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Downtown LA Update - 5/9/2005

Full Speed Ahead

From Schools to Housing to Entertainment, Downtown Blazes With 123 Projects

by Chris Coates

Although some expected winter rains and the steadily spiking costs of raw materials to chill the pace of development in Downtown, nothing is further from the truth. In fact, more cranes, more constructions crews, and more creative new concepts than ever are spreading through Downtown Los Angeles.
Vibiana Place. Photo by Gary Leonard.

As proof, consider the 13 projects that have either been announced or gained prominence in just the last three months. There are plans for everything from new condominium towers (such as 1717 Olympic High Rise in City West) to light rail (an MTA proposal to connect Downtown to Culver City) to a big-budget bar (Bills, in the Historic Core). Lenders are ever more convinced that Downtown is a safe place to invest, and developers are following the money, while hoping to make some of their own.

Meanwhile, new construction is sprouting out of the ground and cranes are beginning to dot the skyline. Progress is continuing on the schools that will seat thousands of students, and throughout the entire community, apartment and condominium complexes are getting closer to completion. In just the next few months alone, residents will begin to move into Little Tokyo (at the Alexan Savoy), the Historic Core (Douglas Building), South Park (Metropolitan Lofts), City West (The Flats LA, in a renovated Holiday Inn) and other neighborhoods.

Need more? Just consider that along with the housing, there are cultural and entertainment projects underway. Perhaps the most exciting in the next few months will be the groundbreaking of the $1 billion LA Live development near Staples Center.

Of course, that is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. In the following pages Los Angeles Downtown News details the 123 projects that are forever altering the community.

NEW PROJECTS

These projects were announced or garnered public interest within the last three months.

ANGELS FLIGHT RECONSTRUCTION
Slow fundraising has stalled the start of the reconstruction of Angels Flight, the funicular railway linking Bunker Hill and the Historic Core. Construction now will likely start by July and finish in spring 2006, said John Welborne, president of the Angels Flight Railway Foundation. The short railway, which opened in its current location in 1996, closed after a Feb. 1, 2001 accident in which one car slid down the track and crashed into the other, killing one person and injuring seven. The two cars have been restored and are in storage. Volunteers recently started re-painting the railway's two station houses.

BILLS
The basement of the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank Building at 215 W. Sixth St. is being converted into a "speakeasy-style" bar by Two One Three, the company behind the popular Golden Gopher bar at Eighth and Olive streets. Bills, as it will be called, is being constructed in an immense bank vault that features 12-inch thick circular doors that were thought to be the thickest, strongest and largest in the world. The intricate inner workings can be viewed through a glass cover. The 6,000-square-foot basement will also feature white marble floors, walnut wood paneling, polished stainless steel walls and much of the original architecture. The $1 million cocktail lounge is expected to open in late summer, said owner Marc Smith. The bank building above is vacant, and is being proposed for residential use.

CHAPMAN BUILDING
Developer All Pacific Financial, Inc. plans to convert the 1913 Chapman Building at the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Broadway into condominiums. The 13-story building formerly housed garment businesses, and currently leases ground-floor space to retail tenants including a jewelry store. The developer is considering affordable units ranging from 500 to 600 square feet to meet demand from people making less than $100,000 a year. Plans include restoring the historic marble and columns throughout the building; construction could start by the end of the year. Architect Wade Killefer is designing the project.

ECO-VILLE
A developer is raising funds to create 40 live-work spaces on a 2.5-acre plot at Main and Llewellyn streets east of Cornfield State Park, said Jennifer Siegal, whose Office of Mobile Design is behind the project. The residential units, pitched to artists, would be fashioned out of prefabricated and converted shipping containers, stacked and arranged in an "S" pattern, with roof gardens and communal areas. Siegal said the developer, who does not want to be identified, is creating a master plan for the site.

EXPOSITION LIGHT RAIL
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board of directors last month approved up to $640 million for the Exposition Light Rail Transit Project. The eight-station, 9.6-mile line would run from the Metro Center at Seventh and Flower streets south through Exposition Park, then head west to a terminus at Venice and Robertson boulevards in Culver City. Construction could begin as soon as next year. The MTA is also proposing a second phase that would extend the line from Culver City to Santa Monica.

FOURTH STREET LOFTS
Construction could start as soon as this month on a 10-unit for-rent loft structure at Fourth Street and Lucas Avenue in City West. Brentwood-based Thomas Safran Associates is planning an 8,000-square-foot structure with four stories of residential units above a floor of parking, said project manager Andrew Gross. The one-bedroom apartments will range from 800 to 1,000 square feet and cost up to $2,000. The project sits on the staging area for Skyline Village, an affordable housing project the developer and Housing Corporation of America finished earlier this year. Construction is scheduled for a May 2006 completion.

HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES
Boyle Heights-based Homeboy Industries, a pioneering gang prevention program founded by Father Gregory Boyle, plans to break ground in August on a 20,000-square-foot building at Alameda and Bruno streets in Chinatown, said spokesman Michael Baca. The two-story building will house the entity's headquarters, a bakery and the 3,000-square-foot Homegirl Café and Catering. Homeboy Industries helps former and at-risk gang members with job training, counseling and job placement. The project is scheduled for a fall 2006 completion.

1717 OLYMPIC HIGH RISE
First-time Downtown developer the Hanover Company is building a 156-unit, ground-up project at 1717 W. Olympic Blvd. in City West. Plans from the Houston-based entity call for a 28-story tower with one- and two-bedroom market-rate apartments, said Kevin Batchelor, the development partner in charge of the project. The units will average 1,061 square feet; the company is still working on rental rates, Batchelor said. The project is being designed by RTKL Architects. Construction is scheduled to start this September, with a September 2007 completion, Batchelor said.

SHYBARRY TOWER
Developer Barry Shy said he plans to convert the 122,000-square-foot building at 215 W. Sixth St. into 84 condominiums. Units would range from 600 to 1,200 square feet. The project would include about 20,000 square feet of ground floor retail. Construction, which Shy pegged at $20 million, would last a year and could start as soon as June.

UNIVERSITY GATEWAY
Urban Partners is working on plans to turn a former used car lot at Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard into a $130 million mixed-use residential center for USC undergrads. University Gateway will house 1,658 students in 421 units. The building will also feature 83,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 1,029 parking spots. USC alumni Glenn Togawa and Timothy Smith of Pasadena-based Togawa & Smith are designing the project. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2006 with a fall 2008 completion, said Fred Jackson, a development associate with Urban Partners.

USC HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS
USC is tackling two projects on its Health Sciences Campus north of Downtown. Construction is scheduled to finish in April 2007 on the Harlyne Norris Cancer Research Tower, a 172,400-square-foot medical office building at Biggy Street and Eastlake Avenue. The eight-story building will serve the Keck School of Medicine, with five floors for research, two for preventive medicine, a conference center, atrium, lobby and landscaped courtyard. Additionally, crews will break ground next summer on the Institute for Genetic Medicine, a 225,000-square-foot biomedical research building. The project is scheduled for completion in early 2009, according to a USC timeline.

USC UNIVERSITY PARK CAMPUS
USC has committed $288 million to construction projects on its campus south of Downtown. The largest is the $70 million Galen Center, a 255,000-square-foot arena at Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard that broke ground in December. The 10,258-seat venue also includes a 45,000-square-foot pavilion with offices and practice courts. It is scheduled to open next summer. Other campus projects include the 17,750-square-foot Fine Arts Graduate Building at 3001 S. Flower St., set for a September completion, and the 100,000-square-foot Molecular and Computation Biology building near Vermont Avenue and 36th Place, which opened this month. In addition, the university is adding a new USC Credit Union branch at Flower Street and Exposition Boulevard and a 1,200-car parking structure. Another project, a 143,000-square-foot residential center for 440 students, will break ground in October, with completion scheduled in July 2007.

VERMONT SENIOR HOUSING
Construction is scheduled to start this month on a four-story building at 39th Street and Exposition Boulevard. The project by Century City-based developer Century Housing Corporation will add 140 mostly one-bedroom units, said spokesman Shelby Jordan. The development, for seniors over 62, includes ground-floor parking and common areas. The project is partly funded by a 2002 Housing and Urban Development grant. Completion is scheduled for September 2006.

RESIDENTIAL

FOR SALE

BISCUIT COMPANY LOFTS
Demolition is underway on Linear City's second condo project, and a building permit is expected in late June, said principal Yuval Bar-Zemer. The 1925 National Biscuit Company factory at 673 S. Mateo St. will contain 104 live-work units ranging from 750 square feet to 3,779 square feet. There will also be some three-level units with 1,500-square-foot gardens and private elevators. Features include hardwood floors, brick walls, oversized windows, 11-foot ceilings and a pool. Prices have not been determined. The seven-story project will set aside more than 3,000 square feet for retail, and is expected to open in July 2006. It is being designed by Santa Monica-based Aleks Istanbullu Architects.

BROADWAY EXCHANGE
Construction is about 70% complete on 69 units at the Broadway Exchange Building, said Project Manager Gabriel Frig. The 12-story structure at 219 W. Seventh St. was built in 1911 as the headquarters for the Bank of Italy, but retains almost none of its original Art Deco façade and architecture. Only the marble corridor and wooden doors on the sixth and seventh floors will be preserved, while the dark steel façade will be updated with a contemporary finish. Pricing has yet to be determined on the open loft-style studios and one-bedroom units. Construction crews are currently installing plumbing, electrical and drywall. Pre-sales are set to begin in the fall, with completion in the first quarter of 2006. The developer is Broadway Exchange Building, LLC. Architect Lucas Rios-Giordano & Associates is leading the design.

BROCKMAN BUILDING
Construction of the historic Brockman Building is about 65% complete, with the project's 80 condos expected to open in late fall, said Senior Project Manager Dan Yogel. Urban Pacific Builders has partnered with West Millennium Homes to develop the $21 million project at 530 W. Seventh St. Units in the 12-story edifice, also known as the Brooks Brothers Building, will start in the mid-$300,000 range, while penthouses with private rooftop decks and views of South Park could fetch more than $1 million. The project will include a spa and fitness center, community rooms and barbecues.

DOUGLAS BUILDING
Construction on the five-story Douglas Building at Third and Spring streets is nearing completion. The developer, Downtown Properties, plans to secure a temporary certificate of occupancy for four of the completed floors, with move-in expected by the end of May. The former office building, constructed in 1898 by prominent developer Thomas D. Stimson, is being converted into 50 high-end condos with German kitchens, hardwood floors and brick walls. The common areas will include an atrium, a dog park and 20,000 square feet of retail. The project has been delayed several months due to rainstorms and lengthy preservation of historic features. Units were sold out within the first few weeks. Rockefeller Architecture led the design.

EASTERN COLUMBIA LOFTS
A sales office and model unit are set to open June 1 for the striking Eastern Columbia Lofts at 849 S. Broadway. The Art Deco turquoise-and-gold terra cotta structure, which is being developed by the Kor Group, will be converted from offices into 147 condominiums by early 2006. Units will average 1,200 square feet with 11- to 14-foot ceilings. Amenities will include a rooftop fitness studio, leisure terrace, pool deck and fireplace. The development will also have retail space and possibly a restaurant. Kelly Wearstler Interior Design and Killefer Flammang Architects are spearheading the redesign. The building was constructed in 1930 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

810 GRAND LOFTS
As part of the existing 22-story Chase Plaza office complex at 801 S. Grand Ave., the Lee Group and CIM Group plan to redevelop floors 12-22 into 132 live-work condos. The units will have an open floor plan and will average about 1,500 square feet. Pricing has not been determined. Construction began a month ago and demolition of the upper floors is underway, said Jonathan Lonner, director of development for the Lee Group. A sales office for the lofts is scheduled to open on the bottom floor in the next few months, and prices are expected to be upwards of $500 per square foot. The ground floor will remain a lobby and will hold restaurant and retail space, while floors two through 11 will house offices. A new residential entrance will be crafted on the building's west side. Completion is set for the end of the year. Santa Monica-based Van Tilburg, Banvard and Soderbergh is the architect.

EL DORADO HOTEL
Downtown Properties, a consortium that includes investor Goodwin Gaw and developer Tom Gilmore, plans to begin construction in the fall on 65 condos. The units will start in the mid-$300,000s and exceed $1 million; sizes start at 850 square feet and top 1,700 square feet. The 12-story structure, vacant since 1998, once housed 264 rooms for low-income occupants. The distinct Gothic Revival design with Art Nouveau touches, ornate columns and grand staircases will be restored and modernized by Rockefeller Architecture.

1100 GRAND LOFTS
This 66-unit condo project is set to open in July, and is nearly sold out, said Jonathan Lonner, director of development for the Lee Group. The 81-year-old building at 330 W. 11th St. is being converted by developers the Lee Group and CIM Group. Most units in the $15 million project will consist of two bedrooms and will range from 1,151 to 2,609 square feet. Three additional floors have been added to the four-story structure, which once housed the UCLA Extension program. Santa Monica-based Killefer Flammang is the architect.

1100 WILSHIRE
Construction is underway on turning the top half of the wedge-shaped office tower at Bixel Street and Wilshire Boulevard into 228 condominiums. Developed by Hampton Development, TMG Partners and Forest City Residential West, plans call for a mix of dual-level (660 to 1,980 square feet) and single-level (700 to 1,200 square feet) condominiums. The 27-story, triangular office tower atop a 15-level, nearly windowless parking garage has been largely vacant since it was constructed in 1987. The project is slated for completion in spring 2006, though the first phase of occupancy will begin late this year, said senior project manager Greg Lebon.

HOPE CONDOS
Los Angeles-based Venice Development Group is in the planning stages for a $60 million ground-up condominium tower at Hope Street and Olympic Boulevard, said General Manager Sean Marouf. The Killefer Flammang-designed development would feature 200 condominiums in 18 stories, with two floors of parking. The building would total about 300,000 square feet and take 18 months to build, Marouf said.

MAYFAIR HOTEL
Officials from L.A. Property Investment & Management Group did not return calls regarding the residential conversion of the Best Western Mayfair hotel at 1256 W. Seventh St. in City West. Past accounts said the developers are looking to convert the 294-room hotel into 250 condominiums.

MOLINO STREET LOFTS
Most of the 30 lofts being constructed by the Kor Group in an existing artist-in-residence structure at Fourth and Mateo streets were reserved early this month. The Arts District development currently contains 61 live-work rental units in two adjoining 1920s warehouse buildings. The Molino Street Lofts will feature condominiums ranging from 900 to 3,700 square feet. Construction is set to wrap by the end of this year.

OLIVE STREET LOFTS
Developers CIM Group and the Lee Group are still in the entitlement process for this 17-story, ground-up condo tower. Plans call for the $35 million project at 11th and Olive streets to rise on a vacant lot; it will feature 105 units ranging from 700 square feet to 1,500 square feet. Olive Lofts will include ground floor retail and a skycourt. Construction is expected to last 15 to 18 months. This is the fourth Downtown project on which the developers have partnered.

PAN AMERICAN LOFTS
Urban Pacific Builders is developing 40 high-end lofts at the northwest corner of Third Street and Broadway. Phoenix Realty Group and Bank of America are financing the $13 million project, which is expected to come online by January 2006. Demolition is complete and crews are beginning interior framing and structural retrofitting. Floor plans range from 675 to 1,300 square feet, and prices will start in the low $300,000 range. The edifice, formerly known as the Irvine Byrne Building, will feature a recreation room and gym, as well as historic features like copper elevators, brick walls and hardwood floors. Ten penthouses will come with private roof decks. The Beaux Arts-style structure was designed by Sumner Hunt, and in the 1940s housed a Mexican consulate. It is just north of Grand Central Market and the Million Dollar Theatre.

ROWAN BUILDING
The Beaux Arts-style building at 458 S. Spring St. will be converted into more than 200 units beginning this fall, with condominiums ranging from 500 square feet to more than 1,000 square feet. Developer Downtown Properties is pricing the units from the high $200,000s to $700,000. Built in 1912, the Rowan once housed stock brokerages and law firms. Killefer Flammang is the architect.

SEVEN WEST
Developer Bret Mosher of Seven West LLC said he is awaiting permits from the city for a 62-unit condominium project at 1401 W. Seventh St. in City West. Mosher said he hopes to start construction by January 2006, with completion by early 2008. Plans are still being worked out, he said, but designs call for the five-story building to hold 3,000 square feet of retail space. Mosher would not give a cost for the project. Killefer Flammang is the architect.

SHYBARRY LOFTS
Demolition is complete in the residential conversion of the building at 548 S. Spring St. (known at times as Barry's Lofts II, the Wilson Building, and the 548 Building). Developer Barry Shy, who is partnering with Albion Pacific on the $25 million project, is turning the property into 84 condominiums with units ranging from 700 to 1,100 square feet. The Historic Core project is slated for completion in May 2006.

SKY LOFTS
Developer Linear City plans to start construction in the first quarter of 2006 on 125 condos, said principal Yuval Bar-Zemer. The 12-story, ground-up project will be built on the same plot as the company's Biscuit Company Lofts at 673 S. Mateo St. Units will start at 600 square feet and will top out at 1,800 square feet. Pricing for the contemporary-style lofts has not yet been determined. The project will include terraced roof gardens, a swimming pool and a landscaped breezeway that cuts through the building's center. Construction is expected to last 18 months. German architect Behnisch, Behnisch and Partner will design the Sky Lofts.

SOUTH/ELLEVEN
The first of three ground-up condo towers being developed by the South Group near Staples Center, the $85 million Elleven is expected to be completed in April 2006. The 13-story tower at 11th Street and Grand Avenue will feature 176 lofts and four live-work townhomes, most of which have been sold. Floor plans range from 850 to 2,800 square feet and units will cost from $300,000 to more than $1 million. The project broke ground last year, and the basement through fourth floors have been completed, with the fifth floor underway. Elleven is Downtown's first new residential building to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

SOUTH/LUMA
Construction on the second phase of South - a tower called Luma - is scheduled to start this month, with occupancy set for early 2007, according to developer the South Group. The 19-story, ground-up tower at the southeast corner of Eleventh and Hope streets will house 236 condominiums, including two-story live-work townhomes, as well as four levels of parking. The $80 million endeavor will feature a more sophisticated, upscale urban design than the project's first phase, though the two will share some amenities. Building permits are expected in the next few months.

SOUTH/THIRD PHASE
Construction on the final phase of South is set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2005, with anticipated occupancy in fourth quarter 2007, according to developer the South Group. About 311 loft-style condominiums, including two-story live-work townhomes accessible from the street, will be constructed in a 23-story building at the northwest corner of 12th Street and Grand Avenue. The $100 million project (currently unnamed) will include five levels of secured parking above and below ground. It will share almost the entire block with the previous phases, Elleven and Luma, and will include an 8,500-square-foot pedestrian mid-block connection.

TERAMACHI SENIOR HOUSING
Framing is complete on the first floor of the $35 million Teramachi Senior Housing, said developer Thomas Wong. The 127-condominium project on the northwest corner of Third and San Pedro streets in Little Tokyo will offer upscale housing for people 55 and older. Units range from 775 to 2,100 square feet. Amenities include a swimming pool, spa, exercise room and courtyard gardens. The structure will contain three retail tenants on the ground floor and one level of subterranean parking. Some tenants will be from the nearby Senshin Buddhist Temple. The project is scheduled for completion in November 2006.

1010 WILSHIRE BUILDING
Construction could start in October on the residential conversion of the building at 1010 Wilshire Blvd. in City West, said project manager Ali Afshar. Redwood City-based Amidi Real Estate Group plans to convert portions of the 17-story office building into as many as 250 for-sale units. Designs by Santa Monica-based architect Killefer Flammang call for turning 13 floors into 800- to 1,200-square-foot condominiums with 15% priced as affordable housing. The project will include four levels of parking, a swimming pool, a recreation area and possibly a health club. Telecommunications company SBC currently leases the entire building from Amidi. The lease expires in July when the company finishes moving 850 employees to the SBC Tower in South Park. Afshar said the project is in the entitlement phase. They hope to finish by February 2006.

RESIDENTIAL

FOR RENT

ALEXAN SAVOY
Construction of the first phase of the $65 million Alexan Savoy at First and Alameda streets near Little Tokyo is nearly complete, said Alex Wong, project manager for Costa Mesa-based developer Trammell Crow Residential. Early move-in for the 303 apartments is scheduled for August, with full occupancy by December. Rents start at $1,400. Wong said construction of the project's second and third phases is scheduled to start this summer. The second phase will add 117 condominiums; the third will create 210 condominiums.

BROADWAY PLAZA LOFTS
The conversion of the Blackstone Department Store into 82 lofts is about 65% complete, said Wolfgang Kupka, president of developer Vista Realty Advisors. He said the project at 901 E. Broadway should be finished by November. Designs call for converting the 89-year-old complex into 400- to 1,200-square-foot units ranging from $700 to $2,300. About 16 will be set aside for affordable housing. Plans also call for keeping the ground floor businesses, which include a cellular phone store, an accounting firm, a florist and a travel agent, and restoring the buildings façade and sidewalks. Last year, the Los Angeles Conservancy awarded Vista Realty Advisors $100,000 to rehabilitate the building. The 1916 structure was designed by John Parkinson, who drafted plans for Union Station, the Coliseum and City Hall.

COULTER AND MANDELL BUILDINGS
The opening of the 137,000-square-foot Coulter and Mandell Buildings at 500-518 W. Seventh St. has been pushed back to July from April, said developer George Peykar. The 88-year-old Jewelry District properties, which once held offices and a dry-goods store, are being converted into 55 live-work lofts and 28,000 square feet of ground floor retail. Peykar purchased the structures in 2003 for $8 million.

EMERALD TERRACE
The site of the Emerald Terrace project at Lucas Avenue and Emerald Street is undergoing site clearance, said Nancy Morris, a spokeswoman for Meta Housing, a Westwood-based developer partnering on the deal with Century Housing of Culver City. Construction should start in August, Morris said. Plans call for a four-story multifamily apartment complex with 85 units, all affordable. The $21 million development is set for completion in November 2006. Meta is also behind the Northwest Gateway apartment complex one block north, on the corner of Lucas Avenue and Glendale Boulevard.

HARTFORD PROJECT
Construction is scheduled to start in September on the $13.7 million affordable housing complex at San Lucas and Fourth streets, just west of the 110 Freeway, said Dora Leong Gallo, chief executive officer of nonprofit A Community of Friends. Designed by architect Killefer Flammang, the 54-unit complex will contain mostly three- and four-bedroom units, as well as a Boys & Girls Club to serve the students of an elementary school being built next door. Construction should wrap in September 2006.

JAMES WOOD APARTMENTS
Construction could start as soon as this month on a 61-unit affordable housing project in City West. 1010 Development Corp., the development arm of First United Methodist Church, is building the project on two lots on opposite sides of the street; one at 1322 and the other at 1405 James M. Wood Blvd. The project includes 40 two-bedroom units, 21 three-bedroom units, 1,340 square feet of office space, a 1,740-square-foot community room and a childcare center for 45 students. Kelle Rose, a community liaison for the developer, said construction is scheduled to wrap in September 2006. Pasadena-based Ken Kurose Architects is designing the $16.7 million development.

LIBRARY COURT
The conversion of the University Club building in the Financial District into 90 units should be complete by September, said Jenny Cunningham, a representative of Newport Beach-based Greystone Group. The $20 million project is turning the 630 W. Sixth St. structure into high-end one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as five townhouses with a private entrance on Hope Street. Units will rent from $1,500 to $2,600 a month. Named Library Court for its proximity to the Richard J. Riordan Central Library, the building's exterior features a new glass curtain wall in combination with the existing marble. The property also includes an 11,000-square-foot retail space that could house a restaurant. The complex will contain two levels of underground parking.

LOFTS AT THE SECURITY BUILDING
Pre-leasing should start this month for units in the $28 million residential conversion of the Security Bank building, said Bernard Sandalow, a spokesman for Long Beach-based developer Simpson Housing Solutions. Construction is scheduled to finish by July. The 99-year-old structure at 510 S. Spring St. in the Historic Core has 153 lofts with floor plans ranging from 630 to 1,850 square feet. Twenty percent of the units will be priced as affordable housing.

LORENZO
Brentwood-based developer GH Palmer Associates still intends to build a 600-unit apartment complex on Sixth Street between St. Paul and Bixel streets in City West, said the company's executive vice president, Peter Novak. Although Lorenzo is in the planning stages, Novak said the developer is looking for a summer 2007 completion.

MAIN MERCANTILE BUILDING
The completion date on the loft conversion of the six-story building at 620 S. Main St. has been pushed back from May to July, said Renee Elias, director of finance for developer Oxford Street Properties. The developer is adding 35 to 40 housing units as part of an $8 million transformation of the 75,060-square-foot edifice. The industrial-style lofts will average 1,200 to 1,300 square feet and rent for $1,100 to $2,200. Construction is about 75% complete.

MERCANTILE ARCADE BUILDING
The $15 million residential conversion of the Arcade Building at 541 S. Spring St. is scheduled for completion by early 2006, said Ramon Nicolas, an accountant with Fifth Street Funding. The developer is turning the 12-story Beaux Arts-style structure, also known as the Broadway-Spring Arcade, into 143 market-rate lofts. Each of the building's two towers, which are separated by an interior retail arcade that stretches from Spring Street to Broadway, will house six one- and two-bedroom apartments per floor. The 195,000-square-foot edifice will function as a mixed-use project, a concept common when the structure was built in 1924. Architects David Denton and Killefer Flammang designed the project.

METRO 417
The $60 million residential conversion of the former Subway Terminal Building at 417 S. Hill St. is scheduled to be completed by August, said Kevin Ratner, senior project manager for developer Forest City Residential West. Plans call for 277 luxury live-work lofts in the 626,000-square-foot edifice, which was the underground terminus of the Pacific Electric Railroad and held 600 offices. The studio, one- and two-bedroom units range from 450 to 2,200 square feet. The 80-year-old structure will also feature three penthouses and a 108,000-square-foot parking garage. AC Martin Partners is the architect.

METROPOLITAN LOFTS
The $50 million Metropolitan Lofts in South Park is scheduled to finish by August, said Kevin Ratner, project manager for developer Forest City Residential West. The eight-story ground-up development will have 264 one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 700 to 1,400 square feet. Market-rate apartments will go for $1,400 to $2,800; 52 affordable units will have rents beginning at $500. The F-shaped structure at Flower and 11th streets will also have 11,500 square feet of retail space. Pre-leasing started this month. Johnson Fain Partners is the architect.

NINTH AND FIGUEROA
Developer Sonny Astani is seeking entitlements for a mixed-used complex in South Park, said Brenda Rodriguez, a representative from Astani's Beverly Hills office. Proposals call for two, 15-story apartment and condominium towers with around 450 units, 40,000 square feet of retail and 1,200 parking spaces. The project would rise at the southeast corner of Ninth and Figueroa streets near Staples Center. Astani purchased the property last October for $29 million from Equitable Life Assurance Society.

NORTHWEST GATEWAY
Crews are preparing the site at Second Street and Glendale Boulevard for the 276-unit, mixed-income Northwest Gateway apartments. Graffiti covered walls on the property have been torn down. The $55 million development will include studio, one- and two-bedroom floor plans, and such amenities as a community room, computer lab, pool, spa, dog park, fitness center and two levels of underground parking. Developer Meta Housing hopes to start construction this month, with a completion by January 2007, said spokeswoman Nancy Morris. Construction has been delayed twice because of permit filing errors. Community groups failed in efforts to turn the site - the former Toluca train yard and Belmont tunnel, which runs beneath Bunker Hill - into an art park. A mechanic's garage, demolished in January, also sat on the plot. Last September, the city's Cultural Heritage Commission designated the tunnel a Historical Cultural Monument. Developers said they will keep the tunnel intact, although it will not be open to the public.

ORSINI II
GH Palmer Associates plans to break ground this month on the ground-up Orsini II at 505 N. Figueroa Street, said Peter Novak, executive vice president of the Brentwood-based developer. Plans call for 600 luxury studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments with rents ranging from $1,250 for studios to $1,725 for two-bedrooms. The development is part of Palmer's three-phase Orsini. The project is scheduled for a May 2007 opening, Novak said.

PACIFIC ELECTRIC BUILDING
Crews are working on the final phase of the $60 million conversion of the nine-story Pacific Electric Building into 314 lofts, said Lourdes Hernandez, a representative from Downtown-based developer ICO Investment Group. The project is about 90% complete, with crews working on the eighth and ninth floors of the 610 S. Main St building, Hernandez said. Plans by architect Killefer Flammang call for 650- to 3,200-square-foot lofts, a gym and roof garden. The 482,000-square-foot Historic Core structure was built in 1908 and was once the terminal for the Pacific Electric Railway. The building also houses Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet. The first phase of the project should be complete by June.
PACIFIC EXCHANGE BUILDING
Efforts to convert the Pacific Exchange building into residential and construct two 30-story towers near the City West plot at Third Street and Beaudry Avenue are still in the design phase, said Michael Delijani, general manager for developer Golden Hills Properties. West Los Angeles-based Nadel Architects is designing the 850-apartment and condominium project. The developer purchased the boxy, 10-story building, the former home of the Pacific Stock Exchange, in the late 1990s. It consists of eight levels of parking, the trading floor and a single level of offices. Although the developers have not secured permits, Delijani said construction would take place in three phases, with the first beginning in early 2006.

PACKARD LOFTS
Crews are in the final phase of construction on the $50 million conversion of a former Packard car dealership into 116 market-rate lofts, said Sean Marouf, project manager for developer Venice Investments. The development at Hope Street and Olympic Boulevard should be complete by the end of August. Units will range from 750 to 2,000 square feet and rent for $1,400 to $2,800. The project also includes a 25,000-square-foot ground-floor storefront space and a 450-car indoor garage.

RESERVE
Crews are in the final phases of construction on the $13 million residential conversion of the nine-story Federal Reserve Bank building at Olympic Boulevard and Olive Street in South Park (the project was formerly known as Olympic Lofts). Developer Maz Gilardian said crews are installing appliances, granite countertops and utility lines in the building's 79 luxury live-work lofts. The units will average about 1,000 square feet and rent for $2,000, Gilardian said. A restaurant and bar are also planned for the ground floor of the 85-year-old structure. The building is scheduled for completion at the end of this month.

SCI-ARC LOT
A hearing is scheduled for May 19 in Los Angeles Superior Court over a 15-acre plot in the Arts District just west of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) along Traction Avenue. The school had been using the empty parcel as a parking lot. In 2004, developer Merco Group paid Dynamic Builders $12.5 million for the land; Merco planned to build a mixed-use development of rental and condominium units on the site. School representatives contend there was a verbal agreement that portions of the site would be sold to SCI-Arc. Richard Meruelo of Merco Group and Dynamic officials deny an offer was made. Efforts to resolve the issue have failed. The case lists SCI-Arc as the plaintiff and Merco Group and Dynamic Builders as defendants. Elizabeth Mann, an attorney for SCI-Arc, said the bench trial should take no more than 10 days. Meruelo said that, depending on the outcome of the litigation, construction of the project could begin as soon as the end of the year.

SECOND AND CENTRAL
Crews are pouring the concrete base of the six-story, 128-unit complex on a small plot in Little Tokyo, said Gino Canori, project manager for the Related Companies. The development will contain studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments. The luxury complex will include a pool, spa, fitness center and 12,500 square feet of retail. Units will range from 400 to 1,100 square feet, with the average apartment renting for $2.45 per square foot. About 20 units will be priced as low-income housing. The development broke ground last June and is aimed at students from USC and SCI-Arc, empty nesters and young professionals working in the nearby Financial District and Civic Center. The project is a joint venture between New York-based Related and San Francisco-based MacFarlane Partners. Canori said the project is slated for a March 2006 completion, although crews are pushing for an earlier date.

TEXERE PLAZA
Construction finished May 1 on Texere Plaza, a project by Fortuna Asset Management that is turning three Figueroa Corridor buildings on the block bounded by Flower, Figueroa, 22nd and 23rd streets into a $10 million complex, said leasing manager Jean Bogena. The development includes 62 lofts in a three-story building fronting 23rd Street. Units range from 520 to 1,106 square feet. The plot also includes a one-story warehouse, retail buildings and a 200-space parking lot at 23rd and Figueroa streets. Several businesses have signed leases, Bogena said.

THE FLATS LA
The conversion of the 205-room Holiday Inn at 750 Garland Ave. in City West into studio apartments should be complete this month, said Stephen Shapleigh of Newport Beach-based owner MKT Community Development. About 85% of the apartments in the 1960s-era structure will be priced at $1,200 a month, though some will cost up to $2,000. The developer is also considering providing hotel-like amenities such as room service, a restaurant, a salon and even a bartender who can pour a martini for a resident who's had a long day.

THE UNION
Construction is scheduled to start this month on the conversion of the former Union Bank headquarters at 325 W. Eighth St. into 91 apartments, said Rob McRitchie, a partner with developer the Heisman Company. Plans by architect Killefer Flammang call for units ranging from 450 to 1,400 square feet and renting for an average $1,600 a month. The transformation of the 68-year-old edifice is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2006, McRitchie said.

TITLE GUARANTEE BUILDING
Construction is slated to start in June on the $25 million conversion of the Title Guarantee Building at 411 W. Fifth St., said developer Daniel Swartz. Plans are still being worked out as to whether the units will be condominiums or apartments, Swartz said. Floor plans by Killefer Flammang call for 74 lofts starting at 800 square feet with one 4,000-square-foot unit in the building's tower. Ceilings would be exposed concrete and range from 10 to 14 feet. Swartz, who purchased the 12-story structure in 1983 for $9 million, bought out his investors' interest in the property. Architects John and David Parkinson modeled the Art Deco- and Gothic-inspired edifice after the Tribune Tower in Chicago. Built in 1930, the property is perhaps best known for Hugo Ballin's murals in the lobby. The structure, the former home of Spanish language newspaper La Opinión, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Swartz said construction is scheduled to finish in the first quarter of 2006.

TUSCANY
After delays due to rains earlier this year, developers from Los Angles-based Conquest Student Housing expect to start framing next month on the 300,000-square-foot, 120-unit student apartment complex at 3760 S. Figueroa St. near USC. Construction on the $40 million project began in July and should be complete by June 2006, said principal Alan Smolinisky. The five-story complex will house 512 students in one- to four-bedroom apartments. Amenities will include steam rooms, saunas, tanning beds, satellite television, a gym, sundeck, study lounge, dry cleaning, and maid and tutoring services. Smolinisky said Conquest has also secured leases for the project's 15,000 square feet of retail space from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Coldstone Creamery, Quiznos Subs, Pick Up Stix and Robek's. Rent will be $600 per student. Conquest owns 18 apartment buildings around USC.

UNION STATION VILLAGE
Crews are in the framing stage on the first phase of a $34 million housing complex at Alameda Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue near Union Station, said John Faulk, director of development and acquisitions for Newport Beach-based Lincoln Property Company. Excavation on the 2.75-acre plot started last June; the project will consist of two, five-story structures that will house 278 units. Sixty percent of the apartments will be one bedroom and the remainder will be two bedrooms, all ranging from 640 to 1,400 square feet. The complex will feature a rooftop pool and spa, along with a ground-floor exercise facility and computer center. A bridge will connect the housing complex to Union Station. Faulk said the first phase should be ready by October, with the second phase finished by January.

VICTOR CLOTHING LOFTS
The residential conversion of the five-story former home of the Victor Clothing Co. at 242 S. Broadway was scheduled to begin in February. Representatives of the non-profit Neighborhood Efforts have discussed plans for 38 live-work lofts ranging from 900 to 1,600 square feet. The building is best known for its exterior wall mural of Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Greek. The developers have said they hope to restore the mural.

VILLA VERONA
Crews are excavating a plot on Wilshire Boulevard between Bixel and Witmer streets, just west of the 110 Freeway, for a 250,000-square-foot project. Plans by developer Sonny Astani call for a six-story structure with 234 lofts, 10,000 square feet of retail and 450 parking spots. The development includes 35 workforce apartments. Brenda Rodriguez, a representative from Beverly Hills-based Astani Enterprises, said construction should be complete by July 2006.

VISCONTI
The ground-up, $45 million construction of 297 units at Third and Bixel streets in City West is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2006, said Peter Novak, executive vice president of developer GH Palmer Associates. The project broke ground in December and excavation was completed earlier this year. Crews are now pouring the foundation, Novak said. Last year, the developer agreed to pay $2.8 million to the city; this will exempt the firm from including low-income units in the Visconti, and allow them to convert 60 low-income units in another Downtown project, the Medici, into market-rate apartments.

WILSHIRE COURT
Developer Holland Partners of Vancouver, Wash., has begun excavation for a two-tower ground-up apartment complex in City West. The four-story building at Bixel Street and Wilshire Boulevard will house 108 units. A second, five-story, 93-unit tower will rise just south, at Bixel and Ingraham streets. The two buildings will be linked with a skybridge. The development will include two- and three-bedroom units averaging 800 square feet. Principal Tom Warren said the project is scheduled for a summer, 2006 opening. This marks Holland Partners' first project in Downtown Los Angeles.

MIXED USE


BLOSSOM PLAZA
A groundbreaking is scheduled for next summer on the site of the former Little Joe's restaurant (it closed in 1998) at Alameda and College streets; the property will be turned into a mixed-use complex known as Blossom Plaza. The development is a collaboration between the city and private developers. The city purchased the plot for $4.7 million from owners Laeroc Partners and Bond Companies. Plans call for a parking garage, as well as a pedestrian bridge linking the adjacent Chinatown Gold Line station to Broadway. Construction on the parking garage is set to begin this summer and last a year. Laeroc and Bond retained the air rights to build on top of the garage. Larry Bond, who heads Bond Companies, said the housing will be compatible with Chinatown's design. Construction will last about two years, he said. Ultimately, Blossom Plaza could connect with another mixed-use development on the site of the Capitol Milling Building.

CAPITOL MILLING BUILDING
Plans are in place to convert the 60,000-square-foot Capitol Milling Company building into a mixed-use development. Steve Riboli of S&R Partners plans to turn the 1231 N. Spring St. building into 40 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail. Riboli is working with Larry Bond, who is developing the nearby multi-million dollar mixed-use Blossom Plaza, on creating a public space to fuse the two sites. Riboli said he would not begin construction until Blossom Plaza is completed in 2006 or 2007. The structure is a former grain mill and silo. The plans are part of the large-scale Riverview Project at the Cornfield, a mixed-use development on a triangular piece of land stretching from College Street to the Los Angeles River. The four-phase project would use the Capitol Milling Building as a southern anchor and include up to 300 residential units in four four-story ground-up structures, said John Deenihan, a principal with Downtown-based Rothenberg Sawasy Architects, who is designing the project. Construction is not scheduled to start until at least 2007. The Riboli family also owns the San Antonio Winery north of Chinatown.

GRAND AVENUE PLAN
The Joint Powers Authority on May 23 is scheduled to consider the $1.2 billion plan to turn a strip of Grand Avenue into a massive multi-use project. New York-based Related Companies has conducted numerous public meetings, and is moving forward on plans to turn the street, from Cesar Chavez on the north to the Richard J. Riordan Central Library at Fifth Street on the south, into a collection of high-rise apartments, hotels, offices, clubs and cafes. The development includes what are expected to be massive structures and 3 million square feet of space, mainly rising on two county-owned and two city-owned parcels

HERALD EXAMINER BUILDING
Plans for the former home of the city's last afternoon newspaper are still in limbo. Developer Urban Partners is exploring the possibility of turning the 1914 property at 11th Street and Broadway into a mixed-use development, with retail and office space, as well as for-sale and rental properties, said Devan Pailet, a development executive for the company. The property consists of three buildings, and has been largely empty since the newspaper shut down on Nov. 2, 1989. Urban Partners is working with the building's owner, San Francisco-based Hearst Corporation, to create a plan for the complex.

MEDALLION
The groundbreaking of a 207,000-square-foot mixed-use project at Fourth and Main streets in the Historic Core has been pushed back. Developers Saeed Farkhondehpour and Morad Neman now hope to break ground in September on the $125 million Medallion, which will include 375 market-rate rental units and 200,000 square feet of retail space in two 11-story towers. One would rise on the northeast corner of Fourth and Main, across the street from Pete's Café and Bar, and the other at Third and Main. Units would average 850 square feet, with rents from $2 to $3 per square foot. The complex would include three commercial structures of up to three stories. About 25 housing units fronting Main and Los Angeles streets would be scattered on the upper floors. The project would also include a two-acre courtyard and park. M2A Architects and Leo A Daly are the architects. Farkhondehpour said he hopes construction will wrap in mid-2007.

METROPOLIS
City Centre Development Company is moving though the entitlement process for a project on a 6.3-acre plot bounded by Ninth and Francisco streets, said Executive Vice President John Vallance. Construction is expected to start in early 2006 on the first phase, which will include a 53-story building with 548 apartments and 25,000 square feet of retail. Phase two calls for a 47-story structure with 288 apartments, a 480-room hotel and 10,000 square feet of retail. The third phase envisions a 38-story tower with more than 893,000 square feet of office space, 11,000 square feet of retail and a 95,000-square-foot space for a cultural institution. The project originally had a larger office component and retail elements, but was downsized after negotiations with the Community Redevelopment Agency in favor of more residential units. Construction on the first phase is expected to last two years.

SANTEE COURT
Construction is slated to wrap Dec. 17 on the second phase of Santee Court, a $130 million conversion of nine former garment factories in the Fashion District, said developer Mark Weinstein of Santa Monica-based MJW Investments. Crews in January started demolishing the interiors of the Textile Center Building at 315 E. Eighth St. and the Gray Building at 824 S. Los Angeles St. to make way for 299 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail. The three-phase mixed-use and mixed-income project will eventually add 578 units to three blocks bounded by Los Angeles, Seventh and Ninth streets and Maple Avenue. The first portion, with 165 apartments, opened last year and is 90% leased. There is also a Rite-Aid drugstore. Construction on the final 80-condominium phase should start before July, with construction scheduled to wrap in 2007, said Weinstein. The entire project includes about 780,000 square feet of live-work lofts, shops and restaurants, with amenities including a basketball court and a golf driving range. MJW Investments has secured a 70-year lease allowing it to build a parking structure on Maple for Santee Court tenants. The lot would also serve as a staging area for MTA buses.

SOUTH VILLAGE/RALPHS
Excavation started late last month on Market Top Flats, the grocery store and condominium component of South Village, a $220 million mixed-use project that is transforming a 7.2-acre plot bounded by Eight, Ninth, Flower and Hope streets. Construction will start this summer on the six-story building, which includes the 50,000-square-foot Ralphs grocery store and 267 condominiums. The Lee Group is the project's housing developer, while CIM will oversee financing and the development of 10,000 square feet of retail along Ninth Street. The first phase, the 251-unit Gas Company Lofts at 800, 810 and 820 S. Flower St., opened last year. Phase three, estimated at $21 million, would develop 152 rental lofts and 25,000 square feet of retail on the southwest corner of Eighth and Hope streets. Phase four, estimated at $90 million, would develop sites that flank the supermarket on the northwest corner of Ninth and Flower, as well as a vacant parcel on the northeast corner of that block. Two new buildings would be constructed with 520 for-sale units and another 30,000 square feet of retail. Construction of Market Top Flats is expected to take about two years.

VIBIANA PLACE
Construction is nearly complete on the $4 million Little Tokyo branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, which fronts Main Street. It is expected to open this month. It sits in front of St. Vibiana's Cathedral, the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Archdiocese; the 1876 structure is being converted into a performing arts center to be programmed by California State University-Los Angeles. The cathedral had been shuttered following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Future plans for the property could include a residential element, said developer Tom Gilmore of Gilmore Associates. A hotel and restaurant could also be part of the project.

CIVIC


CITY CENTER REDEVELOPMENT PLAN
An Appellate Court ruling last month cut the proposed City Center Redevelopment Plan from 879 to 119 acres. The original area included portions of South Park, the Historic Core, and the Fashion, Jewelry, Flower and Toy districts. But last summer, a Superior Court judge ruled that the project area overlaps with the Central Business District Redevelopment Area, established in 1977; that capped out several years ago. The appellate decision will reduce the tax revenue expected to be generated during the 30-year life of the plan from $2.4 billion to an estimated $75 million. The original proposal would have produced 12,900 housing units (25% of them low-income) and 6.7 million square feet of commercial and industrial space. About 1,500 SRO housing units would have been rehabilitated. The case has been sent back to the trial courts. Proceedings could take more than a year.

CIVIC CENTER FIRE STATION NO. 4
Construction is scheduled to start by early 2006 on a seven-bay fire station on the south side of Temple Street at Alameda Street, said Eileen Espinoza, an office clerk for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The 40,000-square-foot Fire Station No. 4 will include a dispatch center. It will replace the fire station at 800 N. Main St. The project has been funded through past bond measures approved by voters. GKK Dommer and Fluor/HOK are the architects. The project should be complete by 2008, said Espinoza.

CORNFIELD STATE PARK
The installation of a temporary art exhibit is rising on the Cornfield. Santa Monica artist Lauren Bon designed the $2 million project, which is turning a 32-acre portion of the land into an exhibit that will include a field of harvest corn, a hot air balloon, a loop trail and picnic benches. The former Southern Pacific Railroad yard has been largely vacant for years; the state purchased it in 2001 for $30 million after previous attempts to turn it into an industrial park were rejected. The site is bounded by North Broadway, North Spring Street and the Los Angeles River. Community leaders and an advisory committee have hammered out a 15-page general plan for the site, which they are submitting to the California State Parks and Recreation Commission this summer. The temporary park, state officials said, will serve the community while a larger park is being approved and constructed.

FEDERAL BUILDING
The upgrade of elevators in the federal building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2006, said Bethany Rich Kirchhoff, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration. The improvements are part of a $90 million renovation of the 37-year-old structure. The rest of the building will receive a seismic upgrade and improvements including new fire safety systems, ceilings, energy-efficient lighting, signage, security systems, elevators and the removal of hazardous materials. The building houses more than 8,000 employees of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

FEDERAL COURTHOUSE
General Service Administration (GSA) officials have completed the first step in a two-phase process to secure a builder for a 1 million-square-foot courtroom at First Street and Broadway, said GSA spokeswoman Bethany Rich Kirchhoff. For the second phase, teams have been invited to submit pricing proposals; a contract will be awarded in November, said Kirchhoff. Plans call for a 17-story building with 41 courtrooms, 40 judges' chambers and office space for federal agencies. The government purchased the 3.6-acre site from the state of California for $2.5 million. The project is budgeted at $314 million and construction would last five years.

GOLD LINE EASTSIDE EXTENSION
The $899 million Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension is on schedule for a December 2009 completion, said Ed Scannell, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Construction began in February on the Little Tokyo/Arts District station at the 101 Freeway and Alameda Street. Plans call for replacing on- and off-ramps at Hewitt and Vignes streets and the construction of a bridge over the freeway to carry the light rail. That segment should be ready by winter 2007. The six-mile line will include eight stations and will connect Union Station to Pomona/Atlantic in East L.A. Residents of the densely populated corridor have waited for the line for nearly a decade. Transit officials say it could carry as many as 23,000 daily riders.

HALL OF JUSTICE
Plans for the estimated $127 million renovation and safety upgrades of the Hall of Justice at 500 W. Temple St. are moving through the approval process, said John Edmisten, a division chief in the county's Chief Administrative Office. An Environmental Impact Report has been approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and should be in front of the Board of Supervisors by July, Edmisten said. The board last summer decided to break up the approval and construction process over a three-year period. Supervisors must approve each phase of construction. Renderings would take about six months to prepare before approval could be given and construction could start. The 400,000-square-foot Hall of Justice, bounded by Temple, Spring, Broadway and the 101 Freeway, was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Construction is expected to take about two years, putting the building's earliest completion date at winter 2008.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS
The Environmental Impact Report for the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters at First and Spring streets is out for public comment, said Eva Kandarpa, spokeswoman for Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry. The process should wrap up by mid-June. The former Caltrans site was earmarked by the city, but has faced opposition from some area residents who complained the location was chosen without their input. They have urged the city to follow through with earlier plans to build a park on the site. The new headquarters will replace the earthquake-damaged Parker Center.

TAYLOR YARD
Grading is complete on a 40-acre park in Cypress Park near the Los Angeles River, said Sean Woods, a spokesman for the state Parks Department. The department is considering contractors and is expected to make a selection by fall. Plans call for green spaces, hiking trails and wildlife habitats. The state is also leasing portions of the park to the city to build recreational fields and sports facilities. The property, a former Union Pacific Railroad yard, cost $26 million to acquire in 2001 and the state has spent about $8 million to develop it. Construction is expected to finish by summer 2006, Woods said.

SCHOOLS


AMBASSADOR HOTEL
School officials in late March agreed to delay demolition on portions of the Ambassador Hotel until a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Conservancy is resolved. The Conservancy last November sued to overturn an Oct. 12 Board of Education decision to build three schools on the site of the hotel. The preservation group wants to save the main hotel building and move LAUSD construction to another part of the 24-acre site. After a decade of legal battles, bankruptcies and a two-year environmental review, the board voted to build a 4,200-student complex in the overcrowded area along the Wilshire corridor. School Board President José Huizar has said the lawsuit could delay construction on the $318 million plan by up to a year, but said he expects the district to prevail. If successful, the schools could open in 2009, said LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the pantry of the hotel. The LAUSD plan would preserve the pantry, along with the storied Cocoanut Grove nightclub and a coffee shop designed by Paul Williams.

BELMONT NEW PRIMARY CENTER NO. 11
Construction of a 16-classroom school on a 1.8-acre former parking lot at 950 S. Albany St. is about 70% complete, said LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber. The $8 million project includes a 33,790-square-foot, two-story facility that will hold 380 seats, a playground area and a 34-space parking lot. Construction started in December 2003 and should be complete by this summer, Johnson-Haber said.

CENTRAL LOS ANGELES AREA NEW HIGH SCHOOL NO. 9
Construction is scheduled to start soon on the $87 million new high school at 450 N. Grand Ave., the 10-acre site of the old Fort Moore and prior LAUSD headquarters. The school will house 1,584 students in 64 classrooms, arranged in four academies: music, dance, visual arts and performing arts. HMC/Coop Himmelblau is the architect. LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber said the project is scheduled for completion in spring 2007. Three coffins were recently found on the site, including two with human remains. They are believed to date from the days - before the fort - when the land held a cemetery.

CENTRAL LOS ANGELES AREA NEW HIGH SCHOOL NO. 10
Construction on a 1,713-seat school at Third and Bixel streets on Crown Hill is scheduled for completion by summer 2006, said LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber. The 19-acre campus will hold a library, student store, gym, auditorium and athletic fields. The complex will relieve overcrowding at Belmont and Marshall high schools. Johnson Fain is the architect. Construction started last spring and is about 30% complete, Johnson-Haber said.

CENTRAL LOS ANGELES AREA NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL NO. 4
The construction of a 1,200-student middle school on nearly nine acres near Exposition Park is set for completion in October, said LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Johnson-Haber. Construction started last spring and is about 70% finished. The project will create 63 classrooms, a courtyard, library, offices, a multipurpose room and a food service area. Culver City-based Steven Ehrlich Architects is designing the project.

COLBURN SCHOOL OF PERFORMING ARTS
Excavation is complete and crews are installing the pylons for the $120 million expansion of the Colburn School of Performing Arts at 200 S. Grand Ave., said school spokeswoman Barbara Vyden. Work is progressing on the 300,000-square-foot, 13-story high-rise next to the existing private school. It will include housing for up to 145 students. The educational floors will hold Colburn's new post-secondary music program and expanded pre-colle

Red = Completed

Yellow = Completion immanent

Green = More than likely to be completed, though not soon


http://people.ucsc.edu/~ehellen/pictures/COMPLETE2.JPG

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/C/D/C/CDCD493F-8E6C-4732-9CC2-1DB24E534FE8_or.jpg http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/E/0/3/E03DD61E-61AE-41B8-BB8D-4070B59BB0E4_or.jpg

Now how is all this rapid uber-development goin to change our skyline? Here are what some ppl on SSC projected ours would look like with some of these buildings completed, by around 2009...

http://img289.imageshack.us/img289/1204/downtownla5jl.jpg

http://ee.1asphost.com/RacersEdge/SS/newla.JPG

Okay and these are all totally inaccurate ones by the same guy. Inaccurate since nothing is yet proposed to be taller than the Library Tower (US Bank Tower) and he makes a few scrapers out to be....but still gets the idea right of the amount and density of the new downtown.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/samceb/FutureofDTL.jpg

Los Angeles now:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/samceb/before.jpg

and according to him, Los Angeles pretty soon:
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b43/samceb/futureafter.jpg

okay so ....any thoughts/ comments ?? cutting and pasting and imging was not the most pleasurable activity i could've done w/ my hand all this time you know so i hope this gets at least a few responses. would any of you be interested in moving downtown?

Of course not, sweetie.

Will this building boom really change downtown or will it be the same place with more ugly skyscrapers?

More of the same with more ugly skyscrapers. The reason downtown LA is a wasteland is lack of community infrastructure to maintain residents. Like, why live in DTLA when you could live IN THE VALLEY or etc. LA in wanting to be like NYC and its location-enforced density SHOCKAH.

Also, I don't know anything about the downtown economy but I have to wonder, what businesses and industries are newly arrived or newly booming in downtown that would require a lot of middle class people moving there?

first of all, downtown la is not a "wasteland," it just hasn't had a "nightlife" since the 1940s for MIDDLE TO UPPER CLASS WHITE AMERICANS since the 1940s onwards, due to growth of western development and expansion. more people work in downtown la than any other city after manhattan and chicago, and it has more governmental employees than anywhere outside DC. rich white people just don't _live_ there since for the past three decaedes the LAPD has been letting all of the acquitted convicts of the prison system onto its streets, instead of returning them to their original communities. which is how and why Skid Row developed...

also, don't call me "sweetie" until you change your name back to that "funnier" handle of "wanting to bed women down."

darling. :)

anyway what is pretty ridiculous is the real estate. i have a friend who got a co-op on figueroa 4 months ago and since then the price of her place has already increased $30,000

and she hasnt moved in yet

additionally, a lot of the lofts even as far east as the la river as going for over a million. if you _do_ think you might want to move downtown, and own a place, you should have done it already

Well, what they're going for is a revitalization (minorities out, property values up, taxes up) of an area and attempting to create, in a sense, a localized, island-ized civic area that is self sufficient, right?

1. Can there be a middle-class driven rehabilitation of a downtown? Are there any succesful, thriving downtown areas that don't have some element of wealth? Will LA's most wealthy people give up their houses in the hills and move downtown? It seems to me that the model for rehabilitation is almost always built around poor artists movng in and money following after them over a period of time.

2. For example look at the areas in LA which have been successfully overhauled like Santa Monica, Venice, or Silverlake (still in progress?). How long did it take for Venice to go from being kind of a rough neighborhood to artists and galleries moving in, to architects moving in and redoing the suburban houses, to architecture firms and other businesses moving in, and finally all of the boutique shops, fancy restaurants and newly built lofts that follow. Didn't this take 20 years and it's still ongoing? How can downtown be transformed overnight simply through construction?

3. I often think Downtown is doomed simply by geography. Is there still any reason to be located by the river and train tracks (or whatever reason it sits where it does)? Everyone visits downtown from time to time and everyone visits the beach, the actual geographic center of town is Hollywood, Culver City, etc.

4. The area around Disney Hall seems like a strange place to focus development because it's situated up on a hill and feels very disconnected from the rest of downtown.

SUCK ON THAT BEL AIR AND PACIFIC PALISADES!

And to correct my question about the geographic center of LA, if you look at a map of the city limits, it looks like the vicinity of Studio City / Sherman Oaks, would roughly be in the middle (if you ignore the tiny sliver that stretches down to San Pedro). Not that this means anything but I thought it was kind of interesting. I was picturing the center being further south.

from the Times (who else)

32 towers over 11 stories.

Downtown Housing Demand Feeds a Bloom in High-Rises
By Cara Mia DiMassa, Times Staff Writer

Downtown Los Angeles — which hasn't seen a skyscraper built since Tom Bradley was mayor and the Raiders were playing at the Coliseum — is in the midst of a growth spurt that promises to significantly alter its skyline in the coming years.

The building boom marks the fourth time since World War II that a spate of construction has altered the downtown landscape. But although previous booms focused on commercial space, this one is different: The vast majority of the new high-rise space is for housing.

The phenomenon mirrors patterns in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Diego and Miami, where residential towers are going up at a rapid clip. Architect Santiago Calatrava recently announced plans to construct the nation's tallest building, a 2,000-foot residential and hotel tower called the Fordham Spire, in Chicago.

From 1986 to 1992, almost two-thirds of towers 20 stories or more built in the U.S. were for office use, according to McGraw-Hill Construction, which tracks projects nationwide. But recently, said McGraw-Hill economist Jennifer Coskren, "this has really flipped."

Between 2003 and June 2005, about 84% of new towers were for residential, multifamily use — an indication, said Coskren, of "this investor and consumer appetite for multifamily condo development. Luxury high-rises are what's being demanded."

The return to tall towers will be a marked change for downtown Los Angeles, whose last new skyscraper was the 750-foot, 52-story Two California Plaza, completed in 1992.

At the south end of downtown, two residential towers already under construction near Staples Center will be joined by a 55-story hotel and condominium complex scheduled to break ground later this year.

To the north, near Walt Disney Concert Hall, at least five skyscrapers are slated for construction as part of the Grand Avenue project, including a 40- to 50-story building to be designed by architect Frank Gehry and scheduled for completion in 2009.

The changing skyline should begin to take shape in the next three years, when the first five buildings that have already won city approval are completed. They include a 33-story loft building at 9th and Flower streets.

In all, 32 towers are on the horizon for downtown, though some still need city approval as well as financing.

Twenty are considered skyscrapers because they climb more than 240 feet, or about 20 stories. One of the most talked about is a proposed 50-story Asian-inspired tower at 3rd and Hill streets. (?!)

Together, said author and historian D.J. Waldie, they represent "an enormous transformation of the city we know to something unknown."

Most of the new residential spaces that have opened so far have been quickly swept up by buyers and renters.

But there are lingering concerns that the downtown residential market could suffer the same fate as office space did in the early 1990s, when far more new buildings went up than were needed. Rents plummeted, buildings sat vacant — and it took a decade for downtown to recover.

Some also question whether downtown's sometimes narrow streets and limited infrastructure — everything from its lack of parks to its aging sewer system — can accommodate all the new towers and residents who will follow.

Waldie says he thinks city planners are "failing to connect the dots."

"They're allowing a neighborhood texture to arrive where one had been lost for 50 years," said the author of "Where We Are Now: Notes From Los Angeles." "They're putting in even taller high-rises … but down on the ground, where are the resources to make that into a place to live?"

The new construction could also push out the underclass that has long called downtown home.

Orlando Ward of the Midnight Mission said he was optimistic that the influx of residents would ultimately help the area, but he thinks it could be a rough transition.

He's particularly worried that new residents expecting an urban wonderland will instead find social problems like homelessness and crime.

"There are certain streets you can't go down or won't go down," Ward said. "That's bound to cause resentment or potential backlash…. We're most concerned that there isn't a knee-jerk reaction by policymakers to Band-Aid or push the problem out of sight of our affluent neighbors."



Downtown Los Angeles has seen several distinct flurries of tower development since City Hall, at 28 stories, became the city's first high-rise in 1927. It wasn't until the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, that the city began to have true skyscrapers, such as the 68-story building now called the Aon Center, completed in 1974.

During the last major construction boom downtown, from 1988 to 1992, investors poured billions of dollars into the area. Eight million square feet of office space was added —enough to fill Century City.

The city's tallest building, the 1,018-foot structure now called the US Bank Tower, was finished in 1990. But demand for office space dwindled, and companies that had long had a foothold in downtown, including Security Pacific and Bank of America, fell victim to corporate restructuring. Commercial real estate prices dropped nationwide. And even as new buildings went up, downtown property values plunged. Buildings sat vacant. Landlords lost money on their rents.

When the commercial real estate market began to recover in the mid-1990s, tall buildings sprang up in other parts of the city, especially Century City and other Westside areas. But downtown building activity remained dormant — until now. The recent rebound is due in large part to a renewed interest in downtown living that comes amid a hot housing market.

While vacancies for office space downtown remain at 15.9%, higher than the national average, there are waiting lists for many downtown lofts and condos.

The area's population has risen from an estimated 18,652 residents in 1998 to about 24,600 today, according to estimates from the Los Angeles Downtown Business Improvement District. And based on developments in the pipeline or under construction, that number could double in the next decade.

Engineering and seismic considerations often make building skyscrapers a financial gamble, said Bill Witte, president of Related Cos. of California, which is developing 25 acres downtown — including a number of skyscrapers — on behalf of the city and county as part of the Grand Avenue project, as well as two 15-story structures in Little Tokyo.

Buildings more than 240 feet high require different seismic reinforcements, Witte said, and cost dramatically more.

"Even we had to think long and hard about whether to do something at that height," he said. "You have to believe that you can sell or rent for enough to justify that cost."

But as housing prices continue to climb, and buyers swoop up high-rise living spaces like those being created in former downtown office towers, building bigger and taller structures has become less of a financial risk for developers and the financial institutions that back them.

"The most vigorous market for new buildings is residential," said Carol Willis, founder and director of the Skyscraper Museum in New York City. "And that's just because the prices are phenomenally high. It's more profitable, and it reverses the historical trend" that most tall structures should be office buildings, she said.



While 32 buildings between 11 and 55 stories have been proposed downtown, experts question the viability of some of the grander designs.

Still, city officials and developers expect at least half to be completed by the end of the decade, barring a major shift in the economy.

Even in 2010, the 73-story US Bank Tower, formerly known as the Library Tower, would remain the skyline's pinnacle. But gone would be the gap that now exists between the Transamerica building to the south and the stretch of tall towers beginning north of 9th Street.

That area, called South Park and near Staples Center, is the hub of most of the initial construction, where cranes and crews are already turning former parking lots into high-rises.

This district has far more open space than other parts of downtown, so residents and city planners expect it to be more dramatically transformed. It is also where many amenities for downtown residents will open in coming years, including a Ralphs supermarket — set to open late next year — and movie theaters.

To the north, downtown will see the completion of Bunker Hill's decades-long transformation from a slightly seedy residential quarter into a zone full of high-rises.

Because almost all of the new construction will be residential rather than commercial, the look of the towers will be different from the rest of the skyline.

Expect thinner, more angular structures.

Office buildings, said urban planner Doug Suisman, who consulted on the Grand Avenue project, often look like boxy slabs, in part because of the nature of what happens inside. While residential towers require significantly more plumbing, for example, and higher ceilings than office space, they also need less ventilation and fewer elevators.

In places like Vancouver, Canada, where high-rise residential towers have proliferated in recent years, buildings are "less bulky and more pleasing…. They tend to read more as true towers rather than walls," said Suisman, whose firm, Suisman Urban Design, is based in Santa Monica.

In addition, he said, the buildings are staggered in their placement along the street so not all of them hug the sidewalks. This allows views — or slivers of views — from other points in the downtown to be preserved.

"That valuable commodity, the view, is distributed and fairly shared…. You see this pretty clearly when you are there," he said.

It's unclear whether some precious views, often a selling point for pricey condos, will be preserved as downtown's new towers spring to life. With the wall of downtown buildings being extended north and south, it seems certain, however, that the new projects will further obscure City Hall and shorter landmarks like Disney Hall.

Councilman Tom LaBonge, long a fan of City Hall's iconic placement in the landscape, said he felt that the building "will always stand tall."

But, he admitted, "it has already been dwarfed."

"I don't mind," he said, "as long as the postcards show the city from the east to the west, and show off that great big beacon."

I also think more people on this thread need to read up more extensively on Tom Gilmore who basically jumpstarted this whole thing...would it make more sense if I added that he's an ex-New Yorker?

Also, however minor you might want to make this (remember that metro map I posted...think 30 years ahead, basically, on everything to consider the full implications, for until this of course there's going to be growing pains and awkward transitional phases) keep this in mind when bemoaning geography (aside from the currently-appearing-as-preposterous plans to revitalize parts of the LA river, including the downtown front): From the LA Times December 4, 2004

Westward Ho

December 4, 2004

Each day, 400,000 motorists form a snaking red ribbon of brake lights along the Santa Monica Freeway. Yet even as this freeway, one of the nation's busiest, grew steadily more clogged in recent decades, uninterested politicians and a knot of vocal opponents kept a planned light-rail line between Santa Monica and downtown on ice. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is finally poised to give a green light to the first 9.6-mile stretch of what's called the Exposition Boulevard line. That action could get trains rolling in 2010, four years ahead of schedule — and not a moment too soon.

The MTA, sometimes partnering with other transit agencies, has built rail or subway links to nearly every region in the county in recent years, but not the Westside. The biggest losers have been thousands of working people from Boyle Heights or Compton who travel west every day to jobs. But Westside commuters also have suffered.

Years of dogged lobbying by local rail advocates and city officials are finally paying off. The MTA has put aside the local, state and federal dollars needed to cover the $490-million tab. If the agency's board signs off on the project's environmental review next month as expected, bulldozers should be moving dirt by 2007.

Original plans called for a 17-mile line to Santa Monica mostly along Exposition Boulevard. Years ago, the MTA bought up the right of way, an old Red Car route. But fierce resistance from some Cheviot Hills homeowners who feared the trains would bring noise and crime stalled the project.

Now, a first phase will run south from the MTA's transit hub at 7th and Figueroa streets to Exposition, then west to Robertson Boulevard in Culver City. At stops along the way, riders will be able to transfer to existing bus lines, and expanded parking facilities are in the works. For the estimated 45,000 daily riders, the trip time of 27 minutes will be faster and far more pleasant than the freeway's creep and crawl or lurching street buses.

MTA planners say they have learned from problems that surfaced when the Pasadena Gold Line opened in 2003, including noisy trains and fears for pedestrian safety. The Exposition right of way is wider than that of the Gold Line, naturally buffering some train noise and vibrations. Also, the Westside route is straighter, meaning fewer metal-screeching turns. Finally, the trains will carry new, softer bells and benefit from better-designed grade crossings.

Support for the project's second phase to Santa Monica probably will ride on the success of these technical improvements and on Westside leaders who realize that riding the rails to work is not so wild a notion.

Zen' Tower Could Dominate Historic Core

Kawada Group Plans 50-Story, 300-Condo Structure Near Grand Central Market

by Kathryn Maese

A 50-story residential high-rise, 20 floors higher than the Transamerica Building and nearly as tall as the Wells Fargo Tower, is being planned at the northeast corner of Third and Hill streets.
This parking lot at Third and Hill streets could feature one of the tallest residential towers in Downtown, creating more than 300 condos in a slender high-rise overlooking the Historic Core and the Civic Center. Photo by Gary Leonard.

The Kawada Company of America, which also owns the Kawada Hotel on the northern end of the same block, is in the conceptual design phase for the 302-unit condo tower and 10,000 square feet of retail. If built, it would become a dominant landmark on the Downtown Los Angeles skyline and would further the rush of high-rises expected to be part of the Grand Avenue plan.

The Kawada group will seek city entitlements in the coming months, and has hired Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Design as the architect of the Asian-inspired project dubbed "Zen." Construction is anticipated to last 18 months.

"It is near the historic Broadway core so we certainly will have a style that's compatible, but we will not mimic a historic theme," said John Bowman, a land use attorney for the project. "As it is proposed, it would include a podium level with a taller, slender tower on top of that."

The immediate area around the proposed project has become a mini residential hub wedged between the Civic Center and the Historic Core. Nearby projects that are open or under construction include the Pan American Lofts, Grand Central Square apartments, the 50-unit Douglas Building and the 135-unit Higgins Building. The Victor Clothing Lofts is in the planning stages.

The 26,400-square-foot site of the future development is currently used as a Joe's Parking Lot and neighbors Grand Central Market and the senior housing complex Angelus Plaza. The project is being touted by Kawada as the first new mixed-use high-rise in the district.

Bowman said the podium level would include a ground-floor sports-themed restaurant and lounge, and an upscale mini-market, amenities lacking in an area surrounded largely by office buildings that shut down after 5 p.m. He would not reveal a proposed price for the project.

A 576-space parking garage would rise on seven floors above the podium, and would be topped by a two-story, 50,000-square-foot fitness center and indoor pool. According to the design, the developer is offering a heliport and signage rights on the building for a major advertiser.

In keeping with the Zen theme, each condo will feature a private garden or sunroom. A large roof garden will overlook the Downtown skyline. Pricing has yet to be determined for the units, which will range from 500 square feet to 1,800 square feet. Each of the four penthouses will span 2,300 square feet. High-end Sub-Zero and Wolfe appliances will be standard in every unit.

Bowman said the Kawada Company held a community meeting last month allowing local stakeholders to view the tower's early design and comment on the project.

"We got good feedback from the public and are moving forward with getting entitled," Bowman said. "We had quite a cross section with people in the development community, Angelus Plaza senior complex, people from the city and other agencies. They seemed to be favorably impressed by the project."

For one neighbor, however, the Zen could leave a less than peaceful impression. Urban Pacific Builders' 40-unit Pan American Lofts at 249 S. Broadway - which are scheduled to open early next year - bumps up against the future site, and would essentially lose its skyline views if the tower is built. The developer of the $16 million condo project did not return calls for comment.

Zen would not be the first new housing development to go high-rise. At least a dozen condo towers are in the works or planning stages throughout Downtown, including several in South Park near the Staples Center. Just two blocks away from the proposed Zen site, New York-based Related Companies is planning three condo and apartment towers with a total of 1,000 units along Grand Avenue and Olive Street as part of the $1.8 billion Grand Avenue plan. The latter high-rises would range from 22 to 45 stories.

"Certainly the fact that [Zen] is near those uses is a plus," Bowman said. "I would add that we've got excellent access to transit, the Red Line and it's also in close proximity to the Civic Center, the federal courthouse, and the various cultural attractions."

Though Kawada has other real estate holdings in Japan, this would mark the company's first residential venture in the U.S.

The Big Makeover

Fashion District Shakes Off Its Dusty Image, With New Projects Worth More Than $500 Million

by Kathryn Maese

The 90-block Fashion District is in the midst of a half-billion dollar development frenzy that is transforming the gritty garment manufacturing hub into a thriving community filled with a mix of housing, designer showrooms and retail projects.
Sina and Wizeman Kangavari (center) of KI Group partnered with Farhad and Farid Novian (left and right) on the 15,000-square-foot 1000 Maple project, a mall that opened this year. They are some of the new players betting big on the future of the Fashion District. Their next deal is a 100,000-square-foot retail center. Photo by Gary Leonard.

After years of struggling to replace its outdated image with a new name and marketing campaign, the 90-block Fashion District's strategy is paying big dividends. According to a study released last week by the Fashion District Business Improvement District (BID), 32 new projects have cropped up in the sprawling area in the past three years, with 13 this year alone. In total, more than $510 million has been invested in the neighborhood since 2000.

"There is a new generation of property owners replacing many of the people who have held property in the district for a long time," said Kent Smith, executive director of the BID. "These new owners and businesses coming in tend to be younger and very entrepreneurial, and they are going to help further the [growth] of the district."

Perhaps the most significant trend is the boom in ground floor business, up 26% over the last three years to 2,420 shops, according to the study. The increase is partly due to the fact that a number of parking lots were sold and converted into retail. Smith noted that some larger building floorplates that housed one or two businesses have been subdivided into five or six smaller operations.

Among the new retail destinations is 1000 Maple Center on the southeast corner of Olympic Boulevard and Maple Avenue, a joint venture between the KI Group and Bridge Capital. The 15,000-square-foot mall, built on a former parking lot earlier this year, is fully leased to women's apparel and accessory stores. Likewise, a plaza geared toward men's apparel on the southeast corner of Eighth and Los Angeles streets has broken ground, while another on the northwest corner of Pico Boulevard and Maple will soon add more public shopping on the thriving streets around Santee Alley.

"It's a great indication of the growth and vitality of the district," Smith said. "If you break it down, 500 businesses at roughly 1,000 square feet each would be as large as a regional mall."

The biggest ventures, however, will come in the near future: KI Group has announced plans for three mega retail centers, including the 100,000-square-foot Pico Regency Plaza on Olympic Boulevard between Maple and Wall; the 300,000-square-foot Stanford Regency Plaza at Stanford and Pico; and the 100,000-square-foot Maple Union at Maple and Olympic (also with Bridge Capital).

"It's a proven fact that there is over $8.5 billion of transactions annually that run through the Downtown area," said Sina Kangavari, a principal in the KI Group. "That's what's driving a lot of investors from different cities. The appeal in the Fashion District is certainly the foot traffic, and the bargain shopping drives the market."

Diversifying the Trade


The study details a shift in the area's tenant makeup. Since 2001 there has been only a modest 6.2% growth in wholesale-only stores catering to designers and industry buyers; as recently as the last decade, that sector dominated the district. In the same period, new stores that serve both the industry and the public have increased by 32.3%.

Smith said he expects the trend to continue, largely because of the swelling ranks of residents and visitors looking for more street activity. Thousands of local, out-of-state and international buyers who come to the portion of Downtown Los Angeles during the district's five market weeks are also spurring the need for more places to eat and visit.

Indeed, the number of restaurants and snack shops has doubled from 47 to 94 businesses since 2001, according to the study. Typical of the new wave is the spacious, sit-down eatery O'Mamamia Italian Restaurant at the corner of Pico Boulevard and San Pedro Street. Like other newcomers, the restaurant melds into the hustle and bustle of garment stacks, mannequins and showrooms from its location on the second floor of a modern fashion center.

Closer to the major apparel mart hub, the Tiara Café is expected to open later this year on the ground floor of the New Mart. Owner Fred Eric of Los Feliz's trendy Fred 62 is behind the venture, which will include a gourmet eatery and market.

Eric Kessler, a broker with GVA DAUM who specializes in Fashion District properties, said he has recently shown buildings to several restaurateurs looking for space. Last month he sold the building housing one of the district's most popular restaurants, Angelique Café at 832-840 S. Spring St. (it will remain a restaurant for at least the next two years). The two-story property, which includes several additional stores and a two-story loft, was purchased by local industrial and commercial property owner DNR Brothers for $1.24 million. While it was in escrow, more than a dozen bidders made offers on the property where Spring and Main streets converge.

Kessler said a number of factors have come together in the last year to create the strong development climate. Among those are sellers willing to part with contiguous properties that can be made into housing. There is also a strong existing retail component and a large population - residents, designers and shoppers - with disposable income.

"The recipe for success in any area is a sense of community, a lot of those multi-story fashion buildings, and you have to have a retail component to sustain population," he said. "A far more superficial reason is that you have a lot of exceptionally good-looking people walking around the Fashion District."

A Slate of Deals


In some cases, the demand for property has driven up land prices to dizzying heights. Buildings that once fetched $50 a square foot are now getting multiple bids for $100 or more a square foot, said local real estate players. One garment building on Eighth and Los Angeles streets sold for a record $110 a square foot earlier this year.

Jamison Properties purchased the 3 million-square-foot California Market Center in April, the biggest acquisition in the district at $135 million. The complex at 110 E. Ninth St. - which takes up the entire block at Los Angeles, Main, Ninth and Olympic - is considered the hub of the West Coast fashion industry.

Last week, the 165-apartment Santee Court (the first of several phases in the project) was sold to Dallas-based L&B Realty Advisors for an estimated $45 million.

"Given Santee's unique location, area retail tenant mix and demand for housing, this asset will give our client the long-term yield stability consistent with their strategy," said David W. Gleeson, the firm's executive vice president, in a written statement.

The Gerry Building, another property in the multi-edifice Santee Court collection owned by developer Mark Weinstein, was sold two weeks ago to LaeRoc Partners for $15 million. The building is 70% occupied with fashion showrooms, with rents at about $2 a square foot.

Kim Benjamin, president of LaeRoc, said the acquisition is the firm's first in the Fashion District. "The growth pattern in the district is fairly obvious, and if you're in the business, this is ground zero," he said. "It's across from the largest fashion product in the U.S. (the California Market Center), and on one of the key corners. It also just happens to be a beautiful building."

Throughout the district, foot traffic is up, Smith said. Weekend pedestrian counts show a 23% increase over 2000, according to the study, with an estimated 20,000 people flocking to Santee Alley's bargain shopping every Saturday.

Smith said recent LAPD crackdowns on illegal vending, drug activity and homeless encampments are helping to create a safer and more walkable business district. For Smith, it's proof that the 1995 creation of the BID and the formal adoption of the moniker Fashion District - for years before it was known as the Garment District - is paying off.

"With all this traffic it's becoming a more exciting retail area," Smith said. "There are a lot of improved storefronts and access to the streets. It's really been an urban-friendly redevelopment of the ground floors, all oriented to the street.

"All the things we say L.A. shouldn't do when it comes to planning, we've learned those lessons," he continued. "We are creating a pedestrian-friendly environment, which in this case is being led by small businesses and entrepreneurs who are turning the city around."

Projects at a Glance
There are well over a dozen projects planned or in the works in the Fashion District this year, from housing to wholesale centers to ground-up retail plazas. Here's a snapshot of a few of the key developments underway in the 90-block community.

Santee Court, Phase II: Demolition of the Textile Center Building, on the northwest corner of Eighth Street and Maple Avenue, began in early January to make way for 64 condos and 5,000 square feet of retail space. Construction is slated to wrap in December. Phase II is part of MJW Investments' $130 million conversion of nine former garment buildings into live/work lofts and retail space.

LA Face: Construction is underway on the LA Fashion Center at 1444 S. San Pedro St. LA Properties Investment and Management Group's 650,000-square-foot structure will bring nearly 200 wholesale condominiums and add to the thriving wholesale area around the San Pedro Wholesale Mart.

1000 Maple Center: KI Group finished construction earlier this year on a new retail center on the southeast corner of Olympic Boulevard and Maple Avenue. The 15,000-square-foot center features apparel and accessories.

Tiara Café: Renovation of the former Sam's Deli space on the ground floor of the New Mart is nearing completion, making way for an eatery by Fred Eric, known for starting Los Feliz's trendy Vida and Fred 62. Tiara Café is set to open in the fall and will feature a gourmet market.

Maple Alley Fashion Center: Renovation of retail space on the northwest corner of 11th Street and Maple Avenue has resulted in formal storefront spaces, some of which open into the adjacent Santee Alley.

Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.

page 1, 8/15/2005

Second Act for Linda Lea Theater

Investors to Give Rundown Movie House a New Plot Twist

by Kathryn Maese

The projector will roll once again in the long-dark Linda Lea Theater at 251 S. Main St., as part of a partnership between a new owner and a group of community arts leaders.
Plans are underway to reopen the Linda Lea Theater. The space at Second and Main streets has sat vacant since the 1980s. Photo by Gary Leonard.

The Little Tokyo Service Center Development Corp. (LTSC), along with local arts leaders who will operate the space, plan to revive the 500-seat theater with independent film screenings, film festivals, community events and possibly a rooftop bar. In keeping with the theater's Japanese history, a concessions stand will include items such as Japanese sweets, edamame, sake, soju and beer.

"It will be an independent theater, but we're not going to try and compete with places like Laemmles," said Nic Cha Kim, co-founder of Gallery Row, a collection of art exhibition spaces along Main and Spring streets. "We want to make the theater itself an experience."

Broker Sandy Bleifer of DownTown Enterprises represented the seller, the Los Angeles-based Grace family, and the buyer, an undisclosed family foundation. Escrow closed in late December. The purchase price was not released.

"We had maybe half a dozen interested parties, but because of the special nature of the project, the Graces were very attached to the property," Bleifer said. "They always wanted to see it come back to life. One of the things that attracted the new owners to the property was the opportunity to have an ongoing relationship with the Little Tokyo Service Center."

Kim will serve as artistic director, and will operate the theater along with fellow Gallery Row founder Kjell Hagen, and partners Jared Hungerford and James Kirst.

The 7,700-square-foot Linda Lea, which closed in the 1980s, was one of only three theaters in Los Angeles to screen Japanese language films. During its heyday in the 1960s, visitors would flock to see the latest samurai drama produced by the Toei film company.

"I always thought it was a beautiful building. Who wouldn't want it?" said Kim. "We've had this project in our minds for five or six years, and drew up plans to renovate it long before it was for sale."

The LTSC and the operators are applying for a $1.5 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. The deadline is April. The dilapidated property is in need of extensive renovation, Hagen said, and the team is in the process of determining a timeline for completion.

"We're currently trying to get support behind us from many different angles, from the city to the L.A. Conservancy," said Hagen.

Eastern Columbia

Sells for $20 Million


The Kor Group last week closed escrow on the historic Eastern Columbia Building, which it plans to convert into condominiums. The company purchased the 1930 structure at 849 S. Broadway from Denly Investments for nearly $20 million. Ed Rosenthal of CB Richard Ellis brokered the deal, and said a $50 million renovation will start soon. The building is easily identified by its turquoise blue and gold terra cotta exterior and is about 70% vacant.

http://you-are-here.com/downtown/1930_eastern_columbia.jpg

http://www.wynnlocations.com/locations.html

The Palace theatre, one of the oldest movie palaces downtown, has also been bought, is being restored and will feature lofts on its upper floors. I don't know if the theatre part itself will be available for screenings.

Built as the third home of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles, this is now the oldest remaining original Orpheum theatre in the country.  From its opening day in June 1911 until the move to its final location at 842 Broadway 15 years later, the greatest singer, dancers, comedians, acrobats and animal acts in vaudeville performed here.

http://you-are-here.com/theatre/palace.jpghttp://you-are-here.com/theatre/palace2.jpghttp://www.wynnlocations.com/palace-s/ext1.JPGhttp://www.wynnlocations.com/palace-s/theater3.jpghttp://www.wynnlocations.com/palace-s/2loft3.jpghttp://www.wynnlocations.com/palace-s/stairs1.JPG

http://www.wynnlocations.com/Website%20Pics/Theatres/Los%20Angeles%20Theatre/latheat.gifhttp://www.wynnlocations.com/Website%20Pics/Theatres/Los%20Angeles%20Theatre/DSCN0052_2.jpghttp://www.wynnlocations.com/Website%20Pics/Theatres/Los%20Angeles%20Theatre/DSCN0060_2.jpghttp://www.wynnlocations.com/Website%20Pics/Theatres/Los%20Angeles%20Theatre/DSCN0054_2.jpg

http://you-are-here.com/theatre/orpheum.jpg its back lot: http://you-are-here.com/theatre/orpheum2.jpg

linda lea: http://you-are-here.com/theatre/linda_lea.jpg

But these Wynn ppl also have it on their site...so I'm guessing on the upper levels: also lofts? This is all considerably east fwiw, as Spring is just one block away from Main, and to answer your earlier question Main, they are loft-ing 5th Street, or rather already have (the Los Angeles and San Fernando bildings, at 4th and Main.) So now you will know where to get drunk on Skid Row

Built in 1904, Farmers & Merchants is the first bank building in Los Angeles. Its founder, Isaias Hellman, was the leading banker to Southern California's growing agricultural and merchant economy. The bank's ceiling is a large barrel-vaulted glass skylight that was covered up during the bomb scares of World War II.

http://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/DSCN7283.JPGhttp://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/bank1.jpghttp://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/black2.jpghttp://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/vault1.JPG http://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/vault%20room.jpghttp://wynnlocations.com/farmers-s/bank3.JPG

okay thats all 4 now!!!

FELICITY WHEN CAN WE HANG OUT??! I STILL HAVEN'T MET YOU YET - LET'S GO TO THE EDISON.

SPENCER CHOW TOLD ME YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO PASS MY HOTNESS HANGING-OUT-WITH REQUIREMENTS, THAT I STRICTLY ENFORCE ON ALL TRANSPLANTS

"transplant"

You were the one asking us for LA advice just the other day.

Yeah we need to bump the LA #4 thread and organize something. Has tremenoid had the kid yet?

Haha, ok Spencer-by-proxy. So glad I am on the "A" list.

tremendoid has had the kid, as of about 3 hrs ago. wife and baby resting. happy birthday sarah naomi :D!!!! *collapses* good night!

congrats dude!

Major Congrats, duuude!

http://www.yehey.com/ecards/images%5Cthumb%5CBaby-Wave.gif

p.s. what is your baby's email addy (for top secret newborns-only borad)?

CONGRATS TREMENDOID!!!

HAHA - that's awesome you found that old thread! I had already lived in LA for years then but was new to Hollywood Tourist Central - and as this is my 5th anniversary in this apt, oh how I can reminisce about the rent before those ZILLION dollar lofts being built down the street caused it to increase (jumped up again this month :(
and will again annually.. i'm really starting to wonder how much longer this studio is going to go before comparing with something even in new york - it's ridiculous here.

Rah Tremendoid! Yay baby!

You have also been given 2 thumbs up and a clearance from NYU/Library Mary... so Felicity how am I supposed to get in touch with you - are you on Spencer or Remy's social networking menu... my current email is v i k t o r i a n . x @ geemail USE IT

I IM MR. TABREN LAST NIGHT - but Arthur wrote back when I wasnt here we must rope him into our socialization plans

IF none of you are doing anything this week every night from Monday to Thursday is the AFI showcase @ the Arclight --> MY FILM IS PLAYING TOMORROW night - 7:30 PM

i am technically only supposed to pass this along to "industr foax" due to a finite # of seats but since no one cares ...RSVP HERE -> http://www.afi.com/showcase/

FREE BOOZE AFTER ALL THE SCREENINGS AT AFTER-PARTY

thanks guys booze/glitz it up for me laxorz. peace

aw, massive urban economic development project can't secure a loan!

Grand Avenue Construction Pushed to 2009
Developer Delays Phase One Completion Another Year

by Anna Scott
Staff Writer
Developer Related Companies has announced that it is delaying construction on the $3 billion Grand Avenue project until next year, a company official said Monday afternoon. The company previously planned to break ground this summer.
Under the revised schedule, phase one construction would begin on Feb. 15, 2009, and finish in 2012 instead of 2011 as previously anticipated.
Initially, Related intended to begin construction on the project in October 2007, but the schedule has been pushed back multiple times.
The latest rescheduling stems from the difficulty in securing a construction loan in the ongoing credit crunch, said Related of California President Bill Witte. The previous schedule, he said, was based on the assumption that Related would be able to secure construction financing based on partially completed construction documents.
"As the financial world tightens and tightens, it's clear that's not going to be possible," said Witte.
"Nothing has changed in the timing of the documents," he added. "What has changed is our assessment of whether we can get a loan right now."
The developer plans to finalize construction documents for the Bunker Hill complex, which will include design details and help determine building costs, by the end of the year. Related will then move forward with demolishing a multi-level parking structure at Grand Avenue and First Street, probably in November, Witte said. Related previously intended to demolish the structure this past March, but decided to wait in lieu of the current fiscal situation. He said the parking structure, currently closed, could reopen in the interim.
"No one wants to have a big hiatus between the time we complete demolition and the time we start excavation," said Witte.
Plans for the approximately $1 billion first phase of the Frank Gehry-designed project, officially dubbed The Grand, call for a 48-story Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Residences with 295 rooms and 262 condominiums, a 19-story residential tower with 126 market-rate apartments and 98 affordable units, retail, a nightclub and a 16-acre Civic Park.
Construction on the park, Witte said, will proceed as scheduled, with groundbreaking slated for next spring and completion in 2011. The budget for its "base" design is $56 million, though additional amenities will cost more, officials have said.
Witte said that in June, Related will go before the Grand Avenue Authority, which is overseeing the project, to ask for formal approval of the construction delay.
Contact Anna Scott at a✧✧✧@downtownn✧✧✧.c✧✧.
www.downtownnews.com.

but yay the civic park is still going ahead! will it have a "ramble" for cruising?