LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[a9l8e7n]

1320 S. Flower Street and 1317 S. Hope Street

https://twitter.com/LA_Construct/sta...37606090010625

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by a9l8e7n

Any news of this work being jumpstarted back up?

There is one but it's in Ktown. I wouldn't be surprised if more will be on the way though.

https://la.urbanize.city/post/k-town...ng-residential

There's this as well, although I'm not sure if it actually happened or not.

https://la.urbanize.city/post/hollyw...rdable-housing

[homebucket]

Hotel, office conversions could be housing pipeline: Study
RAND pegs adaptive reuse potential at more than 100K units

Los Angeles County could add up to 113,000 residential units by converting underused hotels, offices and other commercial buildings, according to a new study.

A RAND Corp. report concluded that such adaptive reuse could satisfy up to 14 percent of the state-mandated housing goal for late 2029, the Daily News reported. The county has about 2,300 underused hotels, office buildings and retail centers available for such redevelopment, the report found.

The conversions would work best for hotels, it said, and most of those units would have to be studio apartments to make financial sense.
“Repurposing commercial buildings to help address Los Angeles County’s housing shortage is a compelling idea, but the economics and logistics of such projects are complex,” RAND economist Jason Ward, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “Significant incentives for the conversion of these properties … may be needed to realize the full potential of adaptive reuse.”

State and local governments have looked at hotel and office conversions in recent years as a way to address a housing shortage.

During the pandemic, California launched Project Homekey and its predecessor, Project Roomkey, to get homeless people into converted hotels. Two L.A. County supervisors have called for a study to develop a list of potential home conversion sites.

The City of Los Angeles has been in the forefront of adaptive re-use conversions. In 1999, it passed an ordinance to streamline the redevelopment of vacant downtown buildings. As a result, 12,000 of 37,000 new downtown housing units were created through building conversions.

“Housing production in (downtown) L.A. has been one of the few success stories in Los Angeles’ quest to increase the stock of housing over the past three decades,” the Santa Monica-based nonprofit research organization said.

...

But converting commercial space into housing can be “a complex issue,” the RAND report says.

The ability to convert office or retail properties depends on local real estate prices and whether they’re turned into studios or one- to two-bedroom units. Studios – smaller apartments with one room, kitchen facilities and a bathroom — are more cost-effective than larger apartments.

Other deciding factors include a building’s size, construction type, floor layout and condition. Hotels are more cost-effective than offices for home conversions, the study found, mainly for studio apartments.

While office buildings are more plentiful than hotels in the most desirable areas, conversion can be cheaper than new construction. At the same time, social benefits can make such conversions worthwhile, including access to jobs and public transit and increased housing affordability.

The study urged local governments to provide subsidies to encourage such redevelopment. And they need to boost incentives by increasing allowable density, adopting alternative building codes and streamlining the approval process for building permits.

There are 4,322 adaptive reuse conversions set to begin this year in Los Angeles County, more than anywhere in the nation.

https://therealdeal.com/la/2022/04/0...ipeline-study/

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by a9l8e7n

1320 S. Flower Street and 1317 S. Hope Street

I recall back in 2015 or 2016 going to an event at the convention ctr (it was the green expo) & using the parking lot north of that property. I still think infill that's not too tall is at least as important as projs that can be seen from dozens of miles away. When I'm in dt itself, I rarely look around & wish that bldgs were taller....but I often do wonder why gaps....parking lots or things like the taco house #1 stand....still exist.

But since the skyline of dtla is important to ppl visiting points to the west, being into how many floors or how tall a new proj is does make some sense. However, I'd rather have 10 new projs in dt that are 7 floors tall that fill in 10 deadzones versus 1 proj that's 80 stories tall & fills in only one gap.

In an ideal world, there would be 10 projs in dt that are over 800 ft tall filling in 10 gaps...but beggars can't be choosers.


• Video Link


I guess various ppl living in the western part of LA will be helped if dt's skyline is better...

https://youtu.be/-XJN4YSeU0I?t=251


^ I don't think most ppl in West LA will be using the subway down Wilshire...certainly if it's not kept clean & safe. But they'll be at least symbolically closer to dt when the MTA completes the D line...formerly the red line.

[a9l8e7n]

60-story tower at Olympic and Hill

https://twitter.com/LA_Construct/sta...88325396553728

[scania]

Maybe a few months away before we see a crane.

[homebucket]

Good progress on the excavation.

[citywatch]

I'm always wondering why projs in dtla fall through or are never approved to begin with....such as equity residential's apt tower at 4th & Hill St. Okay, this story doesn't pertain to specific new devlpts in dt, but it certainly will affect them. Even possible new funders for the oceanwide towers on Fig might hesitate to commit...or become involved....if they see trends in local LA city govnt & among a lot of pro nimby or pro red tape groups.

Even if this idea isn't eventually enacted, it chills the sense of what direction that LA....dtla...is headed.

A persistent idea is that hotels should house homeless people alongside paying guests. Such a proposal came before the LA City Council last week. The Los Angeles Responsible Hotel Ordinance would compel local hotel owners to provide a count of vacancies, submit the list to the city housing department by 2PM each day, and accept “fair market rate” vouchers to fill the rooms with homeless people. No funding source is set for the vouchers, but the Federal government is a likely candidate.

Councilman Joe Buscaino told KTLA he thought the plan was “the dumbest measure” he’s seen on the City Council. It “hurts our tourism industry, which we heavily rely on, in a time when we are getting ready for the [2028] Olympics. It puts hotel workers in a position where they will become social workers.”

After a day of hearings, the Council, perhaps swayed by a huge hotel industry turnout, voted down the initiative. But the Council then voted 12-0 to put the initiative, which had 126,000 signatures, on the ballot for March 2024.

Hotels pay other local taxes and fees and employ people, who in turn are taxed. But would guests and employees keep coming to the improving hotel sector if rooms were provided to voucher recipients on a “non-discriminatory” basis? None of this convinced the City Council to abandon the compulsory homeless voucher scheme. Instead, it will go on the ballot in a year and a half. A costly battle between the hotel industry and the union and its progressive allies will soon begin.

[Niftybox]

The ideal average tower height would be around 450-500 ft, since DTLA is already quite prominent of a skyline, I'd argue lowering the average height of the tallest towers would actually improve the skyline more than adding half as many 700-800 ft towers, I hope that made sense. Anything smaller than 400 ft average wouldn't be as impactful unless they were strategically placed for maximum visibility which is mostly on the outskirts and between large gaps.

[nmkef]

Originally Posted by a9l8e7n

1320 S. Flower Street and 1317 S. Hope Street

The Hope st building has workers semi regularly working on "something", but the Flower st one hasnt had any activity in months unfortunately.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by nmkef

but the Flower st one hasnt had any activity in months unfortunately.

a smaller, so far not as long stalled, version of the oceanwide proj?

meanwhile, this condo devlpt across from city hall, in little tokyo, seems to have had a very slow schedule from start to finish too....although the pandemic did slow everything down.

https://atodtla.com/

this is dated from Jan 2021, but I recall groundbreaking itself dating back to early 2018...


urbanizela.com

https://la.urbanize.city/post/construction-ramps-little-tokyo-condo-development

https://la.urbanize.city/post/nine-story-apartment-complex-breaks-ground-little-tokyo

What this person is saying about a BofA warning of a liquidity crunch applies not just to banks between banks, but also consumers & higher ups in the food chain too? Certainly the oceanwide proj on Fig has been in a credit or liquidity crunch for a few yrs.


https://youtu.be/5ytGufTABcs?t=40

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Niftybox

The ideal average tower height would be around 450-500 ft, since DTLA is already quite prominent of a skyline, I'd argue lowering the average height of the tallest towers would actually improve the skyline more than adding half as many 700-800 ft towers, I hope that made sense. Anything smaller than 400 ft average wouldn't be as impactful unless they were strategically placed for maximum visibility which is mostly on the outskirts and between large gaps.

I disagree, as that would create a "Toronto effect" whereby the skyline is anchored by a core cluster of tall (750'+) office skyscrapers surrounded by much cheaper-looking residential towers with the generic bluish-greenish glass. The Beaudry is a nice departure from that and complements 777 Figueroa, Wilshire Grand, and the Wedbush building.

450-500' is the minimum height needed to make a dent in the skyline but not change its profile other than giving it a denser and/or elongated silhouette. We need half a dozen 750'+ towers in South Park of high quality and varying architecture.

[citywatch]

what's nice is this proj...reported by urbanize LA as now being active & 3 blocks south of the much larger apt tower being built by onni at Hill & Olympic....is filling in the type of gaps I notice when I'm actually in dtla....as opposed to bigger projs visible from miles away.

https://la.urbanize.city/post/excavation-progress-mixed-use-project-14th-and-hill


la.urbanize.city

^ I used to work in that part of dt, back before LA Live had been built...back before staples (now crypto) arena existed too. Parts of dtla like that have long had too many gaps or deadzones for comfort. That rising 7 fl apt bldg may not win design awards, but when I'm in dt itself, which properties are or aren't ready for prime time always stand out the most to me.


EDIT: this is the type of 'downtown" that in the LA area has a larger number of ppl walking out & about typical of certain major cities in the world, such as britain's capital.... That european city sometimes reminds me of a storybook setting of what would be a disneyfied type place in the US or CA. Or closer to the grove in mid wilshire or the americana in glendale. Even the huge subway system in London looks quite clean....unlike what the biggest city in the US offers its transit users

https://youtu.be/tiv73tXmUjk

It's a reminder that every place is in it to win it. So if the ppl managing dtla, such as at LA city hall or the MTA. DWP, don't care about cutting corners, & don't mind if the hood becomes not too safe & not too clean...including the future subway between dt & west LA...they're not helping dt or LA overall.

[citywatch]

Good walking tour view of brookfield's beaudry apt tower as seen looking north from the front of the Marriott courthyard hotel on Olympic.....

https://youtu.be/iw-chNXiG0U?t=705

^ Guests staying at that hotel stroll outside & are greeted by a dwp service bldg & an assortment of parking lots....a part of dt that's not ready for prime time. The dwp at least could have helped clean it up a bit, but they haven't bothered doing even that.

I realize the equipment on francisco street is going to be affected by what is eventually built there...it's like homeowners delaying redoing their plumbing until they renovate the kitchen. Still, what excuse does the dwp have for not dealing with heavily traveled 9th St a few hundred ft away?

dtla still has a friendlier look to me than what I've seen of certain other cities...such as the largest one on the east coast. however, the sidewalks in dtla are quieter, so it's a tradeoff. Which is why city govnt in LA needs to keep the hood safe & clean...try to make dt more presentable too.

[citywatch]

The youtuber jsocal has finally walked through a small portion of the Grand LA devlpt!...

https://youtu.be/EShTI8MaXQg?t=608


busy sidewalks do help make any place seem better or more popular...if the sidewalks of compton, bellflower or reseda were busy, even those hoods would seem somehow better & look somehow nicer. Although I admit that the sidewalks of skid row are busy too, so that notion goes only so far But whether a dt london...does London even have an area known as downtown?....or a dt disney anaheim, ppl strolling around do help give an area a more popular vibe.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by citywatch

The youtuber jsocal has finally walked through a small portion of the Grand LA devlpt!...

https://youtu.be/EShTI8MaXQg?t=608


busy sidewalks do help make any place seem better or more popular...if the sidewalks of compton, bellflower or reseda were busy, even those hoods would seem somehow better & look somehow nicer. Although I admit that the sidewalks of skid row are busy too, so that notion goes only so far But whether a dt london...does London even have an area known as downtown?....or a dt disney anaheim, ppl strolling around do help give an area a more popular vibe.

I don’t think the Grand is open yet. And the Broad doesn’t open until 11 am, about an hour after the video was shot. So it’s not surprising there isn’t a lot of activity on the streets. LA is also more of a night city than a morning city. Go back around 5 pm and you’ll see a big difference.

[citywatch]

^ Even if dtla is less of a sidewalk place than certain other cities are, I can live with that...LA is its own animal. Because of the climate, the look & vibe of even a quiet Grand LA seems friendlier. But when ppl are out & about that does help make any place...a city or burb...seem more popular.

even if hoods in LA like dtla never see as many ppl strolling around as occurs on the venice boardwalk, samo, oldtown pasadena or the curated shopping ctrs of the grove, american & disney anaheim, as long as projs like these in dtla stay on track, that to me is more important.

Colburn School unveils Gehry design for chamber music, dance


larchmontchronicle

A long-held dream is closer to realization. Long sought by many music-loving Angelenos, a 1,000-seat concert hall appropriate for chamber music players — from quartets to something the size of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra — now is moving toward construction.

^ I just hope that supply line issues & higher costs...along with post covid problems....don't cause even more delays for projs in dtla.

[scania]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I don’t think the Grand is open yet. And the Broad doesn’t open until 11 am, about an hour after the video was shot. So it’s not surprising there isn’t a lot of activity on the streets. LA is also more of a night city than a morning city. Go back around 5 pm and you’ll see a big difference.

Most of us have that person blocked. We only have to see the snippet of their post when people reply to their posts. This person more than likely doesn't even live in Southern California despite what he/she says. The forumer only speaks negative...even when something that's remotely positive that is said, it'll end up being something negative before he/she finishes their post. Classic example of a troll, you can't take them seriously. All the vids they post have the same connotation.

[Mojeda101]

Photos from yesterday:






Such fine additions to the skyline. They fill in two massive gaps. We could use a dozen of these projects of similar scale.

[scania]

Great pics!!!