[LAMetroGuy]

Since these projects seem to be sprouting up all over the place, maybe we can track all Wilshire related projects here.

Wilshire Skyline (17 story residential tower)
NW corner of Wilshire and La Jolla Ave (stoplight intersection)
6401-6421 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA, 90048.
www.wilshireskyline.com

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/wilshireskyline.jpg

http://www.wilshireskyline.com/images/faq_01B.jpg http://www.wilshireskyline.com/images/faq_02B.jpg

http://www.wilshireskyline.com/images/faq_03B.jpg http://www.wilshireskyline.com/images/faq_04B.jpg


Wilshire and Catalina (24 story residential tower)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/Wilshire/WilshireandCatalina.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/wilshire_catalina.jpg

3670 Wilshire (40 story residential tower)
http://3670wilshireblvd.com/

http://3670wilshireblvd.com/images/splash.gif


Cal Coast Developement Towers (two 20-story residential towers)
Wilshire and La Brea

http://www.larchmontchronicle.com/ImageArchive/I2006/06-CalCoast.jpg

Circa (18 story residential tower)
Wilshire and Virgil

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/103_lg1_Circa_01.jpg http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/103_lg2_Circa_02.jpg

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/103_lg3_Circa_03.jpg http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/103_lg4_Circa_04.jpg

Solair Wilshire (22 story residential tower)
Wilshire and Western

http://rentv.com/news_images/6545.gif

Avalon Wilshire
http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/avalonwilshiref/avalonwilshire.jpg

Wilshire & Vermont (northeast corner of Wilshire & Vermont)
http://www.macfarlanepartners.com/images/projects/wvt_lg.jpg

Wilshire Center Project (southeast corner of Wilshire & Vermont)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/WIlshire-Center-Picture.gif

9900 Wilshire
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/944/richardmeierbeverlyhillsqh6.jpg

Beverly Hilton Condominiums
http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/news/images/beverlyhilton_m11.jpg

[colemonkee]

Great thread. Don't forget Wilshire and Vermont, which is well out of the ground. Time to build that subway...

[LAMetroGuy]

Yes, Wilshire Vermont!

http://www.macfarlanepartners.com/images/projects/wvt_lg.jpg

http://www.macfarlanepartners.com/images/projects/wvt_txt-08.gif

[LAMetroGuy]

http://www.californialandmark.com/images/barrignton_new.jpg http://www.californialandmark.com/images/barrignton_new2.jpg


California Landmark is proud to produce the first mixed-use high-rise development in West Los Angeles. Situated at the prestigious corner of Barrington and Wilshire, this new luxury building will include a pedestrian friendly eatery/cafe, ample parking and 78 residential condominiums. Inspired by high-rise residential architecture in Vancouver, the project will set new design standards for future developments throughout Southern California.”

Construction Start:
Fall 2006

[LAMetroGuy]

http://www.californialandmark.com/images/wilshire_Perspective-S_E.jpg

World class residential high rise to be built will set new standard in luxury living in L.A.

Los Angeles-based California Landmark and the Fifield Companies have acquired a prime 46,000 square-foot site on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Malcolm Avenue for $27 million and will build a high-rise condominium structure that promises to set a new paradigm for luxury living on the celebrated Wilshire Corridor. Sales proceeds are projected to exceed $170 million.

[LAMetroGuy]

Updated rendering of Wilshire Catalina!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/wilshire_catalina.jpg

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Damn man, youre on a roll! are those two new projects??

[Damien]

Gotta love the impact the subway has on development.

[Westsidelife]

I really hope all these projects will generate pedestrian activity and night-life. I hope to see a plethora of shops and cafes with outdoor seating. Basically something like Old Town Pasadena but on a much bigger scale. Hopefully that will link a vibrant DTLA with the westside and Hollywood. With DTLA, Mid-Wilshire, and Hollywood booming the City of LA will be so much more by 2010.

[Steve2726]

dont forget 9900 Wilshire-
http://www.9900wilshire.com/

[JRinSoCal]

http://www.californialandmark.com/images/wilshire_Perspective-S_E.jpg
^Isn't there already a building on Wilshire that looks almost identical to this tower? The Californian I believe.

[San Frangelino]

Has anyone mentioned this project under construction just south of Wilshire Blvd in Koreatown.

Serrano Palace Tower

702 S. Serrano Avenue

6-8 stories it looks to be

http://www.nbgi.com/html/nbgi_home.php

http://www.nbgi.com/html/announcements.php

[San Frangelino]

Its also worth mentioning this website thats Tracking the Koreatown Boom. There are some mid sized projects I wasnt even aware of happening.

http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/16426

Also lets not forget these "Miracle Mile" projects.

http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/miraclemilef/miraclemile.html

http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/desmondf/desmond.jpg

http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/avalonwilshiref/avalonwilshire.jpg

[Damien]

By the way the Avalon Wilshire (http://www.avalonwilshire.com & http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/avalonwilshiref/avalonwilshire.jpg) is well above the ground. I remember passing by a couple of months ago and they were already on the third story.

[colemonkee]

http://www.californialandmark.com/images/wilshire_Perspective-S_E.jpg
^Isn't there already a building on Wilshire that looks almost identical to this tower? The Californian I believe.
That is The Californian, and it's complete.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

dont forget 9900 Wilshire-
http://www.9900wilshire.com/


Here are the pics. This project I'm very excited about because it involves a world-renowned architect and an incredible location. :yes: The only location in Beverly Hills I can think of that's "better" will be Casden's proposed mid-rise sandwiched between Barney's New York and Saks Fifth Avenue.


http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/944/richardmeierbeverlyhillsqh6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3359/richardmeierbeverlyhillsinteriorkg3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/7130/richardmeierbeverlyhillsretailwj1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[LAMetroGuy]

Circa Website is now up

http://www.circaonwilshire.com/

[Westsidelife]

I didn't know Circa was that close to DTLA. Hopefully Circa will spark even more development in the area.

[danparker276]

I like this pic of circa
http://loftla.com/lofts/ktown/circa/circa1.jpg

[Westsidelife]

^^I wouldn't mind waking up to that view. :)

[LosAngelesBeauty]

I didn't know Circa was that close to DTLA. Hopefully Circa will spark even more development in the area.


Yes, what I've been hoping for all along, the gentrification of Westlake. And ultimately, transforming MacArthur Park into an area that all people of LA, including visitors/tourists from other great cities, can come to LA and use daily like Bryant Park, NYC or Lincoln Park, Chicago. Once Westlake is revitalized, it'll be the last connection we need to make Wilshire Blvd. a blvd that is properous from start to end. Becoming our true "grand ave." (With the completion of the subway to the ocean that is.)

[Westsidelife]

^ Don't forget Lafayette Park which is not too far from MacArthur Park I believe.

[RAlossi]

Circa is actually pretty close to LaFayette Park.

[WesTheAngelino]

Yes, what I've been hoping for all along, the gentrification of Westlake. And ultimately, transforming MacArthur Park into an area that all people of LA, including visitors/tourists from other great cities, can come to LA and use daily like Bryant Park, NYC or Lincoln Park, Chicago. Once Westlake is revitalized, it'll be the last connection we need to make Wilshire Blvd. a blvd that is properous from start to end. Becoming our true "grand ave." (With the completion of the subway to the ocean that is.)


Hooray for the Paris-ification of L.A. :rolleyes:

[yakumoto]

Yes, what I've been hoping for all along, the gentrification of Westlake. And ultimately, transforming MacArthur Park into an area that all people of LA, including visitors/tourists from other great cities, can come to LA and use daily like Bryant Park, NYC or Lincoln Park, Chicago. Once Westlake is revitalized, it'll be the last connection we need to make Wilshire Blvd. a blvd that is properous from start to end. Becoming our true "grand ave." (With the completion of the subway to the ocean that is.)

Right on! Those people living around MacArthur park should really try harder to clean up the place! What's their deal anyway?

[LAMetroGuy]

Yes, what I've been hoping for all along, the gentrification of Westlake. And ultimately, transforming MacArthur Park into an area that all people of LA, including visitors/tourists from other great cities, can come to LA and use daily like Bryant Park, NYC or Lincoln Park, Chicago. Once Westlake is revitalized, it'll be the last connection we need to make Wilshire Blvd. a blvd that is properous from start to end. Becoming our true "grand ave." (With the completion of the subway to the ocean that is.)

I agree 100% :cheers:

[Wright Concept]

Yes, what I've been hoping for all along, the gentrification of Westlake. And ultimately, transforming MacArthur Park into an area that all people of LA, including visitors/tourists from other great cities, can come to LA and use daily like Bryant Park, NYC or Lincoln Park, Chicago. Once Westlake is revitalized, it'll be the last connection we need to make Wilshire Blvd. a blvd that is properous from start to end. Becoming our true "grand ave." (With the completion of the subway to the ocean that is.)

Just out of curiosity, LAB. When you were in Chicago, did you travel down Michigan Avenue in it's entirety, From the John Hancock Tower down to the South?

Because one main street does not a City make. Part of that with the park goes with an inept Councilman who is supposedly a "planner" with no focus on providing the constiuents basic services so it doesn't look like a "hovel"

[WesTheAngelino]

Right on! Those people living around MacArthur park should really try harder to clean up the place! What's their deal anyway?

What's their deal? Perhaps it's because they are mostly working poor. When you are working two (or more) jobs, trying to raise kids, dealing with a criminal element that the authorities are loath to do anything about, preserving old buildings is probably low on your list of priorities. Beautifying a neighborhood takes a lot of time and money (most of the "beautiful" hoods of L.A. are serviced by those the very kind of people you are complaining about in Westlake).

LAB and I have very different opinions on this and this issue has come up before about a year ago. Search the archives (dunno if the thread exists anymore, but I think it was "Westlake crime" or "downtown crime", don't remember as even I don't hold a grudge that long). He and others take the view that the current residents of areas like Westlake don't "deserve" to be there and should single-handedly clean up the neighborhood and take on the criminals, lest they forced out by rapid gentrification. One should note that he came to this view due in part by some cholos yelling "faggot" at some forumers tooling around in Westlake in a convertible.

While I will agree that personal responsibility plays a huge role in any neighborhood's well-being, we cannot ignore the fact that these people are in a situation that limits their ability to curtail many of the problems that plaugue their hood. I applaud the efforts of the LAPD to clean up McCarthur Park and make it something more than a haven for drug pushers and the like, but as for tackling the neighborhood as a whole and making it safer for residents (and visitors) I see minimal effort. Also keep in mind that even if the authorities were more willing to help the decent people in that hood (which I wholeheartedly beleive is the vast majority of them) many of them, due to the rediculous immigration laws of this country) are scared for their own security and would be unlikely to go to the police anyways, not to mention the fear of retaliation from the criminals. As someone who grew up in a place where drug dealing and crime were not uncommon, I can tell you that it is not as easy to change your own neighborhood as some would like to make it out to be.

All this being said, I not opposed to the gentrification of the neighborhood. I am a firm beleiver in mixing of the classes and that the prescense of wealthier residents will help the poor in many ways, such as more services, investments, retail opportunities, etc. However, what I fear is that we will go the way of European cities where the well off live wonderful lives in the urban core serviced with every public and private amenity imaginable while the poor are pushed farther out into suburbs as bleak as any American ghetto. Manhattan has already adopted this model and has been able to get away with it due to an excellent public transit system that funnels people from the outer burroughs into the core. We do not have such a system, and the potential social strain and backlash from the oppressed classes will not be pretty if we do not wake up and design better neighborhoods for people of every class.

Funny, everyone on here fancies themselves an urban planning afficianado, yet they rarely seem to think about planning for the most important part of any city----the people.

[yakumoto]

well, first off, i'm sorry to have worked you up...my sarcasm doesn't seem to translate well onto the forums. My point was that people in any poor neighborhood aren't going to wholeheartedly support gentrification, seeing as the end result is usually them getting priced out of the neighborhood.

Some forumers have this idea that "cleaning up" the city (not all of the city, but certain parts) will somehow get rid of poverty and the problems associated with it, when all thats really happening is the poor are being moved from one part of town to another.

I think LAB's point is that the poor should go somewhere where they're not seen.

:tup:

[edluva]

some cholos yelling "faggot" at some forumers tooling around in Westlake in a convertible

thats classic, lol!

[MapGoulet]

^ Yeah, I can picture a bunch of guys loaded into a convertible and roaming the hood -- could only be forumers on a day on the town!

;)

[LA420]

What's their deal? Perhaps it's because they are mostly working poor. When you are working two (or more) jobs, trying to raise kids, dealing with a criminal element that the authorities are loath to do anything about, preserving old buildings is probably low on your list of priorities. Beautifying a neighborhood takes a lot of time and money (most of the "beautiful" hoods of L.A. are serviced by those the very kind of people you are complaining about in Westlake).

LAB and I have very different opinions on this and this issue has come up before about a year ago. Search the archives (dunno if the thread exists anymore, but I think it was "Westlake crime" or "downtown crime", don't remember as even I don't hold a grudge that long). He and others take the view that the current residents of areas like Westlake don't "deserve" to be there and should single-handedly clean up the neighborhood and take on the criminals, lest they forced out by rapid gentrification. One should note that he came to this view due in part by some cholos yelling "faggot" at some forumers tooling around in Westlake in a convertible.

While I will agree that personal responsibility plays a huge role in any neighborhood's well-being, we cannot ignore the fact that these people are in a situation that limits their ability to curtail many of the problems that plaugue their hood. I applaud the efforts of the LAPD to clean up McCarthur Park and make it something more than a haven for drug pushers and the like, but as for tackling the neighborhood as a whole and making it safer for residents (and visitors) I see minimal effort. Also keep in mind that even if the authorities were more willing to help the decent people in that hood (which I wholeheartedly beleive is the vast majority of them) many of them, due to the rediculous immigration laws of this country) are scared for their own security and would be unlikely to go to the police anyways, not to mention the fear of retaliation from the criminals. As someone who grew up in a place where drug dealing and crime were not uncommon, I can tell you that it is not as easy to change your own neighborhood as some would like to make it out to be.

All this being said, I not opposed to the gentrification of the neighborhood. I am a firm beleiver in mixing of the classes and that the prescense of wealthier residents will help the poor in many ways, such as more services, investments, retail opportunities, etc. However, what I fear is that we will go the way of European cities where the well off live wonderful lives in the urban core serviced with every public and private amenity imaginable while the poor are pushed farther out into suburbs as bleak as any American ghetto. Manhattan has already adopted this model and has been able to get away with it due to an excellent public transit system that funnels people from the outer burroughs into the core. We do not have such a system, and the potential social strain and backlash from the oppressed classes will not be pretty if we do not wake up and design better neighborhoods for people of every class.

Funny, everyone on here fancies themselves an urban planning afficianado, yet they rarely seem to think about planning for the most important part of any city----the people.


:tup: I agree with Wes, i used live around the MacArthur Park area and trust the last thing these people care about is putting cafe tables and chairs and sipping their Latte LOL LOL seriously :haha:. These people are only concerned about surviving and send there kids to school bring up the kids and protecting each other and being there for each other. Yes it would be nice if we all lived a life that we can wish but this is life. To think that these people should try to clean the place up, :whatthefuck: GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD hell no for what! so some guy in a Benz driving by MacArthur park can feel better about himself. What really bothers me about some of the forum members comments is that they have no compassion for the poor or the needy and the homeless. They trash them like if there were some deadly parasite that needs to be eliminated :hell:. Before you judge anyone look at yourself first cuz i don't want to burst your bubble but you aint perfect either. I know we have a homeless problem in this city and i understand the issues but dont talk like they are less then dirt! these are people too. We all have problems people we are human!! Peace,Love :tup:

[LAMetroGuy]

FYI... gentrification of this area is going to happen, like it or not. I just happen to like it! Ha!!!!!

[citywatch]

Studies: Gentrification a Boost For Everyone

By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
4/19/2005

Everyone knows gentrification uproots the urban poor with higher rents, higher taxes and $4 lattes. It's the lament of community organizers, the theme of the 2004 film Barbershop 2 and the guilty assumption of the yuppies moving in. But everyone may be wrong, according to Lance Freeman, an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University.

In an article last month in Urban Affairs Review, Freeman reports the results of his national study of gentrification — the movement of upscale (mostly white) settlers into rundown (mostly minority) neighborhoods. His conclusion: Gentrification drives comparatively few low-income residents from their homes. Although some are forced to move by rising costs, there isn't much more displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods than in non-gentrifying ones.

In a separate study of New York City published last year, Freeman and a colleague concluded that living in a gentrifying neighborhood there actually made it less likely a poor resident would move — a finding similar to that of a 2001 study of Boston by Duke University economist Jacob Vigdor. Freeman and Vigdor say that although higher costs sometimes force poor residents to leave gentrifying neighborhoods, other changes — more jobs, safer streets, better trash pickup — encourage them to stay. But to others, gentrification remains a dirty word.

"All you have to do is talk to people around here," says James Lewis, a tenant organizer in Harlem, New York's most famous black neighborhood. "Everybody with money is moving into Harlem, and the people who are here are being displaced."

Even residents who have survived gentrification tend to believe it forces people out.

Maria Marquez, 37, has slept on the sofa for 12 years to give her mother and son the two bedrooms in their apartment in Chicago's gentrifying Logan Square area. But eventually, she says, "we're gonna get kicked out. It's a matter of time."

In the two decades after World War II, government urban renewal schemes tore down whole neighborhoods and scattered residents. Gentrification, which appeared in the 1970s, was something else. Motivated by high gasoline prices, suburban sprawl and a new taste for old architecture, some middle class whites began moving into neighborhoods that had gone out of fashion a generation or two earlier.

Here's how it works: A dilapidated and depopulated but essentially attractive neighborhood — solid housing stock, well laid-out streets, proximity to the city center — is discovered by artists, graduate students and other bohemians. Block by block, the neighborhood changes. The newcomers fix up old buildings. Galleries and cafes open, and mom 'n' pop groceries close. City services improve. Finally, the bohemians are joined by lawyers, stockbrokers and dentists. Property values rise, followed by property taxes and rents.

To some urban planners, gentrification is a solution to racial segregation, a shrinking tax base and other problems. To others, it is a problem: Poor blacks and Hispanics, who've held on through hard times and sometimes started the neighborhood's comeback, are ousted by their own success.

Jose Sanchez, an urban planning expert at Long Island University in Brooklyn, says some changing neighborhoods stabilize with a mixture of people. But he says the poor — and the bohemian pioneers — can also be "washed out" by scheming landlords or government policies such as rezoning and urban renewal.

Freeman and Vigdor say gentrification has gotten a bad rap. When they studied New York City and Boston, respectively, they found that poor and less educated residents of gentrifying neighborhoods actually moved less often than people in other neighborhoods — 20% less in New York. For his national study published this year, Freeman found only a slight connection between gentrification and displacement. A poor resident's chances of being forced to move out of a gentrifying neighborhood are only 0.5% greater than in a non-gentrifying one.

So how do some neighborhoods change so dramatically? Freeman says it's mostly the result of what he calls "succession": Poor people in gentrifying neighborhoods who move from their homes — for whatever reason — usually are replaced by people who have more income and education.

Freeman and Vigdor say skeptics who view gentrification merely as " 'hood snatching" should remember three things:

• Many older neighborhoods have high turnover, whether they gentrify or not. Vigdor says that over five years, about half of all urban residents move.

• Such neighborhoods often have so much vacant or abandoned housing that there's no need to drive anyone out to accommodate people who want to move in. A quarter of the housing in one section of Boston's South End was vacant in 1970; the population had dropped by more than 50% over 20 years. Today, the population has increased more than 50%, and the vacancy rate is less than 2%.

• Rising housing costs in gentrifying districts may ensure that poor residents who do move leave the neighborhood, rather than settle elsewhere in it. Since their places usually are taken by more affluent, better educated people, the neighborhood's character and demographics change.

Vigdor argues that hatred of gentrification is largely irrational: "We were angry when the middle class moved out of the city," he says. "Now we're angry when they move back." He asks whether Detroit, which in 50 years has lost half its population and most of its middle class, would not have been better off with gentrification than it has been without it.

....One reason poor families make such heroic efforts to stay is because the quality of life is improving — partly thanks to gentrification.

In the Logan Square area, Marquez says, an influx of higher-income newcomers has coincided with what seems like more aggressive policing. "The gang bangers are not around as much, and you don't see the prostitutes on the corners like you used to," she says.

Idida Perez hates the rising prices but admits, "There are a lot more small cafes owned by people from the neighborhood, and I am a big coffee drinker." And new businesses mean new jobs: Someone has to pour those lattes.

[yakumoto]

I stand corrected. Obviously an associate professor knows better than the people who actually live in the neighborhood.

[edluva]

LA, City of Cheerleaders

[LosAngelesBeauty]

All I want is for Wilshire Blvd. to be a place that feels SAFE to walk on. I can't think of any part other than Westlake along Wilshire that feels absolutely hostile when the sun sets. I am not one who cowards away from mixing with the "poor." I have not owned a car in 2 years in LA and I have been taking the bus at all hours of the day and night with people of all backgrounds possible in LA. I have taken the bus back from Long Beach through the poorest areas of South LA at 1AM. I take the subway, the blue line, the bus, and I walk.

Furthermore, I am not against the poor at all. I am against DIRTY PLACES and CRIME RIDDEN areas. IF a poor area is well kept and clean and safe, I would have NO PROBLEM with it. That includes MacArthur Park.

We're all here debating and discussing the future of Grand Park in Downtown LA and Pershing Square, but one of the potentially most beautiful parks in America is MacArthur Park with the Downtown LA and Koreatown skyline as wonderful manmade back drops. But, alas, it is a park that is not used by the middle/upper class/visitors of LA. Why? I don't think it's because they are prejudice against the poor. I think it's because they feel unsafe and the sight of dead animals littering the lake is far from pleasant.

I support the gentrification of Wilshire Blvd. in Westlake so that everyone can use the park, including the poor.

[edluva]

MacArthur park is too small to be one of the most beautiful parks in america, imo. It's a big grass field with a pond in the middle. LA lost its chance to have a great urban park decades ago.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ Well, perhaps not the "nicest" park, but could definitely become a great example of what a wonderful urban park could be like. Bryant Park in NYC is not HUGE, but it's always referenced as a great example (which it is). But MacArthur Park could also be great. It's in a good location. It's next to the subway station and is big enough (along with Lafayette Park?) to become really substantial if it were completely cleaned up and relandscaped into something as beautiful as Getty Center's gardens.

[Wright Concept]

All I want is for Wilshire Blvd. to be a place that feels SAFE to walk on. I can't think of any part other than Westlake along Wilshire that feels absolutely hostile when the sun sets. I am not one who cowards away from mixing with the "poor." But, alas, it is a park that is not used by the middle/upper class/visitors of LA. Why? I don't think it's because they are prejudice against the poor. I think it's because they feel unsafe and the sight of dead animals littering the lake is far from pleasant.

I support the gentrification of Wilshire Blvd. in Westlake so that everyone can use the park, including the poor.

But part of your answer again goes back to what basic city services AREN'T providing. Case in point there a couple of parks in South LA (Harvard, Leimert, Van Ness) that are used by many social classes everyday and the surrounding neighborhoods are working class, the exception is Leimert. I didn't include Exposition simply because of the Museums being there. You know why, because the councilmen there make sure they're kept in tip-top shape with daily maintenance. If the Councilman in MacArthur Park actually spent a little extra time to fight for park maintenance and supporting having cops on the beat around the park in his hood, then there wouldn't even be these talks of finding dead animals littering the lake it would be cleaned up regardless. Koreatown is a wonderful example of how one doesn't need gentrification to build it's self up, especially considering what happended after 1992, just focus on the basics and the rest will fall into place.

[citywatch]

LA, City of CheerleadersDoes that means you'd rather have the city be full of naysayers & negativity?


If the Councilman in MacArthur Park actually spent a little extra time to fight for park maintenance and supporting having cops on the beat around the park in his hood, then there wouldn't even be these talks of finding dead animals littering the lake it would be cleaned up regardless. It's obvious none of us (inc yakumoto too?) even live in the hood (http://www.kcet.org/lifeandtimes/blog/index.php?p=94&kcet_speed=hi&kcet_play=1).

[Wright Concept]

I just recently moved to the area. So I'll take back the first part of what I said but remember all the things the reporter says is needed to sustain the positive upswing is maintenance and consistant care, So Councilman Reyes still has his feet in the fire on that one considering how folks playing soccer on the North side every day(most of what the reporter discussed and shown was on the South of Wilshire) it rips up the grass needing consistant re-sodding.

[edluva]

[QUOTE=citywatch][/b]Does that means you'd rather have the city be full of naysayers & negativity?


No, it means it's the City of Cheerleaders, Citywatch. Don't be so Cynical.

[andygth]

Hey Guys,
I am new to the forum and I am really enjoying all the clever banter. LA is really doing some great retooling of the city.
Now if we could all just get along.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

9900 Wilshire has now put up the construction fencing along Wilshire, surrounding the Robinsons May...I presume in preparation for demo. This is very real and exciting! I can't wait to learn more about Casden's Barney's New York/Saks Fifth Ave. condos!!!

[LAMetroGuy]

Beverly Hilton Hotel
Residential Condominiums
Beverly Hills, CA
Status: In design
Completion Date: 2009


http://www.gwathmey-siegel.com/news/images/beverlyhilton_m11.jpg

[dlbritnot]

I've been to many urban parks that don't take up more than a block of city space. A couple that come to mind are DuPont Circle in DC and Rittenhouse Square in Phillie. DuPont is the center of a traffic circle that has a beautiful neo-classical fountain at the center and pedestrian traffic at all hours of the day. Rittenhouse Square is a block that is surrounded by high-rise buildings but is well landscaped and a welcome haven for a lot of residents with dogs. It doesn't require a lot of space to have a great urban park, and all MacArthur Park needs is some additional maintenance and security to become more attractive. It already has the lake with a fountain and paddleboats. A simple lawn is plenty in satisfying urban needs. The park could also benefit from having attractive surroundings like Rittenhouse Square, or Union Square in NY. Having close proximity to downtown and Ktown is a good start.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ Yeah, but they NEED to clean that shit up around there. The culture around that area just breeds crime because it's very poor. Not that poor people are criminals, but the predators like to prey on them unfortunately because they know the cops and the city turn their backs on them.

I don't think that area will be safe to go to at night until it is filled with a more diverse mix of businesses catering to a more diverse audience. They also need to get rid of that HIDEOUS American flag painted on the side of that building by the 99 Cent Only store!

[LosAngelesBeauty]

BTW, there are BEAUTIFUL parks that are along Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills that people should go to more often!

[Damien]

Angelinos are not park people. They're not walking people. For all our great sunshine Angelinos are far too happy staying in their own little world wasting their money paying leases on cars they can't afford, so they can keep up with the Jones.

The areas where you see the most park activity are actually those that surround parks like MacArthur, where there's a large immigrant population composed of people who were raised to appreciate and utilize parks and probably don't have the financial means/desire to travel much outside of their community.

My solution: blow up all of the enclosed malls and create towncenters with multi-story mixed-use buildings (some street facing) and underground parking. Put the parks there, because right now malls are the only place Angelinos consistently go to and walk.

[ocman]

Angelinos are not park people. They're not walking people. For all our great sunshine Angelinos are far too happy staying in their own little world wasting their money paying leases on cars they can't afford, so they can keep up with the Jones.

The areas where you see the most park activity are actually those that surround parks like MacArthur, where there's a large immigrant population composed of people who were raised to appreciate and utilize parks and probably don't have the financial means/desire to travel much outside of their community.

My solution: blow up all of the enclosed malls and create towncenters with multi-story mixed-use buildings (some street facing) and underground parking. Put the parks there, because right now malls are the only place Angelinos consistently go to and walk.

We have backyards with backyard grills, so there is less of a need for parks in LA.
But it's more complicated than that. The urban topography makes it hard to access parks, then there is the quality of LA parks and the surrounding environment. LA is a huge multicultural city. There isn't anything inherently different about our people from people elsewhere, except that the city has a psychological effect on our behavior.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ Well said!

[WesTheAngelino]

^ Yeah, but they NEED to clean that shit up around there. The culture around that area just breeds crime because it's very poor. Not that poor people are criminals, but the predators like to prey on them unfortunately because they know the cops and the city turn their backs on them.

I don't think that area will be safe to go to at night until it is filled with a more diverse mix of businesses catering to a more diverse audience. They also need to get rid of that HIDEOUS American flag painted on the side of that building by the 99 Cent Only store!



Or maybe the police, fire dept., health inspectors, city councilmen, MTA, etc etc can spend more time and resources on the neglected underclass.....gee, what a concept

[tujunga]

We have backyards with backyard grills, so there is less of a need for parks in LA.
But it's more complicated than that. The urban topography makes it hard to access parks, then there is the quality of LA parks and the surrounding environment. LA is a huge multicultural city. There isn't anything inherently different about our people from people elsewhere, except that the city has a psychological effect on our behavior.

I've noticed that the most succesful park are the ones with actual homes surrounding them. The home owners keep an eye on the park so they are safer and people use them more. They need more specialized parks too. Some people just want to go to a park just to relax and not be bothered by sports or barbecue crowed, etc. They need more soccer parks so that soccer games don't break out in parks ment for picnicing

[Westsidelife]

http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/avalonwilshiref/avalonwilshire.jpg

Hey, I really like this! I hope to see more of these projects along Wilshire and in Mid-City. I'm hoping that Wilshire will be like Old Town Pasadena with outdoor cafes and big box retailers. Hopefully there will be decent ground floor retail at least. But I really think if we could get these type of projects not just on Wilshire but the other major streets right off of Wilshire and the residential areas in Mid-City then the area would be completely pedestrian friendly. Hopefully Mid-City residents will take advantage of the subway and leave the car alone.

[Westsidelife]

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4232/img1667kt2.jpg

If we could get Mid-City to look more like this except without the flat-like buildings and more 5-6 story mixed-use low-rises.

[Infestma]

Hey I really like that, where is it exactly?

I think LA is much better off having buildings like this then skyscrapers (even though I like sc's a lot). LA is so vastly wide and expansive that having individual neighborhoods that are somewhat dense and walkable with enough ammenities to keep each neighborhood sustainable and self supporting would be more much more beneficial.

[Westsidelife]

That's in New York City in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ There are neighborhoods like that in the Miracle Mile area. Walk down Wilshire/Cochran and you'll be amazed how beautiful that street is. I seriously have a new found love for LA after visiting a bunch of places this summer. LA is actually BEAUTIFUL compared to Taipei. HOWEVER, people like Taipei because it is WALKABLE, COMPACT, and relatively clean.

Once LA gets the Wilshire Blvd. Purple Line extended to Santa Monica, LA will be the most "beautiful" city. Because once that happens, the urban dynamics and culture will inevitably change. Having a transit line in such a congested area will transform LA into a mass transit friendly city. Businesses and residential development will "fight" to build closer to the Wilshire Blvd. line to tout how "auto-free" their properties will be. This will inevitably lead to more compact zones that will entail more mid-high rises to be built near stations (already happening to a certain extent).

Also, this will create more "Holley Trolley" type services as well to bring subway riders to popular night spots like Sunset and Santa Monica Blvd. LA will change "overnight" and more and more communities will be FIGHTING for more rail. It would be SO AWESOME if Hollywood+Highland also extended and connected with the Wilshire Purple Line!!! You would form a very necessary loop truly delineating the area of West Central, or quite simply, the NEW LA!

But NONE of that will happen without the Purple Line extended. The Expo Line is ICING on the cake, but not that cake itself. :P

[Westsidelife]

I'm still not convinced all of that will be enough to get people away from their cars. No doubt LA will always be a car city but I would hope if say residents in the Miracle Mile area need to run a few errands, let them walk a few blocks. Even if we create a pedestrian friendly environment no doubt the car will still be used as they might for instance need to travel to a part of LA that is not accessible by rail (West LA). Only way we could possibly get residents away from the car is if Damien's subway plan becomes a reality and who knows when and if that will happen. But I guess what I'm ultimately hoping for is a denser LA (the city). I would love to see 5 story apartment buildings when you are driving on the freeway rather than outdated warehouses adjacent to empty parking lots along with a plethora of power lines. Again, I think we just need groud floor retail on all the major streets in Mid-City and right off those streets are 5 story apartment buildings. So the Wilshire area should be more of a village where people can grocery shop, dine, party, socialize, etc. all in a half mile radius. And if one needs to travel across town to say Hollywood, walk a few blocks to the nearest subway station. Basically think London or Paris and you'll know what I'm talking about.

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Once LA gets the Wilshire Blvd. Purple Line extended to Santa Monica, LA will be the most "beautiful" city. Because once that happens, the urban dynamics and culture will inevitably change. Having a transit line in such a congested area will transform LA into a mass transit friendly city. Businesses and residential development will "fight" to build closer to the Wilshire Blvd. line to tout how "auto-free" their properties will be. This will inevitably lead to more compact zones that will entail more mid-high rises to be built near stations (already happening to a certain extent).

...

But NONE of that will happen without the Purple Line extended. The Expo Line is ICING on the cake, but not that cake itself. :P

The way I see it, the neighborhoods along Wilshire Boulevard are transit-ready right now, they just need a good transit option to finally be built. As you suggest LAB, the critical density of residential, retail and office is there now. And building the subway will expand that density in both directions (north and south) from the Boulevard.

That there's even a debate about extending the Wilshire Subway (Purple Line) is amazing to me. Will it turn everybody in L.A. into transit users? Of course not. What it will do is create a transit corridor through which you can dependably get from point A to point B in a short amount of time. That's a huge deal. It will also increase access to the Westside and Mid-City for everybody else already plugged into the Metro system.

Alternatively, if the Wilshire Subway doesn't get built, traffic is going to keep growing until we all have the same gridlock currently enjoyed by the Westside. (See the LA Times article of this past Sunday, travelling one mile through Westwood takes 19 minutes!)

I work with many people who live on the Westside and who are nearly auto-independent (they take the bus, bike, or their feet to work). By and large, the consensus is they can't wait for the Expo Line or Purple Line to be built.

[Wright Concept]

What will really get our system going is how lines connect to other lines. Wilshire by itself will be good, but connecting that with something down the 405 and/or lines down La Brea or Fairfax and Vermont will start to tie things together.

Because the North-South streets are horrendous traffic wise compared to the East-west. That 19 minutes for one mile is nothing compared to that take 15 minutes just to move 1/2 mile on La Cienega from Wilshire to 3rd St on rush hour.

[LAMetroGuy]

Southeast corner of Wilshire and Vermont, one tower at 22 floors and a second tower at 14 floors.


Project Description

The Proposed Project includes the demolition of approximately 54,000 square feet of existing commercial uses and the construction of a new mixed-use development consisting of residential condominiums and retail space. The Project includes two residential condominium high-rise buildings (Wilshire Tower and Vermont Tower) above a 4-level above grade parking podium and a one-level retail structure. The Wilshire Tower will include 287 units within 18 floors above the podium level (348,000 square feet of floor area) and the Vermont Tower will include 177 units within 10 floors above the podium level (211,000 square feet of floor area). Both residential buildings will include a combined total of 464 residential units built over 4 levels of above ground level parking, approximately 27,000 square feet of commercial retail space and up to 14,000 sf of restaurant area on the ground floor, and 2 levels of subterranean parking. The proposed transit-oriented project is designed to incorporate a mixture of activities that support and encourage pedestrian activity in close proximity to the Wilshire/Vermont MTA Metro Red Line Station.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/rpulido/WIlshire-Center-Picture.gif

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Very Nice! any other news in regards to a timeline and likely-ness of this happening?

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ I can tell you that the (famous) developers who are doing this are also working on an existing project just north of it on 6th/Vermont. You'll see a huge building wrapped in WHITE (kinda like Sunet+Vine Tower is right now). They want to finish that before moving onto the next project.


NOW ALL THE CITY NEEDS TO DO: is get RID OF THAT GaS sTaTiOn across the street and put a freakin' high-rise, mixed-use project there too. If you want to create a pedstrian-friendly environment, you can't have a GAS STATION for cars at your most important intersection!!!


AND THANK YOU LAMG for finding the rendering. That's the first time I've ever seen what it might look like. I'm hoping it's just a very preliminary drawing and that as they get closer to ground-breaking (crssing fingers), the design will be modified to be more sophisticated and NOT so Sao Paulo-ish.

[ksep]

sometime last week they cleaned up the circa site on wilshire and virgil. they painted over the graffity and put up a couple signs promoting the development.

http://static.flickr.com/80/233545749_57bd9a1e17_o.jpg

[LAMetroGuy]

thank god those trees behind the circa letters aren't palm trees! ;)

[colemonkee]

^ I think it's supposed to vaguely mimic the Hollywood sign. Good to see at least some progress.

[citywatch]

sometime last week they cleaned up the circa site on wilshire and virgil. That's good to see & know.

I'm treating a lot of these proposed highrise condo projs for DT & mid Wilshire as being serious only when I know actual equipment & workers have shown up on the site where the proj is supposed to rise. However, the devlprs of Circa have provided a kind of interesting prelude.

BTW, the site of the Circa condo bldg is across from the historic bldg that once housed the $$ dept store, Bullocks Wilshire:

http://www.amaa.com/_uploads/photo/project/103_lg1_Circa_01.jpg

[colemonkee]

[/b]I'm treating a lot of these proposed highrise condo projs for DT & mid Wilshire as being serious only when I know actual equipment & workers have shown up on the site where the proj is supposed to rise.
citywatch, I'm going to have a T-shirt made for you that simply says "broken record". :) If you ever make it to a meet, it's yours for the taking.

[citywatch]

^ Hey, Colemonkee, I also want a tshirt stenciled with: "I've been waiting forever to see the Medallion finally break ground & all I got was this crummy shirt." ;)

[colemonkee]

:haha: Sold! What size and color?

[luckyeight]

By DANIEL MILLER

Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

The real estate market is crash landing, right?

Not according to the Fifield Cos.

While other residential developers are scaling back or canceling projects amid a pronounced market slowdown, the Chicago-based firm is pushing ahead with what it says will be the priciest condo project ever to hit the market in Los Angeles County – $9 million per unit, on average, and up to $14 million.

Of course, in an industry where location is everything, the proposed 21-story 1200 Club View tower can’t be beat. The half-acre Wilshire Boulevard parcel at the corner of Comstock Avenue is adjacent to Beverly Hills and next to the Los Angeles County Club.

The high rise condos on the Wilshire Corridor condo strip generally sell for about $1,000 a square foot, while Fifield is maintaining that its project of no more than 35 units will go for about $2,000 a foot. Some will be less but those at and toward the top will go for more.

“It’s a very unique site in terms of the Wilshire corridor. You are looking into Holmby Hills and Beverly Hills and what is unique is, it gave us an opportunity to target a very exclusive home owner,” said Tim O’Brien, senior vice president and principal at Fifield. “Based on preliminary interest – which is very much a word of mouth campaign – we don’t see any limitations on value.”

Fifield was founded in 1977 by Steven Fifield and focuses on building high-end condo and office towers. The company has done over $4 billion in development and built about 50 buildings. In July it finished up another condo project on Wilshire Boulevard closer to Westwood Village, the 23-story Californian on Wilshire, with all of its 74 units pre-sold.

The Club View project was approved by the Los Angeles City Council on August 8, and the company said it has secured $200 million in financing from Lehman Brothers Inc. and Fremont Savings and Loan. The plan is to break ground this fall with the building open in 2008.

Still, with the housing market slowing down, developers of condo projects elsewhere in Los Angeles are rethinking their plans. Earlier this month, Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. backed out of deal to buy a condo project near downtown’s Union Station. The 272-unit project, at Alameda Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue, has been converted to a rental property by owner Lincoln Property Co. after failing to attract enough condo buyers. The condo units had been priced near $600,000.

And for the last several months, there’s been about a one-third drop in home and condo sales countywide as interest rates rise and buyers await what could be a substantial correction in prices after a boom that has lasted for well over five years.

In Westwood, 21 condos were sold in August – a 22 percent drop in volume with the median price down 8 percent to $540,000, according to data provided to the Business Journal by HomeData Corp., a Melville, N.Y. company that tracks housing prices nationwide.

However, Kurt Rappaport, president of the high-end real estate agency Westside Estate Agency Inc., said that the typical buyer at Club View will be the “super wealthy client just coming out of a large estate.” Rappaport characterized this sort of client as one who is unaffected by the fluctuations in the market and is buying a condo as a lifestyle choice.

Fifield purchased the half-acre Club View parcel – formerly a pumpkin patch – three years ago. It is close to Beverly Hills at the extreme easterly end of the condo strip in Westwood.

Club View units will start at around $4 million and max out at around $14 million on the upper floors, pricey even for a corridor where buyers regularly shell out several million dollars for a unit.
Wilshire Realty, a high-end property firm, has been tapped by Fifield to sell units at Club View. Lynn Borland, president of Wilshire Realty, said that there is high demand for the condos already. “I think it corroborates that the ultra luxury end of the market is alive and well,” he said.

Each floor of the tower will have no more than two condo units, and between five and seven of the floors will feature a single, penthouse-style unit. Designed by the Keating/Khang Architecture firm, the 163,000-square-foot building will feature heavy use of glass and granite, and a motor court with a floating metal ceiling and a “dignified Parthenon-like space with columns done in a modern architecture style,” said principal Richard Keating.

It also will include 24-hour concierge service modeled after a luxury hotel. “It’s like being at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in terms of being catered to,” O’Brien said.

But in the world of high-end condos, the Club View project, even if it meets all its sales expectations, may not hold its title of the city’s most expensive condo project for long.

The planned Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills has been designed with 25 condos at the top of the hotel. Opening in 2009, Rappaport said he expects the condos could sell for $3,000 per square foot, which would set another record.

“I peg the Montage condos above Club View,” Rappaport said. “It’s unique to have 25 condos on top of the finest hotel in Beverly Hills.”


:banana: :banana: :banana:

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ Actually, according to Forbes, the Wilshire tower (the green art-deco tower in the Wilshire Golden Corridor as well) was going for about $2,200 a square foot, making the penthouse one of the more expensive units in LA at around $16-17 million. That tops 1200 Club View.

I am glad to see that the Montage will have such premiere units (going for possibly more than $3,000sf!). The most expensive unit in Manhattan could hit close to $5,000sf (not typical, but not a surprise either). So we're getting to there!

I am eager to see how much the Ritz-Carlton condos will fetch for. I believe that the penthouse units in the Ritz will continue to appreciate in value (much like how Manhattan did), and we may very well see $2,000sf condos in Downtown LA soon!

[Steve2726]

:previous: Here are the renders:

http://keatingkhang.com/images/wilshire_com3.jpg

http://keatingkhang.com/images/wilshire_com1.jpg

The Wilshire corridor of the Westside of Los Angeles has been the one district unique in the city that has supported high-density housing. Aligned along one street, each of the current buildings reach to an expression of palatial grandeur. In an effort to establish a more modern character to the housing choices for the market, this design seeks a quiet dignity not through pastiche forms and historical references but by scaling the texture of the façade according to the functions within. The lower two thirds of the building are two units per floor and the upper is a single unit on each floor. Accordingly, each unit can face to the east where both the lower 18 hole and the upper 18 hole courses of the Los Angeles country club are immediately adjacent and create an extensive landscape view. The bedroom areas are screened with a set of louvers, and the terraces on the corners are adjacent to the living room areas of full height glass. The top of the building takes into account the need for a helipad and the lobby is proposed as a glass garden of blown glass and art.

http://keatingkhang.com/pages/projectsF.html

[Damien]

The most expensive unit in Manhattan could hit close to $5,000sf (not typical, but not a surprise either). So we're getting to there!

Yippie! More overpriced housing in a market saturated with it.

:cheers:

Those lazy idiots making less than $100K a year shouldn't be able to buy homes anyway.

:whip:

[LAMetroGuy]

Yippie! More overpriced housing in a market saturated with it.

:cheers:

Those lazy idiots making less than $100K a year shouldn't be able to buy homes anyway.

:whip:

bitterman party of 1, your table is ready :rolleyes:

[citywatch]

Those lazy idiots making less than $100K a year shouldn't be able to buy homes anyway.
It's odd that if our housing prices are so high (&, yea, they are), then how come so many of the ppl who have been moving here over the past many yrs, or have decided to now call this place home, aren't exactly the college grad type (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=2251675&postcount=54) who's ended up with a lot of $$$ (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=115168)?


After a decade of slow growth, LA County population growth rates have rebounded. The county gained over 600,000 residents between 2000 and 2004, growing at an annual rate of 1.5 percent. In the 1990s, the county grew at an annual rate of less than 1 percent (0.7%), due primarily to large outflows of the county’s residents....The 1990s were the first decade since the 1850s in which New York City experienced higher growth rates than Los Angeles. Immigration and natural increase account for LA County’s population growth.

In 2003, more than one in every three LA County residents (36%) was foreign-born. The majority of those residents were not citizens of the United States (41% of the foreign-born were naturalized citizens). Between 2000 and 2004, natural increase – the excess of births over deaths – added 374,000 new residents to LA County, and immigration led to an increase of 366,000. The county continued to lose people to other parts of California and other states, with a net loss of 139,000 people due to domestic migration.

Poverty and income disparity are high in LA County. The county is home to 28 percent of California's population but 34 percent of California's poor. With 16 percent of its population living in poverty, LA County has substantially higher poverty rates than the rest of the state (12%).

[deal guy]

Hey all, whats up, I’m new, thought I’d drop my .02 and introduce myself

Transit
I don’t think the subway will ever go any further down Wilshire Blvd. I believe the area has naturally occurring gas seep and a fairly large explosion occurred in the basement of one of the buildings while the tunnel was under construction. You can google it, I’m sure there’s more detailed info out there. It may go above ground, but grade level will just cause more congestion and an el is pretty damn ugly for a city like LA.

The Exposition Line has already been funded, approved and should be under construction at this point bringing light rail all the way out to Culver City, Washington & National intersection. It is supposedly going to be complete by 2010, but we’ll see if that happens. I don’t know who the contractor is going to be. Could see another SM Blvd expansion….

Cool thing about getting light rail to CC is that most of the right-of-ways and easements are already in place to take the rail all the way to Downtown Santa Monica on Colorado. Back in the day a small group of industrialists pushed to have the Port of LA assigned to the pier and brought a rail line all the way to the water in anticipation. The port as we know was assigned to San Pedro so the industrial rail line to SM was sold to another group who utilized it in their network of intra-urban light rail trolleys. I think they stopped running the trolley sometime around 1950 when freeway construction began in earnest in LA. Since then the control of those rail rights-of way have been held by the MTA, so it’s really only a matter of money. Who pays, who controls, who operates, etc…. I suspect it will be another 10 years before light rail shows up in SM.

There’s a significant interest by public and private institutional real estate companies to “get in” on transit oriented development right now. Its kind of like “mixed-use”, it has cache right now. Plus, more and more people are actually thinking that it could be the way of the future, not merely a fad. The intersection I mentioned in CC is getting a lot of attention lately. We’re working on some really cool mixed-use podium style stuff down there. It will be great to see that whole thing, downtown CC all the way down East Washington to La Cienega come to fruition. I heard Surfas may be going though. That really sucks. I think that’s a mistake, it definitely adds value to the neighborhood.

NoHo is another booming transit hub that is seeing TONS of action. We’ve worked on 5 projects all within 0-4 blocks from the Red Line terminus. It’s a gamble, but there’s a lot of money that thinks its going to work, and work well. I’ve been up there and seen people just pouring from the Orange Line and Red Line either going or coming. Its pretty cool. Just like a real city!

Parks
I’ve only been in LA for a little while, but the best park I’ve found is Roxbury Park. Its really well landscaped, has a nice mix of open usable space, defined sport areas and more dense foliage as well. It probably helps that the City of Beverly Hills seems to grasp the value of keeping lots of space and green in the city. Along Santa Monica Blvd through Beverly Hills is a really great example of how creating a seemingly small amount of dedicated park land really opens up the whole boulevard and provides a segway into the residential neighborhood only 150-200ft from one of the busiest thru-fares in LA. Long Beach is doing something similar along Ocean Blvd in downtown. They’re calling it Victory Park and it has great potential. All the developments along the southern border of Ocean Blvd are required to dedicate a fairly large easement to the city. If they execute a well conceived plan it could be awesome. The only problem I see is the possible lack of solar incidence due the many high rises right along the boulevard, but as long as the park gets some sun it should be a nice usable space. Griffith Park is nice, but it seems a little “wild” for most LA people, in my opinion. A couple more parks like Bryant Park in NY would be fantastic. Takes time, money and will power + not very many people are going to back grading whole city blocks to plant grass.

Sorry, I don’t really have too much to say about the social issues. It is what it is. Economies of capitalism MUST grow to survive. Things will never stay the same. They cannot. We can manage how the changes occur, but gentrification is a necessity. With that said, workforce housing and poverty should be high on the list of issues that the leaders of our communities and businesses attempt to address with more gusto for the next several decades. I believe this is especially true in Southern California where there exists a disparity of gargantuan proportions between rich and poor. I have never seen that disparity more clearly than in LA(maybe NY) where a guy in a $200,000 car drives past people sleeping on cardboard.

Ok, long post, hopefully its interesting to a couple of you. I’ve been checking this site out for a while double checking project pipelines, getting renderings etc

Going to the Dodger game tomorrow, so think blue…GO DODGERS!!!!!
Brad

[bjornson]

Transit
I don’t think the subway will ever go any further down Wilshire Blvd. I believe the area has naturally occurring gas seep and a fairly large explosion occurred in the basement of one of the buildings while the tunnel was under construction. You can google it, I’m sure there’s more detailed info out there. It may go above ground, but grade level will just cause more congestion and an el is pretty damn ugly for a city like LA.



You should probably go look this up again. Seriously. And the explosion you're talking about, is the Ross basement.

[DJM19]

Actually they can tunnel down wilshire again. The technology has improved since that explosion and the ban has been lifted by congress. There is a lot of political will in support of the project. Its just a matter of getting voters behind it.

[northbay420]

welcome deal guy


Economies of capitalism MUST grow to survive.

Right on the money!! only problem is, how long can we go? can we keep growing FOREVER?!?

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Transit
I don’t think the subway will ever go any further down Wilshire Blvd. I believe the area has naturally occurring gas seep and a fairly large explosion occurred in the basement of one of the buildings while the tunnel was under construction. You can google it, I’m sure there’s more detailed info out there. It may go above ground, but grade level will just cause more congestion and an el is pretty damn ugly for a city like LA.


Actually, if you have kept up to date on the whole issue with Waxman rescinding the ban on tunneling, it was clearly stated that he did so because transit experts determined that it would be safe to tunnel (and Hancock Park/Beverly Hills are cool with subways going thru them now, that's the main reason).

[deal guy]

It appears that I spoke incorrectly on the subway/gas topic. I didnt realize this was no longer an issue. No doubt you collectively know more about forward planning in the City of LA than I do.

[danparker276]

1100 wilshire got delayed again by the fire marshall. Rejected it last monday and last friday. Another month delay now.

[colemonkee]

^ Oh man, that sucks. We just had a going away party for one of my neighbors who's moving in there. Looks like she'll have to have another one in a month.

[JRinSoCal]

Wait a minute, I thought there were already people living in 1100 Wilshire. The building looks pretty lit up at night like there's people already there.

[colemonkee]

No. No one has moved in yet. The fire marshall hasn't given approval to grant occupancy based on the fire systems installed. It's a huuuuge fiasco right now with all the people who bought who were supposed to move in in July and August. This is all according to my neighbor, who bought in the building. Dan Parker may be able to ellaborate.

[danparker276]

No, it's always lit up because they're probably doing construction all night. The building is supposed to be complete now, but they've got problems with the fire marshall again. I just heard it will be at least few more weeks.
2 weeks ago, they gave us a bottle of wine and some final building documents getting us all excited again.

[danparker276]

When I put a deposit down, they said move in could happen in Dec 2005 (They wanted to move in the lower floors first). Then the move in date was pushed back every month. The construction company actaully put a move in date of Feb 15 on their website. I don't really care about the delay, but it sucks not knowing exactly when. My bedroom is filled with boxes ready to pack up.

[ThreeHundred]

Speaking of 1100, is the lighting display finished or is there anything else that's going to be added to it?

[danparker276]

I think it's finished.

[Steve2726]

I drove by this project today and noticed that part of the scaffolding is down on the Shatto St. side and the exterior is nearing completion on the rest. I Didn't have a camera so I have no photos, but I thought it looked good and will be great catalyst for improving the hood.

Wilshire & Vermont (northeast corner of Wilshire & Vermont)

http://www.macfarlanepartners.com/images/projects/wvt_lg.jpg

[LosAngelesBeauty]

^ Yeah, especially when they have the middle school up and running too.

[Westsidelife]

Fridayinla has some updated photos of Wilshire/Vermont. I'll wait for him to post it here rather than doing it myself.

[fridayinla]

Here are some new construction photos of the Wilshire/Vermont project:

This one I snapped with my cellphone on Nov. 18th as I walking by (view of SW corner):

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/207785912.jpg

I took this one this afternoon (Nov 25th). You can see how much progress they've made in just 7 days on the side facing Wilshire Blvd (right side of photo):

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/207785916.jpg

Southeast corner from Wilshire:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/207785943.jpg

They've also started to install the glass storefronts for the ground level retail:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/207785928.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/207785952.jpg

Also, last week I noticed they dismantled the construction crane onsite, so that means they've topped out the steel frame construction. It should be all down-hill from here. The construction sign says delivery in early 2007. Here's the project website:

http://www.wvstation.com/

I'll try to take some even newer photos this weekend.

[fridayinla]

The only noticeable progress on the Wilshire/Vermont project this week is the north side (interior) facing the metro station. Sorry about the quality and lighting - I just snapped the shot on my camera phone as I was going into the metro station today.

Interior facade around the metro station is complete and they removed the scaffolding:
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/10396790/210134696.jpg

This nearly completes the project's east building facade.

[ZankouCharlie]

How much at the units going to go for at Wilshire & Vermont?

[fridayinla]

The old Century Wilshire Hotel site has been completely cleared for the new 22-story Carlyle on Wilshire. I snapped this shot today:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/13911382/210469355.jpg

Rendering from http://www.carlyleonwilshire.com/

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL144/5090918/10396790/210458925.jpg

[Westsidelife]

Finally, something I actually like! Beautiful! On what portion of Wilshire will this be located?