LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[Easy]

One downtown "development" that hasn't been discussed here is the rapidly increasing numbers of "no right on red" and "no left on red" signs. It's made walking downtown a much safer activity even if some drivers don't seem to notice and turn anyway. I'm very much enjoying it!

On the flip side I rarely drive downtown, but driving will be much more frustrating once activity and traffic return to more normal levels. And that's because when they changed the law to allow pedestrians the entire countdown to cross, they didn't add any time after for cars to turn like say NYC does. What needs to happen is for the light to stay green for several seconds after the don't walk becomes real. With no right/left on red and pedestrians in the intersection for the entire light, drivers won't be able to turn.

[scania]

Has anyone heard anything about Olympic Tower? I received a political text message today. I’m not sure if anyone here got this text. This is what it said...


Olympic Tower Project moving ahead without adequate study of its effects on climate change! Click the link to tell Council we need green development in DTLA! https://actionnetwork.org/letters/n2ot/

[caligrad]

Oh lord. I wish there was a law that made political ads be based on facts instead of hysteria. Olympic tower is the car wash site I'm assuming? if they were referring to the Olympia towers, i'd probably lose my mind. Its funny because I feel these are for sure the same people complaining about the housing shortage and homelessness, BUT want to stop every development they can for the sake of keeping LA as it is.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by caligrad

Oh lord. I wish there was a law that made political ads be based on facts instead of hysteria.

that link scania posted is sponsored by....

UNITE HERE Local 11

UNITE HERE Local 11, currently representing over 32,000 hospitality workers in southern California and Arizona, has a long history in Los Angeles. The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 11 brought together previously separate locals for waiters, waitresses, bartenders, cooks, and other hotel workers.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the predominantly Spanish-speaking membership of Local 11 fought for fuller participation in their union against a largely Anglo leadership. In 1989, María Elena Durazo became the first Latina to lead a major Los Angeles union. She began reorienting the local towards greater membership participation and a more assertive stance with employers.

^ oh, please....they couldn't give a damn about the environment or green spaces as long as a big pay check or kickback finds its way into their pockets.

meanwhile, post pandemic dtla is showing signs of life. These ppl, however, are as much into helping the dt scene as local 11 is into improving dtla.

For one group, just as long as everything isn't a bit too real with homelessness, graffiti, smash & run, & cardboard tents, they'll enable the status quo.

for the other group, just as long as green earth allows them to shake down devlprs & the owners of new projs, they'll also enable the status quo.


• Video Link

[bhunsberger]

Originally Posted by hughfb3

[IMG]Untitled by Hugh B, on Flickr[/IMG]

Now this is totally nitpicking, but all of the lighting of Tower Theatre is warm tone except the marquee. That bothers me a bit. Consistency! I absolutely hate cool tone lighting.

[colemonkee]

I got the same text Scania mentioned. It's unclear whether they are talking about the Olympic (car wash) Tower or Olympia Towers. They don't site the development outside of the Olympic Tower "name". It's definitely a Unite Here Local 11 effort. I actually responded letting them know I support Union labor, but not their tactic of using environmental review as a fallacious argument to stop projects that don't use Union Labor.

[Mojeda101]

Night & Day difference.

[JerellO]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Night & Day difference.

Looks like they removed some ornamentation in the back behind the tiny chandelier, unless they’re planning on recreating it later and it’s just not finished at the moment

[badrunner]

It's still there. They just walled it off.

[colemonkee]

There's a huge demand for studio space vs. location shooting based on the number of streaming platforms and the amount of content they need to populate their services. Some existing stages are booked out for 6-12 months and some productions are having trouble finding studio space. So would not be surprised to see this and the CBS Studios revamp in mid-City go forward in some capacity, even if not at the full scope initially proposed.

[sopas ej]

I'm glad they're getting rid of the slide.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Bye, Skyslide. U.S. Bank Tower will get a $60-million redo that nixes the tourist attraction


Silverstein Properties, the owner of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, plans to undertake $60 million worth of renovations to make the skyscraper completed in 1989 more appealing to today’s tenants. (Silverstein Properties)

By ROGER VINCENT | STAFF WRITER
MAY 21, 2021 5 AM PT

The owner of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles will spend $60 million to upgrade and reposition the 73-story skyscraper that has been a prominent feature of the city skyline since was completed in 1989 but has labored to attract tenants in recent years.

Part of the makeover calls for ending aspirations to become a tourist venue by doing away with its long-closed public observation deck and a sky-high outdoor slide, dubbed Skyslide, between two of the top floors that was launched with fanfare in 2016 by the previous owner.


A rendering of the new lobby bar and reception area at U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. The changes intend to make the spaces feel like a hotel.(Silverstein Properties)

New York developer Silverstein Properties, which bought the building last year for $430 million, hopes to make the imposing tower more appealing to businesses in creative fields that have often turned their backs on high-rises in favor of newer campus-like properties with outdoor space and leisure-oriented amenities.

Silverstein Properties plans to make a visit to U.S. Bank Tower feel more like being in a boutique hotel or high-end residential building than a corporate cathedral, said Jeremy Moss, head of leasing for the company. Hanging out will be encouraged.

“There will be a lot of opportunities for casual, soft seating for meetings or to escape and take a rest,” Moss said.

Among them will be a coffee lounge and a bar in the lobby. There will be large communal tables and patio seating at ground-level entrances intended to make the lobby more “permeable” and take advantage of L.A.'s temperate weather, he said.

The 54th floor, where people going higher must change elevators, will be turned into a lounge for tenants. It will have a fireplace, a co-working lounge with workstations, a bar, a grab-and-go cafe selling prepared food items and a full-service kitchen to cater meetings and private events.

The new tenant lounge will replace a floor previously dedicated to promoting Skyspace, a former tourist-oriented attraction on the 69th and 70th floors that included observation decks and the glassed-in 45-foot Skyslide hung outside the building that connected the two floors and offered a brief but hair-raising ride. Neither the glass attraction nor high-altitude yoga classes apparently were enough to bring in the masses.

Skyspace was closed before the pandemic and is not coming back, Moss said, in part because conversations with tenants revealed that they did not care for the former attraction.

“While there are examples of observation decks and tourist attractions coexisting with workspace, in this particular case I think that it was having too much of a negative impact on the experience that we wanted to create and preserve for the companies that are here,” he said.

The upper Skyspace floors will be reconverted to office space for rent, he said. The 1.4-million-square-foot building is 78% leased.

Companies, particularly in the entertainment and technology industries, have gravitated in recent years to offices in airy settings that bring an outdoor feeling into the workplace or allow people to relax or do some work in actual sunshine. Interest in low-density offices reportedly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Owners of some conventional high-rises that were built to serve the corporate culture of the 20th century have responded to the trend by making the outdoor spaces they do have more welcoming, with gardens, coffee stations, decks and seating meant to reverse the air of exclusivity prized by builders and tenants in the 1980s. Public spaces and private offices inside older buildings have been given softer edges.

“Even before the pandemic we saw a movement away from a lot of traditional office customs, whether it’s what people are wearing to work, bringing pets to work” or having convenient food options, Moss said. “A lot of it was designed to make work feel more like home so work became a more inviting place as opposed to a foreboding place.”

At U.S. Bank Tower, the upscale 71Above restaurant on the 71st floor is open and will continue to operate, Moss said. A large restaurant space on lower floors previously occupied by a Chinese restaurant will become Market Creations, a fast-casual eatery expected to open by Labor Day.

The other improvements to the building will take a year to 18 months, he said, and will also include upgrades to the gym, elevators and valet parking area of the garage.

The construction of U.S. Bank Tower was perhaps the most high-profile achievement of Maguire Thomas Partners, a Los Angeles real estate development company that was one of the largest in the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Founder Robert F. Maguire III died Tuesday. The skyscraper was first called Library Tower and was known for a time as First Interstate World Center.

Link: https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...moves-skyslide

[Yackemflaber69]

Well that sucks

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by JerellO

Looks like they removed some ornamentation in the back behind the tiny chandelier, unless they’re planning on recreating it later and it’s just not finished at the moment

Originally Posted by badrunner

It's still there. They just walled it off.

If jerello hadn't mentioned that, I'd never have noticed the difference...even though it's actually fairly major. I wish it were really just walled off.

I'm thinking that when Apple's contractors rebuilt the ceiling, the old framework was removed & the owner didn't want to spend money on replacing the cornice beams?

maybe they can reorder some faux beams....50 pcs for $10.

[Mojeda101]

Originally Posted by JerellO

Looks like they removed some ornamentation in the back behind the tiny chandelier, unless they’re planning on recreating it later and it’s just not finished at the moment

Actually it looks like you used to be able to walk along the rail behind the chandelier and now it's been replaced with a wall.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Mojeda101

Actually it looks like you used to be able to walk along the rail behind the chandelier and now it's been replaced with a wall.

I think you're right. I thought badrunner was joking, but I've looked more closely at the pics & the area behind the balustrade does seem to be walled off. If that's a temp wall, however, it looks so complete & finished, that I can't believe it isn't permanent. But hopefully the camera was affected by the lighting & the image makes that area look different from what it actually is. but who knows exactly until a few wks from today?

meanwhile, I look at what devlprs were able to do to the old united artist theater bldg & the upcoming apple store should be another win-nah.

After COVID-19, Can Downtown L.A. Get Back Up?


AMANDA EDWARDS/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
The pre-COVID bar scene at the Ace Hotel on Broadway


“What was great about this neighborhood was that we had people who lived here long enough to fall in love with it, and then decided to start their dream business here,” Besten says. “We need to find a way to encourage those people to return, or new people to come and take their place.”

No part of Los Angeles has been impacted more by COVID than downtown. For the past two decades, it experienced an urban metamorphosis driven by building what was essentially a private-sector-financed satellite downtown around Staples Center and L.A. Live. Spectacular growth in residential, cultural, culinary, retail, hospitality, and nightlife sectors followed, boosting downtown’s residential population from about 18,000 to 85,000.

But all of it came to a screeching halt on March 15, 2020, when Mayor Eric Garcetti issued the executive order shuttering restaurants, bars, theaters, and many other businesses integral to downtown’s renaissance. Four days later, the Safer at Home directive landed, and Los Angeles was effectively locked down. Literally overnight, a hefty percentage of the approximately 500,000 people who work downtown and live elsewhere stopped their daily commutes.

“The pandemic really put into focus that, boy oh boy, this is a heavily dependent office-worker environment, where if you remove the approximately half-million workers, there’s not a lot of folks feeding the daily retail,” says Derrick Moore, a senior vice president at the brokerage firm CBRE, who since 1999 has executed north of 500 restaurant, store, and other commercial leases in downtown alone.

“It fuckin’ sucks—but it’s getting better,” says Hal Bastian, executive vice president of the real estate brokerage firm Major Properties, who for more than a quarter century has lured businesses to downtown. Adds Chris Rising, the cofounder and CEO of Rising Realty Partners, which has invested in turnarounds of downtown properties such as the PacMutual and the CalEdison buildings, “The quality of life is significantly poorer right now. I used to walk all around downtown, and I’m not feeling comfortable doing that. I think we have to be realists and say to our city government, ‘This isn’t acceptable.’ We’re not going to get people coming back unless they feel safe and unless we address these quality-of-life issues.”

“Rumors about the death of downtown are vastly exaggerated,” says Dan Rosenfeld, whose decades of work in the community range from developing skyscrapers on Bunker Hill to propelling neighborhood-oriented growth through the nonprofit Community Partners. “I think downtown L.A. is more well-positioned than any office market for a new world,” adds Rising. “If we are in a new world, where you’re only going to come into the office a couple days a week, why wouldn’t you go to downtown L.A.? It’s got a transportation system geared around it.”

The 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count tallied more than 66,000 people experiencing homelessness, up 12.7 percent over the previous year. The health-care and economic crises, combined with underinvestment in emergency shelters and temporary housing, has resulted in what Union Rescue Mission’s Bales labels an “imperfect storm. As hard as it is to believe, it has absolutely never been worse than it is right now,” he tells me. “There are more people on the streets of Skid Row and downtown than there have ever been, and there have never been fewer places for people to go and stay safely.”

Additional enthusiasm for the future stems from the makeup of the downtown populace. Besten notes that while some businesses have gone under, a tight-knit community supports those still open. Indeed, on an early afternoon in mid-February, after outdoor dining restrictions had been lifted, patios across downtown were packed with unmasked patrons, from the Arts District sausage-and-beer joint Wurstküche to the Yard House at L.A. Live. Downtown has recovered from a century’s worth of calamities, among them the 1918 flu pandemic, and so will likely prevail again. “There is inherently a belief that we will overcome this. There’s a historic track record to prove that we have,” says Lall.

[JDRCRASH]

Maybe Apple wanted to maximize space for the "auditorium" area and moved the wall back to do it, perhaps not seeing any other use for the pre-existing area?

[bhunsberger]

It seems like those decorative scrolls are part of this interior blueprint. I do find that blank wall to feel a bit, well, blank. They could have added a piece of crown moulding which matches the rest of the lobby to give some more detail.

[ocman]

Originally Posted by JerellO

Looks like they removed some ornamentation in the back behind the tiny chandelier, unless they’re planning on recreating it later and it’s just not finished at the moment

With this type of interior, the more the better. An unadorned white wall really seems off. Was the original a balcony? That would have been nice to keep.

[ocman]

Originally Posted by bhunsberger

Now this is totally nitpicking, but all of the lighting of Tower Theatre is warm tone except the marquee. That bothers me a bit. Consistency! I absolutely hate cool tone lighting.

I’m betting these lights switch to different colors.

[Blesha13]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

I'm glad they're getting rid of the slide.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Bye, Skyslide. U.S. Bank Tower will get a $60-million redo that nixes the tourist attraction


Silverstein Properties, the owner of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles, plans to undertake $60 million worth of renovations to make the skyscraper completed in 1989 more appealing to today’s tenants. (Silverstein Properties)

By ROGER VINCENT | STAFF WRITER
MAY 21, 2021 5 AM PT

The owner of U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles will spend $60 million to upgrade and reposition the 73-story skyscraper that has been a prominent feature of the city skyline since was completed in 1989 but has labored to attract tenants in recent years.

Part of the makeover calls for ending aspirations to become a tourist venue by doing away with its long-closed public observation deck and a sky-high outdoor slide, dubbed Skyslide, between two of the top floors that was launched with fanfare in 2016 by the previous owner.


A rendering of the new lobby bar and reception area at U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles. The changes intend to make the spaces feel like a hotel.(Silverstein Properties)

New York developer Silverstein Properties, which bought the building last year for $430 million, hopes to make the imposing tower more appealing to businesses in creative fields that have often turned their backs on high-rises in favor of newer campus-like properties with outdoor space and leisure-oriented amenities.

Silverstein Properties plans to make a visit to U.S. Bank Tower feel more like being in a boutique hotel or high-end residential building than a corporate cathedral, said Jeremy Moss, head of leasing for the company. Hanging out will be encouraged.

“There will be a lot of opportunities for casual, soft seating for meetings or to escape and take a rest,” Moss said.

Among them will be a coffee lounge and a bar in the lobby. There will be large communal tables and patio seating at ground-level entrances intended to make the lobby more “permeable” and take advantage of L.A.'s temperate weather, he said.

The 54th floor, where people going higher must change elevators, will be turned into a lounge for tenants. It will have a fireplace, a co-working lounge with workstations, a bar, a grab-and-go cafe selling prepared food items and a full-service kitchen to cater meetings and private events.

The new tenant lounge will replace a floor previously dedicated to promoting Skyspace, a former tourist-oriented attraction on the 69th and 70th floors that included observation decks and the glassed-in 45-foot Skyslide hung outside the building that connected the two floors and offered a brief but hair-raising ride. Neither the glass attraction nor high-altitude yoga classes apparently were enough to bring in the masses.

Skyspace was closed before the pandemic and is not coming back, Moss said, in part because conversations with tenants revealed that they did not care for the former attraction.

“While there are examples of observation decks and tourist attractions coexisting with workspace, in this particular case I think that it was having too much of a negative impact on the experience that we wanted to create and preserve for the companies that are here,” he said.

The upper Skyspace floors will be reconverted to office space for rent, he said. The 1.4-million-square-foot building is 78% leased.

Companies, particularly in the entertainment and technology industries, have gravitated in recent years to offices in airy settings that bring an outdoor feeling into the workplace or allow people to relax or do some work in actual sunshine. Interest in low-density offices reportedly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Owners of some conventional high-rises that were built to serve the corporate culture of the 20th century have responded to the trend by making the outdoor spaces they do have more welcoming, with gardens, coffee stations, decks and seating meant to reverse the air of exclusivity prized by builders and tenants in the 1980s. Public spaces and private offices inside older buildings have been given softer edges.

“Even before the pandemic we saw a movement away from a lot of traditional office customs, whether it’s what people are wearing to work, bringing pets to work” or having convenient food options, Moss said. “A lot of it was designed to make work feel more like home so work became a more inviting place as opposed to a foreboding place.”

At U.S. Bank Tower, the upscale 71Above restaurant on the 71st floor is open and will continue to operate, Moss said. A large restaurant space on lower floors previously occupied by a Chinese restaurant will become Market Creations, a fast-casual eatery expected to open by Labor Day.

The other improvements to the building will take a year to 18 months, he said, and will also include upgrades to the gym, elevators and valet parking area of the garage.

The construction of U.S. Bank Tower was perhaps the most high-profile achievement of Maguire Thomas Partners, a Los Angeles real estate development company that was one of the largest in the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Founder Robert F. Maguire III died Tuesday. The skyscraper was first called Library Tower and was known for a time as First Interstate World Center.

Link: https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...moves-skyslide

They should build a 200 foot spire to reclaim its title as the city’s tallest 😉 have a colorful lit spire to complement the crown’s lights 😁