LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by caligrad

I agree 1000% and for any other buildings along broadway in the same situation. Keep the facade, the interiors of a lot of buildings have already been gutted. Hollow them out and add residential towers and hotels.

Meanwhile the city (at this point lets be real, LAZY city leaders) have found a solution to house the homeless. By placing them into empty hotels rooms every night. Whatever hotel room that isn't booked by 9pm, homeless will be allowed to utilize. Talk about scaring tourists away and other issues (destruction of property, bed bugs, drugs and alcohol). I swear Angelenos must do better. At this point its time to vote a different route.

https://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-h...200422880.html



This was YEARS ago, back before the Huizar mess and the WG was still under construction. I believe Huizar was the one to bring it up. It just temporarily blocked new 7 story monoliths in immediate downtown. We went from getting a 7-story proposed twice a month to just one or 2 a year. Partial reason why Palmer slowed down his crusade of faux monoliths. Those parking lots in south park are sitting empty for a reason lol. Was looking for the article but anything Huizar related seems to have disappeared if it's not about corruption.

Whatever became of the plan from a few months ago to house and rehabilitate the homeless in the former Sears distribution center in Boyle Heights? The owner of the building said he liked the plan in an L.A. Times article. Since then, nothing. Crickets. There is a massive failure in political leadership. There are too many in the loop so nobody can be blamed.

We need a homeless "czar" to take charge at the city and county level and find short term and long term solutions. Short term, perhaps tent campgrounds and parking areas for vehicles where homeless sleep, with services, bathrooms, showers. Long term- housing..microhouses, dormatory type rooms, whatever.

The former Sears building is so huge, thousands could be housed and rehabilitated. Maybe people in Boyle Heights nixed it? DTLA will not live up to its potential until a solution is found and people are housed.

I am mystified why the Democrats don't make an issue of solving the homeless problem. With rising housing costs and rents, many fear becoming homeless themselves, so solving homelessness would be a popular issue. But of course nobody wants them housed in their neighborhood. It always comes back to NIMBYism.

[citywatch]

^ Since SSP screen names are one big jumble to me, I didn't notice that caligrad & calinative are 2 different users. I think in the past I've mixed up one with the other.


As for the old may co bldg...built as the hamburger dept store (sounds like a fast food stand) in 1905...that makes me think of this unfinished proj sitting across from the Circa apt towers...


• Video Link


^ If the led screens of oceanwide ever operate along with the message boards of the circa & moxy bldgs, ppl walking in that part of dtla at night will need sunglasses. (not really....see below ) But that's assuming the oceanwide proj isn't value engineered or left unfinished. The oceanwide towers saw groundbreaking along fig St this long ago...


• Video Link


I didn't realize it was that many yrs in the past....since late 2015. I guess because most of that proj's steel framing was topped off not as long ago as that, I forgot that actual groundbreaking obviously started over 6 yrs ago, soon to be over 7 yrs ago. Ppl of dtla...among investors, devlprs, construction crews, in depts at city hall, court system, law offices....can you somehow get this completed, ok?


• Video Link


^ although I've also been unsure about mkt demand for brick & mortar retailing. Both the mall in the oceanwide proj & possible retail in the former May Co dept store bldg will have their work cut out for them. In today's online economy, only themed or lifestyle retail devlpt....like the Grove, Americana....or places surrounded by lots of potential customers...such as the 3rd St promenade in samo or westfield mall in century city...may do okay. When the economy went downhill in 2009, & in the 1990s, I believe that even Rodeo dr in Bev Hills saw a high vacancy rate.

As for why online vids are helpful? They give a fuller picture....they show how cities everywhere are upping the standards. The led message boards of dtla, even if the ones shown in the oceanwide proj are built, are standard operating procedure for certain other towns, such as this place that's publicized as attracting the most new residents of any city in North america....lots of movie studios too. Everyone is in it to win it.

https://youtu.be/xOA4JxQPEnU?t=4821
.

[citywatch]

This youtuber's walking tour, dated from Aug 1, gives a glimpse of the site of the onni apt proj at the SE corner of Olympic & Hill St. It's another gap in dtla that has long needed to be filled in. A new tower there will help offset the sense that part of dt is always in need of investment & completeness. The Broadway palace apt proj to the east of that, built a few yrs ago by the notorious devlpr GH Palmer, has done the same thing to the lower broadway corridor.


https://youtu.be/1Q2Id_Btr54?t=1080

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by citywatch

although I've also been unsure about mkt demand for brick & mortar retailing. Both the mall in the oceanwide proj & possible retail in the former May Co dept store bldg will have their work cut out for them. In today's online economy, only themed or lifestyle retail devlpt....like the Grove, Americana....or places surrounded by lots of potential customers...such as the 3rd St promenade in samo or westfield mall in century city...may do okay. When the economy went downhill in 2009, & in the 1990s, I believe that even Rodeo dr in Bev Hills saw a high vacancy rate.

I think the mall at Oceanwide would still be a viable and successful location. Reminds me of something you'd see in Singapore. I'd probably focus on lifestyle (Eataly and some celeb chef restaurants and a high end version of Grand Central Market/food hall) and high end luxury goods (LV, Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, etc) since I believe that's still one area that DTLA is lacking.

[citywatch]

^ when LA Live was built in late 2007, I believe the devlpr...the anschutz Group...avoided including retail other than restaurants because they didn't believe the location could support shopping. I don't know how sales are at the Bloc & 7th at Fig, but areas further south tend to be even more out of the way for serious shoppers. Businesses that depend on walk in trade are not an easy thing to own & operate, so the assumption that 'build it & they will come' can be too optimistic.

When ppl say that new devlpt in dtla should always include ground floor retail....which has been a part of the design of the fake Tuscan apt bldgs of GH Palmer....& which often ends up indefinitely vacant, they're often being way too optimistic about shoppers, shopping habits & the economy. That's even truer of dtla since its 24/7/365 population (with a good income) still isn't as large as it could be or as necessary to support lots of retail.

incidentally, youtube vids like these have become a pain to watch with all the advertisements. You can't even fast forward through many of them any longer. [okay, some SSpers say the same thing about my posts ] That's unless an app is added to a web browser that removes the ads. I figure that app is okay because advertisers need the public more than the public needs them...no one is forcing advertisers to give $$ to youtube...


• Video Link

• Video Link


^ The 6th St viaduct doesn't have the grandness of 2 famous bridges associated with lots of fog or a river on the east coast, but its floodlights & indirect sidewalk lighting at night do make it pop. Its smaller size & more neighborhood vibe, along with the way it's lit up, make it more welcoming to walk across at night. But that's also assuming local govnt is able to keep the bridge safe & clean....& doesn't allow the flood lighting to go the wayside, as what they're doing with some of dtla's major fountains.

Unlike 6th St, these are major roadways, more like fwys, so their vibe...& conventional lighting....makes them less friendly:

https://youtu.be/wuHaKI_lNw4

https://youtu.be/kOIt5q-pc0E?t=209

^ that's one reason why having mta lightrail stations sitting along LA fwys isn't ideal.

https://youtu.be/jDQde99sRoY?t=106

^ I can't see as many ppl, at least at night, wanting to take a break & sit along that bridge.

If LA city hall wants to raise some maintenance money for the viaduct, they can even sometimes close off access to it, program its floodlights to constantly change colors, pipe in themed music & charge a fee for ppl to stroll across. The city can also include something like this to the standard floodlights: https://youtu.be/5oOAoKk6gww

but, again, keep it safe & clean. Same thing applies to transit, such as the connector line & subway down Wilshire being built west of western Ave, & when it comes to dtla in general.

[a9l8e7n]

Moxy and AC Hotel at Figueroa and Pico

https://twitter.com/LA_Construct/sta...37997931876352

[LAsam]

^Does anyone know what's planned for the piece of land behind The Moxy/AC and next to the Circa garage? I can't imagine the plan is to keep that a surface lot.

[scania]

Originally Posted by LAsam

^Does anyone know what's planned for the piece of land behind The Moxy/AC and next to the Circa garage? I can't imagine the plan is to keep that a surface lot.

A second tower I believe.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by a9l8e7n

Moxy and AC Hotel at Figueroa and Pico

I wouldn't call it beautiful or anything but it gets the job done, I suppose. The use of two different textures and shades of blue on the facade is a bit of an odd design touch. Makes it look like someone forgot to peel off the protective plastic wrap that comes on screens. The podium would've looked better if it was wrapped in glass as well, for continuity.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

The huge building at Broadway and 8th should be a combo of Chelsea Market from NYC, The Ferry Building in SF, a boutique hotel, residential, creative office and a super market. Its a game changing property that will tie in South Park, the Historic core, the financial district and the fashion district. This is thee project that will propel dtla proper into another realm and cascade improvements down Broadway and Hill towards 5th and 6ht street.

I sincerely hope we get a well respected and qualified project developer to buy this asap

[scania]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

The huge building at Broadway and 8th should be a combo of Chelsea Market from NYC, The Ferry Building in SF, a boutique hotel, residential, creative office and a super market. Its a game changing property that will tie in South Park, the Historic core, the financial district and the fashion district. This is thee project that will propel dtla proper into another realm and cascade improvements down Broadway and Hill towards 5th and 6ht street.

I sincerely hope we get a well respected and qualified project developer to buy this asap

Awesome idea.

[CaliNative]

[QUOTE=citywatch;9696881]^ Since SSP screen names are one big jumble to me, I didn't notice that caligrad & calinative are 2 different users. I think in the past I've mixed up one with the other.


The suffix of a name is as important as the prefix. Both Caligrad and myself have been posting for many years, him probably longer. When I picked by name I did so because I was born in Cali (Pasadena), so I am "Calinative" for the past many years. When I choose my moniker, I was unaware of Caligrad, and Caligrad and Calinative are different names anyway. Like Albert and Alfred . Same start, different finish.

[citywatch]

^ I believe one of you lives in long bch, which has revived its dt too. I used to spend summer vacations there with my family when I was young....we'd travel several miles to the south & west, so it was sort of a staycation. Back then, as with dtla, dtlb was in fairly poor shape too. Seeing it now increasingly fixed up & cleaned up is both long overdue & a relief.

Further north, if this had been done to dtla over 50, 60 yrs ago instead of as recently as the 1990s...or is still waiting to be improved in 2022....it today would be more competitive:

• Video Link


Too bad this wasn't more the case when yellin & his grand central mkt were around...

https://youtu.be/Le3Pi0cOvU0?t=222


Think of how when loft sales in this bldg occurred, dtla was even in weaker shape, more gritty & sketchy. I recall when the bldg the next block over, on broadway...now the Pan am lofts....had a huge rusting 'giant penny' store sign on it. So never say never :

https://youtu.be/xo1iJdfjPks?t=2733


What this person says about LA overall is why I really want dtla to finally be better & faster connected to areas further west. But the subway under Wilshire from dt to the westside has to be kept clean & safe:

https://youtu.be/2zS-lUu0SkM?t=105


^ Ppl at LA city hall or who help shape or influence the city in other ways need to remember: Everyone is in it to win it.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

The huge building at Broadway and 8th should be a combo of Chelsea Market from NYC, The Ferry Building in SF, a boutique hotel, residential, creative office and a super market. Its a game changing property that will tie in South Park, the Historic core, the financial district and the fashion district. This is thee project that will propel dtla proper into another realm and cascade improvements down Broadway and Hill towards 5th and 6ht street.

I sincerely hope we get a well respected and qualified project developer to buy this asap

Yeah. I would prefer to keep it as is and renovate it and repurpose it, rather than gutting it and utilizing facadism to build 2-3 towers on top of it. Looking at DTLA's current portfolio of, and proposed, podium towers, I don't have a lot of confidence it would be executed properly. They just don't build em like that anymore (Beaux-Arts), so I would be in favor of preserving it as closely to its original form as possible. There are plenty of other places in DTLA to build residential towers.

[citywatch]

I realize that new devlpt is occurring on the east side of dtla in parts of the gritty arts dist, not far from skid row. But the size & volume of leasing are exactly how high? How about all the empty commercial space in other sections of dtla...bunker hill, Spring St, Broadway?

A lot of businesses do continue to favor areas further west, around so called Silicon Bch...in playa vista, samo, venice....much less other areas hundreds or thousands of miles away.

The ppl at LA city hall & local decision makers in the investment, cultural & financial community certainly must realize: Everyone is in it to win it. Although city govnt often seems to go, 'who cares? Not my problem, not my worry. If the nimbys are happy, fine. If the anti-nimybs are happy, fine. Who cares? Not my job. Next...'

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9697461&postcount=19

.

[Illithid Dude]

The Broadway trade center is unique for having the largest floorplates of any building in Los Angeles. An innovative develop with a creative eye would do well to preserve that. I think it's also the largest building in Los Angeles per square feet? That feels wrong, but I think I've heard that somewhere.

[citywatch]

National Restaurant Chains Swoop Into Downtown Los Angeles as Expense Account Lunches Wane

Diners settling in for lunch at Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao at Eighth and Figueroa streets in downtown Los Angeles can splurge on a 20-ounce wagyu New York strip steak for $150. Or they can go to the Wendy's next door and grab a Baconator burger for $6.09. The juxtaposition of the casual hamburger joint next to an imported steak restaurant is a sign of how the pandemic has changed downtown L.A.'s retail landscape. The emergence of COVID-19 has changed the leasing calculus of local landlords, who for two decades shunned fast-food restaurants in favor of high-end eateries catering to burgeoning expense account crowds.

Many restaurant spaces that went vacant early in the pandemic remain unoccupied as office workers have yet to return in pre-pandemic numbers, putting landlords under greater pressure to boost revenue with any stable tenant they can get. As a result, national chains and fast-food restaurant companies promising an ability to pay rent are doing more deals.

Los Angeles isn't the only big city turning to fast food: Manhattan has seen a flood of national and international restaurant chains open in prime retail space in recent months, including Filipino eatery Jollibee, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.

In Los Angeles, the median number of months retail space sits on the market downtown reached 14.2 in the second quarter, nearly twice the 7.4 months in pre-pandemic first-quarter 2020, according to CoStar data. The number of retail leases signed downtown has been in decline since the start of the pandemic: From January 2020 through January 2022, retail leases signed in the area totaled 385, down from 449 in the prior two years, according to CoStar data.

In the 1980s and '90s, before more residential and creative office spaces started being built, downtown Los Angeles was home to a number of fast-food chains, Kennedy Wilson's Weiss said. But with the residential building boom that started in the early 2000s, landlords seeking to attract hip residents and office users didn't want to sign the chains.

A JLL report issued in February found that retail corridors dependent on office workers and tourists are taking longer to rebound than those serving primarily nearby residents. That dynamic has left downtown Los Angeles landlords little choice but to sign deals with national chains such as Wendy's that have been long itching to return to L.A.'s urban core, particularly near office buildings.

Downtown L.A. now counts 80,000 residents after a surge in apartment construction. In the past decade, roughly 16,000 net new units were added downtown, nearly doubling the number of apartments, according to CoStar data.

The past 2.5 yrs have changed the trends of many things. If another pandemic shutdown occurs, urban America....dtla....is going to be left reeling all over again. Meanwhile, the oceanwide proj hit a big roadblock even well before early 2020.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by citywatch

The past 2.5 yrs have changed the trends of many things. If another pandemic shutdown occurs, urban America....dtla....is going to be left reeling all over again. Meanwhile, the oceanwide proj hit a big roadblock even well before early 2020.

It's not surprising that financial districts across all downtowns are taking a long time to recover. The paradigm shift to a remote/hybrid model is obviously going to hurt businesses in those areas. We are also seeing more companies transition their workforce closer to where people live as well, outside the urban core. I'm inclined to believe that we will never see offices in downtowns packed with workers as they once were, so the solution I think is to start consolidating office spaces, and when buildings go fully vacant, convert them to residential.

[citywatch]

^ That's why at a minimum, LA city hall & other ppl who affect dtla need to keep things as clean & safe as possible. I know that sounds like a given....& ppl like to talk about bigger issues, such as the design of new projs, whether a proj has ground floor retail or not or how tall a bldg will be. But when the basic things in dt aren't being taken care of, everything else loses some importance.

Some ppl, for example, have shrugged about the moat & water fountains in dtla, around the dwp bldg & in grand pk, being emptied or switched off. But it's the basic details that make a difference. Ppl like Ira Yellin understood that....I doubt he was as obsessed about how tall bldgs were in dtla than he was about whether its bldgs were well maintained or not.

this is the 2nd largest dt in the LA basin...facing the same drought that dtla is. But notice its moat & fountains are still operating:

https://youtu.be/ruEeSZ6i3Qk?t=530

^ I read the pool & fountain in front of their civic theater or convention ctr was even upgraded within the past 3 yrs....not bellagio type razmatazz, but supposedly more elaborate than before. In comparison, is LA city govnt, which has shut down the water features in dt, at least keeping things safe & clean. So far, are they 0 for 2?

[a9l8e7n]

Any news of this work being jumpstarted back up?

Originally Posted by homebucket

It's not surprising that financial districts across all downtowns are taking a long time to recover. The paradigm shift to a remote/hybrid model is obviously going to hurt businesses in those areas. We are also seeing more companies transition their workforce closer to where people live as well, outside the urban core. I'm inclined to believe that we will never see offices in downtowns packed with workers as they once were, so the solution I think is to start consolidating office spaces, and when buildings go fully vacant, convert them to residential.