the effects of SM's exclusionary policies.

through residiocracy, santa monica has gotten as close to implementing ballot-box permitting as i've seen, by petitioning to bring the already city council-approved bergamot area plan back to a nov 4 referendum for defeat. the specter of defeat alone was enough for council members to rescind approval of the plan. this after 7 years of public hearing and revision. i too personally think even the latest version of bergamot could have been better designed, but this draconian coopting of representative authority elected to do what voters put them there to do in the first place says much more than the fate of bergamot alone.

the ultimate problem cited by NIMBYists in SM and all throughout LA is the same: congestion as it pertains the ability for NIMBYists themselves to drive wherever and whenever they please, in spite of whatever improvements to mass transit are being made. (though modest indeed). SMs problems are a microcosm of LAs where this is concerned. the birthright to drive and park is a regional problem that is borne of cultural inertia, and the vast majority of angelenos are guilty of it. this attitude isn't changing with enough breadth or speed to allow politics, and then, policy to exact tangible change on the ground.

along with hollywood's recent major defeats to NIMBYists, i take the victories of himmelrich and mckeown as a big sign of regression for LAs urban potential. SMs election was a litmus test of how a more urban LA neighborhood blessed with far more natural advantages and economic resources than the rest of the region would respond to the renewed interest in urbanism sweeping the nation. these results don't bode well for LA as a whole.

politically speaking, bringing widespread quality urbanism to LA s akin to pulling the rug from under one's feet. these elections, particularly the apathy of younger voters who would change the ass backward way things have been done prove to me that the current generation of angelenos are still not mature enough or ready for the kind of change needed to make LA a great city.

[SimonLA]

Rough week with the election, but at least it ends on a good note. Purple Line extension groundbreaking! Decades in the making...
http://thesource.metro.net/2014/11/0...ire-boulevard/

[edluva]

Originally Posted by brudy

That piece is really sad in so many ways - the hysteria around traffic, fear of the expo line, fear of non-rich people, weird political bedfellows, old crusty get-off-my-wealthy-lawners...

thing is, SMRR is a party not of wealthy homeowners who fear the poor, but rather of renters who through their 70% stake in SM housing and politics, have been able to preserve their first-mover's advantage by artificially locking in below-market rents and limiting the ability of simple economics to provide the market rate housing for those willing to pay the exorbitant prices that they themselves are partly to blame for. they are able to do this by crying traffic whenever a housing project is proposed.

they rail at the quality of proposals, the net additional car-trip estimates of proposals, the "disproportionate" share of commercial sq footage in proposals relative to housing, and against housing projects that are too big. as flavius stated earlier, SM renters are an implacable lot of NIMBYs where development is concerned.

the expo line hasn't been as hot button a topic to santa monicans as we've seen for other NIMBY LA hoods, though. its the relative lack of license that the future expo line has granted SM for denser construction near future stations that's surprising.

[edluva]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Yo, I'm a little out of the L.A. Country political loop. What happened that was so bad in SaMo?

NIMBY politics is even more entrenched. city council now firmly in the grasp of anti-development interest.

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

Santa Monica's politics have devolved into a complete clusterf***; uninformed NIMBYism masquerading under the guise of populism. Not sure how a bunch of self-identified progressives can reconcile those values with their advocacy for exclusionary housing policy. I suppose being surgically attached to your car will do that to you.

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.c...ded-to-la.html

As Flavius mentioned in his summary of the bi-weekly City Planning filings, there's a 169-unit/37,000 sq. ft. retail development planned at the northeast corner of La Brea and Willoughby Avenues. 14 units reserved for very-low income families.



Also worth noting that this is the former site of the Mole-Richardson building, which was unexpectedly demolished over the summer, to the chagrin of many preservationists.

Its a shame that building got demolished. If it were more publicized, that would have been a building I wouldn't mind have saving and i'm not one to jump on preserving every building like some forumers are. But. This one could have been saved, roof cut out, and a nice retro building built on top.

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by IMBY

I'm guessing any Dade County/Miami developer shares my laughter anytime they read development news out of Santa Monica, or any of the other anti-development beach communities of Southern California!

They go to bed at night, shaking their heads in disbelief!

Eh..... Miami reminds me of a Chinese City sitting on American territory..... build build build. And most of the buildings sit empty for years as shells and end up being sold off and turned into apartments or what not. There was a story about that on the news recently. That's one thing i would HATE to see in LA, anywhere in LA for that matter. we already experienced that in the early 90's. Don't need to repeat it.

Yes Most of So Cal beach cities are Anti development, anti high-rise. But what many people fail to realize, even those who live here, is that most people don't want our beach cities built up like city centers, I can understand wanting density to the max in santa monica but its not necessary. I would HATE to see Redondo beach, manhattan beach, Hermosa beach and other build up with high rises and many people would feel the same.

The beach is our retreat from the city. Why build it up to look like one? Its just that most of the beach cities aren't that big to begin with.... with the exception of Long Beach which is currently building a new tallest and two 20 story towers in the works. I say yeah the beach cities are dense but could be denser but making some of them city centers isn't a good idea. Not to mention the topography of some of our beach cities are not as flat and easy to build on like Miami.

[Flavius Josephus]

LADCP just released their new draft of the Mobility Element of the General Plan, along with other related documents. http://la2b.org/2014/11/06/updated-m...ng-commission/. I really like it - good emphasis on livability and multimodality, safety/Vision Zero, repeated mentions of the importance of TOD in land use policy, and even a "wish list" of regional transit projects (including extending the Crenshaw Line north to near the Hollywood Bowl, presumably via WeHo and access to the South Bay via the Harbor Subdivision, and more service in places like Century City and Warner Center).

Of course, all this will probably drive the NIMBYs crazy, so expect lawsuits. And whether the policies identified will actually be carried into practice may be another matter.

[Flavius Josephus]

Looks like some movement on the Ports O'Call Redevelopment, via the Council. http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacitycl...number=14-1330

[blackcat23]

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.c...t-revived.html

UDR, Inc. has revived a pre-recession 18-story development at 3033 Wilshire Boulevard, two blocks east of Wilshire/Vermont Station. The building would contain 190 apartments, 5,500 square feet of ground-level retail, and 302 parking spaces in a four-level podium. The project is being designed by Steinberg Architects, and completion is anticipated in February 2016.



This was formerly the Circa on Wilshire project, which was to be developed by Williams & Dame and designed by Ankrom Moisan.

[colemonkee]

^ Design leaves a lot to be desired, but the scale and density are right on.

[SimonLA]

Any news about the Hollywood Target lawsuit... or the Spaghetti Factory tower? Anxious to see those pick up. (If anyone has links to those lawsuits on the state website it would be appreciated.)

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

^ Design leaves a lot to be desired, but the scale and density are right on.

I quite like this new building. More interesting architecturally than Circa.

[Flavius Josephus]

Originally Posted by SimonLA

Any news about the Hollywood Target lawsuit... or the Spaghetti Factory tower? Anxious to see those pick up. (If anyone has links to those lawsuits on the state website it would be appreciated.)

Here's what I have:

- Il Villagio Toscano: City has filed for review at CA Supreme Court after Court of Appeal summarily denied City's writ of mandate petition. Couldn't find any rulings freely available online, and the case still displays as pending in the LA Superior Court case search. I suspect this may be a dispute over a preliminary issue, like discovery or what constitutes the administrative record.
- Target: Nothing from Court of Appeal, which won't be taking any action for a few months pending brief filings. Supreme Court delayed decision on the petition for review on denial of a stay until 12/11.
- HCPU: NIMBYs' briefs due at the start of December. Court calender suggests it expects to have reached a decision by March.
- Sunset/Gordon: Appeal just filed. Expect it take at least 6 months to make its way through the appellate court. Unclear what the effect on tenants was - the Superior Court docket sheet indicates that their motion to intervene was denied (presumably as untimely), but it's possible that the court clarified the judgment to reduce impacts to them - the text of the final judgment isn't available.

We'll probably see next year what the courts ultimately decide. Meanwhile, some positive signs from the legislature - Speaker Atkins has called for more exemptions for infill, although we'll see whether that translates into any actual legislation.

[Eightball]

Originally Posted by BrandonJXN

I quite like this new building. More interesting architecturally than Circa.

Agreed. Glad to see these high teens to mid 20s towers go up all over the area (ie this neighborhood, Hollywood, DT LB, etc).

[DenseCityPlease]

Originally Posted by blackcat23

http://buildinglosangeles.blogspot.c...t-revived.html

UDR, Inc. has revived a pre-recession 18-story development at 3033 Wilshire Boulevard, two blocks east of Wilshire/Vermont Station. The building would contain 190 apartments, 5,500 square feet of ground-level retail, and 302 parking spaces in a four-level podium. The project is being designed by Steinberg Architects, and completion is anticipated in February 2016.



This was formerly the Circa on Wilshire project, which was to be developed by Williams & Dame and designed by Ankrom Moisan.

A February 2016 completion date is EXTREMELY ambitious for a project of that size that is only just now pulling permits. I wonder how they figure that schedule...

Seems like mid-to-late 2016 is more realistic, and even that would be a pretty impressive pace. But maybe they know something we don't.

[blackcat23]

UDR started the application processes over the summer, and looks to be very close to receiving a permit to start foundation work. A February 2016 completion date is optimistic, but not impossible. Especially since they don't need to excavate underground parking levels.

[DenseCityPlease]

Good point. The shallow excavation will definitely speed things along. If they mobilize and start digging by the end of the month it could just be in the cards.

In any case it's thrilling that K-town officially seems to be in play. I've long been fond of this part of the city, and it's probably one of the five most urban and walkable neighborhoods we have. Plus, it's the nexus of the county's only two heavy rail lines!

[Flavius Josephus]

Industrial megadevelopment down south. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2014/1...h_bay.php#more. Needless to say, the odds of this one passing environmental muster are not good.

Meanwhile, up in the Valley: http://sfvbj.com/news/2014/nov/10/mo...navision-site/

[Eightball]

Anyone know what this is? It's also located at Washington and National in Culver City, but catacorner to the station (across the street from The Platform).

Washington and National in Culver City 11/10 by thaeisahtbizall, on Flickr

[blackcat23]

That's Access Culver City, a mixed-use development from Greystar Real Estate Partners. Five-story building with 115 apartments and ground-floor retail.