LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Second crane up for the Onni tower. Should rise pretty quicky!

[Blesha13]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Second crane up for the Onni tower. Should rise pretty quicky!

Honestly, I thought they were going with one crane with this tower just like 825 S Hill.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Second crane up for the Onni tower. Should rise pretty quicky!

The 1st one can be seen in this shot....

https://youtu.be/UpUQWd0vjAk?t=247

Can hardly wait to see olympic blvd from around Olive east towards broadway with both a rising tower & one less gap. Will give a fuller backdrop to properties like the newer broadway palace bldgs & the old classic eastern columbia.



• Video Link

[craigs]

The Arts District's first high-rise starts to take shape at 520 S. Mateo Street

The 35-story building from Carmel Partners is named Alloy

Steven Sharp
Urbanize Los Angeles
February 14, 2023





After one year of construction, the concrete frame of the Arts District's first skyscraper is starting to take shape at 520 S. Mateo Street.

The mixed-use development from Carmel Partners, dubbed "Alloy," in social media posts by the developer, occupies a property flanking the 4th Street Bridge to the north and Santa Fe Avenue to the east. Plans call for the construction of multiple buildings featuring 475 live/work apartments, 105,000 square feet of office space, approximately 18,000 square feet of street-level shops and restaurants, and parking for 650 vehicles.

The centerpiece of Alloy is a 35-story, 390-foot-tall tower, which will stand as the Arts District's tallest building at completion. A smaller mid-rise structure, combined with the podium of the high-rise, will front Mateo Street to the west.

Works Progress Architecture and Solomon Cordwell Buenz the design team for the project, which is depicted in renderings with a contemporary look and amenity decks atop its rooftop and podium levels. Plans also call for reactivating a former rail spur between Mateo and Santa Fe as a pedestrian paseo.

While construction may now be full steam ahead for Alloy, the project's future came into doubt in 2020, following the revelation of the project's connections to a City Hall corruption scandal centered on former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of accepting bribes from real estate developers. Huizar accepted political contributions from Carmel on behalf of his wife's short-lived City Council run in the midst of the approval process for the project, during which time he pushed to reduce the amount of affordable housing required within the development.

While work on 520 Mateo stalled out after shoring and excavation work not long after the revelation of their connection to the scandal, work resumed in February 2022. That followed payment of a $1.2-million fine by Carmel to resolve its involvement in the corruption probe.

While Alloy is set to be the Arts District's first high-rise, it likely will not be the last. A new tower complex designed by Bjarke Ingels Group is in the works nearby, and prolific developer Onni Group is planning a 36-story high-rise just south of 7th Street.

San Francisco-based Carmel is also behind plans for a similar high-rise just south of Beverly Hills city limits on La Cienega Boulevard, as well as mixed-use and multifamily residential developments proposed or under construction in East Hollywood and Sawtelle.

[colemonkee]

This is really coming along! Here's hoping the AIDS Foundation lawsuit is unsuccessful.

[homebucket]

Looking good!

[citywatch]

For the past decade, city officials have looked to redevelop a parcel at the northwest corner of 1st Street and Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles as a park. That effort, already on life support, has just been dealt another blow.

Formerly the site of a state office building, which was demolished in the mid-1970s as a result of damage suffered in the Sylmar earthquake. All that remained in the decades that followed was the foundation of building and its underground parking garage, which eventually became home to a feral cat colony. The wheels of change were put into motion in 2013, when the City of Los Angeles moved to acquire the parcel. Following the removal of the building foundations (and relocation of the cats), the city had paid more than $10 million to ready the site for redevelopment with a park.


waterandpower.org

While Parks officials had aimed to break ground on the project in 2019, that milestone was delayed as the estimated cost of 1st and Broadway swelled to more than $28 million - well beyond the approximately $19.8 million in money available. Subsequent construction bids for the project have continued outstrip existing funding, which prompted further delays.

Just plant some damn trees & a lawn...how much could that cost? I realize that Rome wasn't built in a day, but ppl in LA city govt & local devlprs & property owners sometimes take way too long to get past square one. But at least the city is keeping the decorative fountains in dtla in perfect working order. How old is the Trevi fountain vs the ones of the DWP bldg, the Grand Pk or the Fort Moore memorial?


tenor.com

[caligrad]

I'm so happy 520 Mateo pushed through the scandal and etc to get going. It's the one project on that side of town that can truly get the ball rolling quicker for more constructions and proposals in the pipeline. I always assumed land was cheaper on that side of town anyway. Here's hoping Metro brings a station to the area more quickly than their current timeline. The wonky street grid on that side of town also has to potential to give us some pretty cool/dense corridors with parcels of land being smaller than the giant plots we saw along fig.

[edale]

"For the past decade, city officials have looked to redevelop a parcel at the northwest corner of 1st Street and Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles as a park. That effort, already on life support, has just been dealt another blow."

The saga around this park is truly embarrassing, and I don't think the public is getting the whole story. They picked a winner from the RFP, but the proposal was significantly costlier than the budget allocated for the park. Why not inform RFP respondents of the budget for the project? If they did inform, why pick a proposal that's significantly over budget? Why is the 6th St viaduct park able to proceed with construction when it's still $24 million short of its funding, but the city hall park wasn't able to start construction with only an $8 million funding gap?

I don't even understand why this block is proposed to be a park in the first place. It's right next to Grand Park, which was just renovated and expanded, and the park next to City Hall. It's away from the residential base of downtown, which is where a new park could actually be beneficial. Grand Park is very lightly used, and the city hall park is mostly just used for city events when they clear the homeless out. My guess is that politicos don't want anything obstructing views of City Hall, which is dumb. I also think the city isn't really serious about making this park happen. I've heard they get a fair amount of money renting the lot out for film staging when shows and movies are filmed at city hall...

If it's going to sit undeveloped for a while longer, which it almost certainly will, they should at least pave it and turn it into a temporary parking lot or homeless shelter or something. Maybe something like the tiny home lot in Echo Park. As is, it's just a fenced off patch of dirt and dust which blows around and makes a mess on windy days, surrounded by homeless encampments on Spring and First Streets. The city cleans the encampments weekly or so, and all the tents go across the street for a few hours before moving right back where they came from when the cleaning is done, and then the whole block looks like shit again by nightfall. It's maddening that this is how this city goes about things.

[homebucket]

Yeah a moderate sized park like this would be better placed in more of a residential area like Ktown, South Park or the up and coming Arts District where it would get far higher usage.

In fact I think this would be a prime spot for conversion to residential given it’s proximity to the four Metro lines. And the incoming residents would be able to activate the underutilized parks that are already there.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by edale

"For the past decade, city officials have looked to redevelop a parcel at the northwest corner of 1st Street and Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles as a park. That effort, already on life support, has just been dealt another blow."

The saga around this park is truly embarrassing, and I don't think the public is getting the whole story. They picked a winner from the RFP, but the proposal was significantly costlier than the budget allocated for the park. Why not inform RFP respondents of the budget for the project? If they did inform, why pick a proposal that's significantly over budget? Why is the 6th St viaduct park able to proceed with construction when it's still $24 million short of its funding, but the city hall park wasn't able to start construction with only an $8 million funding gap?

I don't even understand why this block is proposed to be a park in the first place. It's right next to Grand Park, which was just renovated and expanded, and the park next to City Hall. It's away from the residential base of downtown, which is where a new park could actually be beneficial. Grand Park is very lightly used, and the city hall park is mostly just used for city events when they clear the homeless out. My guess is that politicos don't want anything obstructing views of City Hall, which is dumb. I also think the city isn't really serious about making this park happen. I've heard they get a fair amount of money renting the lot out for film staging when shows and movies are filmed at city hall...

If it's going to sit undeveloped for a while longer, which it almost certainly will, they should at least pave it and turn it into a temporary parking lot or homeless shelter or something. Maybe something like the tiny home lot in Echo Park. As is, it's just a fenced off patch of dirt and dust which blows around and makes a mess on windy days, surrounded by homeless encampments on Spring and First Streets. The city cleans the encampments weekly or so, and all the tents go across the street for a few hours before moving right back where they came from when the cleaning is done, and then the whole block looks like shit again by nightfall. It's maddening that this is how this city goes about things.

I've never understood the park thing either. Shouldn't that be a space for new city government or something?
speaking of, what's the latest on the civic center expansion? Feels like it's been dead since covid started.

https://www.ibigroup.com/ibi-project...ster-planning/

https://la.urbanize.city/post/breaki...-master-plan-0

Jesus, this stuff should've been built already.

[colemonkee]

I think a park here is still a very good use. We forget that Times Mirror Square will deliver 1,127 residential units adn 34,000 square feet of retail directly across the street. Directly across 2nd Street from Times Mirror Square, Tribune is planning 680 residential units above the Regional Connector station. Directly across Spring from that, and kitty corner to Times Mirror Square, another 120 residential units are planned in a 17-story tower designed by David Grey. So if over 1,900 residential units and lots of retail are developed right here, that park will be very well-activated.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I think a park here is still a very good use. We forget that Times Mirror Square will deliver 1,127 residential units adn 34,000 square feet of retail directly across the street. Directly across 2nd Street from Times Mirror Square, Tribune is planning 680 residential units above the Regional Connector station. Directly across Spring from that, and kitty corner to Times Mirror Square, another 120 residential units are planned in a 17-story tower designed by David Grey. So if over 1,900 residential units and lots of retail are developed right here, that park will be very well-activated.

Perhaps, but keep in mind Grand Park and City Hall Park are both also right there, so I'm not sure how much this 1st & Broadway Park would necessarily add to the equation. And it sounds like there are budgetary constraints as far as funding for parks throughout the city. It just seems like there are places that currently exist with higher residential density now that are even more park deficient (ie Ktown which has literally nothing) that would benefit from open space infrastructure investments.

[citywatch]

Another formerly largely vacant, old time bldg in dtla, at the SW corner of 6th St & Broadway, recently brought back to life...

https://the314dtla.com


laurbanize.com


the314dtla.com


the314dtla.com

• Video Link

[ChelseaFC]

Originally Posted by colemonkee

I think a park here is still a very good use.

A park literally already exists there. Housing is a more crucial issue in the immediate area and in the city as a whole.

[citywatch]

Even before the pandemic hit, property owners & devlprs in dtla never saw a high occupancy rate for commercial space....in newer bldgs too, not just very old bldgs around broadway or spring st. Or even bldgs from the 1980s, such as wells fargo ctr, which originally was Crocker center. It still has debt on its books too.

When ppl complain that a new proj in dt isn't taller, should have less parking or doesn't include ground floor retail, I'm never sure if they know the economics of dt...of LA. Although dt has siphoned some tenants from other parts of socal, it has been mainly the other way around...much less tenants originally in LA moving to other cities in the US.

however, this is happening in many cities throughout the country, so competition for remaining tenants who need commercial & residential is going to grow fiercer. The ppl at LA city hall...& others who influence dt, had better at least not allow dirt, crime, graffiti & homelessness in dtla to become even worse.

When a Brookfield entity declared it had defaulted on $784 million worth of loans connected to two office towers in Downtown L.A., the entity’s stock was already sinking.

The share price of Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor — which owns 7.6 million square feet of office space across six towers in Downtown L.A. — has steadily declined over the last five years, as the entity has continued to rack up debt and struggle with high vacancy rates amid remote work.

At the end of September, Brookfield’s DTLA holdings made up less than 1 percent of the iShares fund, which held about 765,000 shares, according to the fund’s website and SEC filings. On Sept. 30, the entity’s stock price was $9.42 a share, making BlackRock’s holdings worth about $7.2 million.

“We believe DTLA’s decision to default on these two assets increases the risk for the remaining loans in their portfolio,” Barclays research analysts Lea Overby and Anuj Jain said in a note cited by Bloomberg.

Brookfield’s DTLA unit has a further $763 million in loans coming due before the end of the year, according to an SEC filing. Those loans are all connected to two towers in the Wells Fargo Center at 333 S Grand Avenue.

[pwright1]

[pwright1]

Not quite finished yet but here's the new lobby of the
USBank Tower.

[scania]

Great pics!

[craigs]

Thanks for the photo updates, prwight1. Looking good!