[citywatch]

Landmark May Make History All Over Again

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-01/27632341.jpg
6TH AND GRAND: The building’s cross-like shape was intended to allow light and air to
reach office spaces, architect William L. Pereira said in the 1960s. It was one of Los
Angeles’ first skyscrapers to surpass the 28-story limit of City Hall. (Wally Skalij / LAT)

Built in the 1960s, 42-story tower is expected to be approved for downtown's largest condo conversion.

By Cara Mia DiMassa, Times Staff Writer
January 30, 2007

In the late 1960s, it was Los Angeles' tallest building — and a first piece of what became downtown's modern skyline. Now, the 42-story tower at 6th Street and Grand Avenue is making history again, this time as what appears to be the largest "adaptive reuse" project in Los Angeles history.

This week, the Los Angeles Planning Department is expected to approve plans by a developer to convert the building — which was originally known as the Crocker-Citizens National Bank building — into a mixture of commercial and residential condominiums. Most of the adaptive reuse downtown Los Angeles has seen so far has focused on the conversion of historical bank buildings into residential units. But this signals something new: The arrival of the residential building boom in the heart of office tower country.

Most of the loft and condo development so far has been to the north in the old financial district and to the south in the neighborhood around Staples Center. The only other major downtown skyscraper to go residential was the vacant 1100 Wilshire office building, which opened to new homeowners last year.

The big question is whether downtown's booming residential scene can support hundreds of more units. The Crocker-Citizens building conversion would come as several major new apartment and condo buildings are rising in the South Park district — and as planners are about to consider the translucent Frank Gehry-designed luxury towers on Bunker Hill.

Downtown saw a deceleration in new housing last year as the once-hot real estate market across Southern California died down. A Times review in November of about 100 downtown residential and commercial developments showed that about 20% were behind schedule.

"People are a little worried about a glut of condos," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. "I think the [residential] market has definitely simmered down in the downtown area."

The Crocker-Citizens tower was designed by famed Los Angeles architect William L. Pereira, and was one of a handful of buildings — notably the Union Bank tower — built in the 1960s to surpass the 28-story height limit of City Hall, the city's first high-rise. Pereira, whose firm was behind many midcentury Southern California landmarks, including the Disneyland hotel in Anaheim and the AT&T Center downtown, designed the building's white tower in the form of a cross — an usual design for an office building of that era.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-01/27632352.jpg
CITYSCAPE: The building, nearing completion in this
1968 photo, was planned as part of a concept calling
for residential towers on Bunker Hill so people could
walk to work. (LAT)

Pereira said at the time that the cruciform shape would allow more light and air to reach offices than would a conventional square or rectangle. Another unusual feature of the design was its vast parking lot — nine levels, or seven acres, of underground parking — designed to accommodate the increased dependence of Angelenos on their automobiles.

Downtown boosters believe the design — and its now-trendy midcentury style — will draw residents. Carol E. Schatz, head of the Central City Assn., said the building's floor plan made it uniquely suited for conversion into residential use because units already have ample window lines. "And it's centrally located," she said, "between Bunker Hill and South Park, close to what remains of our financial district."

But some tenants — many of whom are in the process of moving out of the buildings — were skeptical that condos would draw much interest. "I think they are overdoing it. The first ones make the money. The last ones to jump on the bandwagon usually don't," said one man who works in the building. "And downtown at night [can be] really scary. So how can you make it that enticing to residential people at night when you are virtually locked in?"

The building has weathered downtown's many ebbs and flows: one spate of office construction in the 1960s and '70s, and another in the 1980s, as well as the long slowdown that lasted until almost 1999. That was the year the city passed the adaptive reuse ordinance, clearing the way for unused office buildings to be redeveloped as residential space.

At first, adaptive reuse in downtown centered on the cluster of ornate buildings at the edge of skid row. But recently, developers, eyeing the growing numbers of people moving downtown, have been looking farther afield. Across the street from the Crocker tower, the 1925 Grand Pacific building is about to reopen as 99 residential lofts. Library Court, which opened about eight weeks ago with 90 condo units, boasts a Wolfgang Puck cafe and a hip bar along its ground floor space.

Calls to the Crocker building's current owner, the New York-based Chetrit Group, which bought the building in 2005, as well as to a lawyer representing the developer, were not returned Monday. Chetrit, a group of landlords and developers based in New York, also owns the Clark Hotel, AT&T Center and Giannini Place in downtown Los Angeles. The group is a partner in the planned conversion of the former Embassy hotel and theater downtown into the Gansevoort West, an upscale hotel project that was announced in 2005 but has since been delayed.

One of the plan's unique elements is that Chetrit wants to sell condo space to residents and businesses, said Richard Gervais, a city planner. The building's lower floors, from 1-15, would be converted into 135 commercial condominiums. Higher in the tower, the developer is planning to create 402 live-work condominiums.

The commercial condominiums, Kyser said, would answer a growing need downtown for a stock of business space that could be owned by the stores and businesses that occupy them. Kyser said that he is hearing "rumbles" that several large Westside business service firms, faced with rising lease rates and higher living or commuting costs for their employees, have begun to reconsider downtown for their headquarters — and might well consider something like the Crocker-Citizens building.

In order for the Crocker- Citizens building to be recast as a partially residential unit, the building would probably require some infrastructure-related upgrades. No specific details were available about those plans, but several people familiar with adaptive reuse said that the upgrades might include sewer and electrical work.

In a way, it is a strange twist for a building that began life as one of downtown's trendsetters. When the building was constructed, Pereira called it part of a new concept in urban living, one that allowed people to live and work near one another. "At first, the prospect of incorporating a large proportion of apartments and town houses in the heart of the city seemed unusual," Pereira told The Times in 1967. "Within the next decade, thousands of Angelenos are going to discover the convenience and pleasure of walking to work."

At the time, a master plan for Bunker Hill proposed building a series of residential towers in the area. But only now, 40 years later, does it appear that those proposals are coming to fruition, with the proposed development of the Grand Avenue project and thousands of people moving into the urban core.

[Carioca]

"A Times review in November of about 100 downtown residential and commercial developments showed that about 20% were behind schedule."


i've run across this quote before- and although not an important part of the article,
hello- is it just me or is this ridiculous. only 20% behind schedule????
jeeeeeeez i would be freaking happy if 20% of my projects were ON TIME!
(i don't think any of my clients are in this august group... um – are you?)
anyway- the press seems to run with every misstep downtown.
i, for one, am constantly amazed at the progress down here.
and being from chicago- i can really taste what might happen in a few years.
but we should all remember what it was like ten or twenty rears ago,
and be grateful for what is here now...

ok- back to your regularly scheduled programing...

[Steve2726]

So a "commercial condominium" is essentially still office space. The difference being that it is owned by the tenant instead of renting? Nobody would live on those floors then?

[fridayinla]

So a "commercial condominium" is essentially still office space. The difference being that it is owned by the tenant instead of renting? Nobody would live on those floors then?

Exactly. Commercial condominiums are owned and used as office space for businesses.

[LAMetroGuy]

City Earmarks $36 Million for Chinatown Project

By DANIEL MILLER

Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

A planned $146 million mixed use project in Chinatown has gotten a boost from the Los Angeles City Council, which has earmarked it $36 million in subsidies.

The money – which comes from redevelopment, housing and other sources – will allow the Blossom Plaza project break ground in the first quarter of 2008, with a planned opening in 2010.

The development at 900 N. Broadway will include two residential towers with 169 condo units over 40,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, a 344-space parking garage and 18,000-square-feet of landscaping.

The project by Bond Cos., a Santa Monica-based real estate firm, is being constructed near a Metro Gold Line station with the expectation it will spur neighborhood economic development.

“It will be catalytic project, especially because it will be linking the Chinatown light rail station to the commercial core area. Other developments were waiting to see if this project was going to happen,” said Bibiana Yung, an assistant project manager with the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency.

The Council took its action on Wednesday.

[citywatch]

Ppl like this make me :gaah: because they are the very ones who should be living near their workplace, who have enough $$ & therefore have no right to cry, I lead a compromised, hectic lifestyle, spending way too much time commuting everyday, because I can't afford to live near so & so, or to move to such & such a hood. The apts or condos near my office have rental rates I can't afford or cost more than my checking acct will allow!!!

If our fwys are more jammed than they should be, if we're using more gas than we should be, if we have more global warming than we need to have, if urban hoods like DT still aren't doing as well as they should be, it's no thanks to this:



So O’Shea took over reluctantly, moving from a downtown hotel (“It was kinda depressing”) to a month-to-month furnished rental in Pasadena. Now the quintessential Chicagoan, in both style and substance (there’s nothing slick or manicured about this guy, from his ill-fitting suit to his crooked teeth), is rapidly becoming another Los Angeles cliché.

He now has leased a Manhattan Beach condo and a Lexus. This editor who before Christmas knew only that Westwood was near UCLA has been “out to the Valley and other areas. I rode around with the police one night into South-Central and Rampart. I’ve been taking very long bike rides, which is a great way to see things. I’ve even found myself sitting here and debating, ‘Should I go to Chicago this weekend?’ Because when I look at the ocean out there, I think, ‘What’s the point of going somewhere else?’

“At first, Los Angeles was a culture shock,” O’Shea continued. “Chicago was so much more compact. This is different. It’s absolutely fascinating — the city of the future where we have to deal with multicultural/multilingual issues the world is going to face. I say to myself, ‘Holy cow, how do you cover it?’”


^ I have to add this person is the new editor of the LA Times, who probably often needs to spend late hrs in his office, that being the paper's newsroom located at 1st & Broadway. Oh, but he still feels he absolutely must have a place in manhattan bch, & drive back & forth from there everyday? :shrug:

[solongfullerton]

Maybe he takes the Commuter Express :) Anyways, Manhattan Beach is awesome. If I got a job in the South Bay, I would move there in a heart beat. Its probably one of my favorite places in the WORLD!!!! and i've been to quite a few other places.

[solongfullerton]

double post

[deehrler]

I received a report from a developer friend who emailed me the following report.

1. Market Lofts (CIM Group and Lee Group) - sold 96 units (267 units total) during their presale event 2 weeks ago @ $570 psf average.

2. Vero (Astani Enterprises) - sold 165 units (197 units total) by end of January 2007 for $505 psf average . "

These numbers are fantastic in an otherwise horrible housing environment. The numbers in outlying areas are probably more like the same if you substitute "forclosures" in lieu of "sales".

Who wants to live in the desert?

[LAMetroGuy]

http://www.globest.com/newspics/los_panamerican.jpg

LOS ANGELES-Urban Pacific Builders of Long Beach has struck a deal with the Los Angeles Conservancy and will share tax benefits of the arrangement with buyers of Urban Pacific's Pan American Lofts. In what the builder describes as “one of the first transactions of its kind,” Urban Pacific will grant an easement on the ornate five-story 1895 Beaux Arts facade to the Los Angeles Conservancy.

In return, Urban Pacific will receive tax benefits that it says it will share with buyers of the lofts, some of whom may be eligible for tax deductions of up to $80,000, according to Scott Choppin, CEO of Urban Pacific Group, parent company of Urban Pacific Builders. Choppin says that whether buyers qualify for the deduction is something for their individual tax advisers to determine.

The tax deal between Urban Pacific and the conservancy stems from the historic importance of the Pan American Lofts building. The developer and the conservancy worked together to preserve the building's architecture as Urban Pacific was converting the former office building into lofts.
The Pan American Lofts, originally built as the Irvine Byrne Building and known more recently as the Giant Penny store, is at 249 S. Broadway, at the corner of Third Street. Besides its own heritage, which has earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is close to some other Downtown landmarks, like the Million Dollar Theater, the Grand Central Market and the Bradbury Building.

According to Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, the tax arrangement that the group signed with Urban Pacific is part of the nonprofit conservancy's effort to help developers take advantage of incentives to protect the city’s architectural heritage. Tax incentives are one way of doing that, although Dishman comments that, “It’s rare for developers to pass along the benefits to buyers.”

The Pan American and other buildings were in danger of being lost before developers began converting them to residential uses in what has become one of the biggest stories of the Downtown L.A. development scene. The 40 lofts range from 800 sf to 1,400 sf, including several penthouse units with their own internal mezzanines and private rooftop decks. Prices start in the $400,000 range.

[Carioca]

http://www.globest.com/newspics/los_panamerican.jpg

What a cool building.
Gee I'd love to live there some day...:shuffle:

[colemonkee]

I received a report from a developer friend who emailed me the following report.

1. Market Lofts (CIM Group and Lee Group) - sold 96 units (267 units total) during their presale event 2 weeks ago @ $570 psf average.

2. Vero (Astani Enterprises) - sold 165 units (197 units total) by end of January 2007 for $505 psf average . "

These numbers are fantastic in an otherwise horrible housing environment. The numbers in outlying areas are probably more like the same if you substitute "forclosures" in lieu of "sales".

Who wants to live in the desert?
The Vero numbers are positive, but the Market Lofts numbers are a bit disappointing. I guess 36% sold in a pre-sales event is good, but Elleven and Luma numbers were much, much better. The $570 psf is good though. Makes me think that a luxury tower selling at $800 psf would actually pencil out at the moment.

[Wright Concept]

The Vero numbers are positive, but the Market Lofts numbers are a bit disappointing. I guess 36% sold in a pre-sales event is good, but Elleven and Luma numbers were much, much better. The $570 psf is good though. Makes me think that a luxury tower selling at $800 psf would actually pencil out at the moment.


It's really positive for Vero because of how they were constructed. Vero was mostly wood cost only $200-250 psf to build where as Concrete/rebar for the Market Lofts are at $375-400 psf. So Vero has made a nice little profit where Market Lofts will be breaking even.

Again the type of construction and how tall these new developments are going to be key as to how successful the project will be. A lot of infill wood framed 4-6 story mid rise buildings will probably be the design of choice. The high rises will be few and far between or they will charge a butt load in order to pencil out.

[MapGoulet]

Maybe he takes the Commuter Express :) Anyways, Manhattan Beach is awesome. If I got a job in the South Bay, I would move there in a heart beat. Its probably one of my favorite places in the WORLD!!!! and i've been to quite a few other places.

I'm sorry folks, but I have to agree. I'm an urbanist too, but Manhattan Beach is, quite frankly, the shiznit.

I'd move there in a heartbeat too if it wasn't so far from work.

[RAlossi]

Though it's not "housing," the Homeboy Industries bakery on Alameda/Spring and College streets is coming along nicely. The temporary park is looking good if a little bland, and the California Endowment, which has been completed for a while, is absolutely beautiful.

[danparker276]

Here's a shot of 1010 Wilshire. The top is going to be the pool deck, plastic or glass around it??

http://loftla.com/lofts/1100/myplace/tableview.jpg

[BrighamYen]

OOOH, they got the windows punched thru the facade! Coming along nicely. :)

[bobcat]

Eastern Columbia Clock Showing Time of Transformation
By AMANDA BECKER - 2/12/2007
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

EasternColumbia Lofts

849 S. Broadway,Los Angeles
Developer: Kor Group
Building: Art deco icon constructed in 1929 by L.A. retail magnate Adolph Sieroty
Past Use: Sieroty built the tower to house furnishings, clothes and accessories from the Eastern and Columbia Outfitters
Project: Kor built 147 condos with open floor plans and retail space on the ground floor. The $20 million project began in 2004 and should be completed this year.


After decades as a landmark in the Los Angeles skyline, the Eastern Columbia Building’s fluorescent clock tower is marking a new era of downtown development.

Kor Group is finishing renovations on the former office building and department store in the historic district, and all but 17 of the 147 loft condominiums in the 13-story tower are sold.

“Kor has been very thoughtful and careful in the approach to the re-use,” said Trudi Sandmeier, director of education for the L.A. Conservancy preservation group. “The Eastern Columbia building is a visual icon on the street and a landmark building in every sense of the word. It’s one of the most spectacular examples of art deco anywhere in the country.”

The Eastern Columbia opened its doors on Sept. 12, 1930 after only nine months of construction. Los Angeles retail magnate Adolph Sieroty developed the tower to house furnishings, clothes and accessories from the Eastern and Columbia Outfitters.

By mid-century, the building had been converted to office space and Sieroty sold the Eastern Columbia in the 1980s. When Kor bought the property to create downtown loft space, many of the offices sat empty.

“In the Broadway district, rent from ground floor tenants would often pay for the entire building,” Sandmeier said. “The Eastern Columbia was largely empty, they hadn’t been aggressive about renting the space.”

Kor saw an opportunity to convert the offices into residential lofts as the downtown residential market took off. But adapting buildings such as the Eastern Columbia presents a unique set of challenges. For example, many previous renovations weren’t documented on architectural plans.

“The thing about adaptive reuse is that you can look at plans, but until you really get into the construction phase you don’t know what’s there,” said Kimberly Lucero, vice president of sales and marketing in Kor’s residential group.

During construction, Kor uncovered and restored an entire wall of plastered-over windows that filter light into northern-facing units. Kor also sought to keep most of the building’s exterior architectural details intact.

“In a historic building you have to analyze what’s important and try to understand what the original architect meant to do,” said Wade Killefer, a principal at Killefer Flammang Architects, the firm that designed the renovations.

Terrazzo on the lobby floors and sidewalk was fixed tile by tile and the turquoise terra cotta was patched and repaired. Kor received a façade-improvement grant from the conservancy to assist with the renovation of the historical landmark.

One of the most significant features preserved was the terra cotta and gold leaf clock tower. Today, the restored timepiece illuminates a newly added rooftop pool and terrace.

“The biggest technical issue we ran into was how to make that space functional,” Killefer said. “We spent about a third of our time figuring out the roof deck and upper units.”

Units in the art deco building range from 720 to 2,750 square feet. Open floor plans, polished concrete floors and optional upgrades combine modern convenience with historic tradition.

Eight penthouse suites are still available, including rooftop condos that flank the pool and patio. Kor held the spaces so potential buyers could get a better idea of the finished space.

“A couple of years ago you’d have to explain what a loft was,” said Lucero. “You don’t need to do that anymore.”

Conservationists hope that the influx of city dwellers to buildings like the Eastern Columbia will ensure the preservation of historic buildings that were neglected for decades.

“A building that is empty is always an endangered building,” Sandmeier said. “When you fill it with people you establish a constituency for its preservation.

[bobcat]

‘A Certain Type of Person Really Enjoys This Type of Architecture’
By SARAH FILUS - 2/12/2007
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Metro 417

17 S. Hill St., Los Angeles
Developer: Forest City Enterprises Inc.
Building: Constructed in 1925 by Pacific Electric Railroad in 15th century Florentine palazzo style
Past Use: Twelve-story building originally operated as the Subway Terminal Building, the transportation hub for Los Angeles. The ground floor and two subterranean floors housed the historic Red Car subway station until 1956. Upper floors provided over 300,000 square feet of office space.
Project: Bought by Forest City in 2003, and opened in 2005 with 277 boutique-style apartments. Total cost of $60 million.

The old Subway Terminal Building in Pershing Square was almost entirely vacated and worn with years of perpetual use when Forest City Enterprises acquired the property in 2003 with plans to remodel. Remnants of sets left by film crews were spread sporadically throughout the floors.

In less than two years, Forest City turned the empty building and its history into 277 luxury boutique-style apartments that rent for between $1,200 and $2,800. The townhouse on the top floor goes for much more.

“I think that there is a certain type of person who really enjoys this type of architecture and love living in an old building that has been brought back to life,” said Kevin Ratner, the president of residential development for Forest City Enterprises Inc. in Los Angeles.

Since the building opened just over a year ago at the end of 2005, occupancy has been steadily rising. The building recently reached a stabilized occupancy of 90 percent, close to downtown’s 93 percent residential average, he said.

Metro 417 is not the only successful adaptive reuse project that Forest City has taken on in the Los Angeles area. In recent years, the company turned the 23-story Getty Oil headquarters in Koreatown into a 238-condo residential building called the Mercury. In downtown, the high rise at 1100 Wilshire is being converted into 228 condominium units and 14,000 square feet of retail. Metro 417 is, however, the oldest structure Forest City has refurbished into modern day luxury apartments.

“The Wilshire building was originally built in 1986 so a lot of the architectural systems were there and operational. In the Subway Terminal Building, it was a lot harder,” Ratner said. “We had to figure out how to get all the new mechanical systems into the old building.”

And because Forest City wanted historic tax credits for Metro 417, nearly everything with historic value inside or outside had to be maintained, including the entire façade of the building and the mosaic tile floor in the lobby.

“The subway was one of the hardest projects I’ve ever done,” said Ed Stavneak, project manager for lead architecture firm, AC Partners. “We had to keep the historic features and meet the current codes. Different assumptions we made changed over time. Every day we found something we didn’t know existed.”

Built in 1925, the former Subway Terminal Building still maintains sky-lit coffered ceilings, Italian marble, and carved woodwork. A laundry list of modern amenities have been added in the adaptation process, including a rooftop spa and garden, a private fitness training center, billiard room, club level lounge and private screening room. A 108,000-square-foot parking garage was added.

Unlike many conversion projects downtown, the units in Metro 417 are not lofts but apartments designed for upscale tenancy. Historical elements include ceilings of 10 to 12 feet in height and classic architectural built-ins, and alcoves that complement modern conveniences such as washers and dryers. Metro 417 is now listed as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 177.

“To create a viable product out of a building like this forces creativity and problem solving,” Ratner said. “Adaptive reuse is the ultimate recycling, if you will.”

[bobcat]

Renovation Reveals Much Ado About A Phantasmagorical Hill Street Locale
By SARAH FILUS - 2/12/2007
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Pacific Electric Lofts

610 S. Main St., Los Angeles
Developer: ICO Development LLC
Building: Built in 1905 by Henry Huntington in turn-of-the-century Richardsonian Romanesque and Beaux Arts styles
Past Use: Top floors were headquarters of Jonathan Club, an exclusive men’s club founded in 1895. From 1905 to 1950, Pacific Electric Lofts was a primary downtown street car terminal for the Red Car. Between the 1960s and 1980s, it was a commercial office building, and included a Greyhound terminal at one point.
Project: ICO acquired the nine-story building in 2001, began construction in 2004 and finished in 2005. At a cost of $62 million, 314 loft apartments were built over retail.

Pacific Electric Lofts embodies Los Angeles’ phantasmagorical spirit. In the 1990s, the building served as a setting for more than 450 movie and television productions including “Forrest Gump,” “Spiderman,” and “L.A. Confidential.” But even those impressive Hollywood credentials barely scratch the surface of the extensive history literally hidden behind the walls of one of the oldest restored buildings downtown.

When the building’s owner, ICO Development, tore into the old streetcar station and office building 100 years after it was constructed in 1905, carpenters found WWII cracker rations behind one of the walls. They now sit on display on the lobby of the building, which has a residential-over-retail design.

“People love the character of these older buildings,” said ICO owner Alex Moradi. “Pacific Electric Lofts is very creative, very historic. Your front entrance is a 100-year-old door, mahogany with glass transoms. Marble lines the corridors. There are mosaic floors.”

With rents that range from $1,300 for a studio to $5,000 for a penthouse suite, the building provides modern amenities as well, including a rooftop pool, spa, gardens, barbecues, fireplace and a dog run. Residents can use the private mosaic-style library on the eighth floor where the Jonathan Club – an exclusive men’s organization – met regularly when the building first opened. Private fitness facilities also are on site.

The lofts are 93 percent leased and nearly 50 percent of its residents pull in yearly income of more than $90,000, Moradi said.

The residential portion of the project was completed in 2005 but construction on the 20,000-square foot ground floor of the complex – slated for retail – is still under way. Internal space is being renovated and the ornate external façade of the first floor, which was modernized during the 1950s, is being returned to its original condition.

Cole’s PE Buffet, the longest operating restaurant and bar in downtown L.A., open since 1908, is still in business on the ground floor, where there also is a retail package shipper. Another restaurant, a flower shop, dry cleaner and a coffee shop are expected to open by late spring or early summer.

“We could rent to garment-related businesses all day long. That’s what’s big in the area. But we have chosen to hold off so we can rent to businesses that provide services to our residents as well as the surrounding community,” Moradi said.

ICO received a grant from Home and Garden Television for the ground floor renovations. Several hundred companies from around the country applied and seven received money. “We were the largest grant award in the country,” Moradi said. “They recognized the historic significance of the project and the significance to Los Angeles.”

It hasn’t always gone so smoothly. Due to unforeseen issues that came along with modernizing an old building, the residential portion of the project was completed nearly six months behind schedule. The retail renovations were also slowed, but everything is on track now, said John Arnold, project manager at lead architectural firm, Killefer Flammang Architects.

“One of the biggest challenges of working in adaptive reuse is keeping historic features of the building in tact,” said Arnold, whose Santa Monica firm has done extensive adaptive reuse projects throughout the area. “It is hard to meet needs of the building and fire departments and the historic agencies. You have to report any minor move you make to make sure it is historically viable.”

The building’s location at Sixth and Main streets downtown has presented its own unique problems. Last summer and early fall, Moradi watched tenants vacate the building as bordering Skid Row residents spilled over into the surrounding neighborhood. Moradi asserted that safety concerns are no longer an issue since the LAPD cracked down on the homeless in the area.

“People feel a lot safer walking around. There is a lot of cross traffic between our building and other buildings in our neighborhood,” he said. “Tenants have started walking to various venues like Pete’s Café, the Broadway Bar, and Golden Gopher.”

[bobcat]

The Buildings Are Unique – We Wanted to Make the Tax Savings Unique’
By Richard Clough - 2/12/2007
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff
Mark Weinstein

Born: Arcadia, 1958
Position: President, MJW Investments
Accomplishments: Spearheaded the $145 million, 800,000-square-foot Santee Village lofts projects and obtained Mills Act approval for individual condo buyers
On Getting Mills Act Approval: “It was a complicated process. It had never been done before and as we went along we were actually learning with the assessor.”

For developer Mark Weinstein, the idea was simple: If the owner of a historic building is entitled to tax breaks, then condo buyers in a historic building should get those same breaks.

This seemingly straightforward idea proved groundbreaking as Weinstein and his company, MJW Investments, adapted a piece of legislation more than three decades old for an entirely new and innovative use.

“It had never been done before,” Weinstein said. “It was complicated but we were persistent. We were told we couldn’t get it done, but we did.”

The Mills Act Program, enacted in 1972, was meant to provide tax relief for the restoration and preservation of historic buildings. The act had previously been used primarily by single-family homeowners and developers of commercial projects. According to the law, the benefit to the owner may be a “substantial reduction in property taxes,” while the benefit to the city is the preservation of historic resources.

For more than 30 years after state Sen. James Mills penned the law, no developer tried to apply it to individual units within a single building. But Weinstein reinterpreted the legislation when he began developing several Fashion District buildings into what would become the largest adaptive reuse project in Los Angeles – the Santee Village lofts.

“We looked at Santee Village as being a unique project, so we asked, ‘What value-added propositions could we bring to the project? What could we do to distinguish ourselves?’” Weinstein said. “The buildings are unique – we wanted to make the tax savings unique.”

The buildings were all constructed during the 1910s or 1920s in an area teeming with textile manufacturing buildings. After a long and complicated approval process, Weinstein and his company managed to pass the tax savings along to the buyers by having the Mills Act applied to the individual condos.

Weinstein’s innovative use of the act could save Santee Village condo buyers as much as 50 percent to 70 percent on their property taxes, amounting to thousands of dollars annually. And with this reduction, some buyers could afford a mortgage that’s higher by as much $100,000. It’s been an attraction to buyers in project where units range from $300,000 to $500,000.

“We’ve been doing no advertising and we’ve basically sold out,” said Weinstein, noting that at least one of the buildings would not have been included in the development project if not for the Mills Act tax relief. “It’s probably the single most powerful incentive that drives people to Santee Village.”

Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of Central City Association, said Weinstein’s contribution to the downtown housing market has been “pretty extraordinary.” When most developers stayed away from the Fashion District, she said, Weinstein pushed ahead with an ambitious plan.

“I think he thought that downtown was ripe for housing for a younger, hipper clientele tired of the suburban lifestyle,” Schatz said. “He saw the potential early.”

Santee Village will include seven buildings of 445 for-sale and rental units. Three of the buildings opened in 2004 as Santee Village lofts and another opened in late 2005. The three remaining buildings are set to open by August 2007.

With the success of Santee Village, other downtown projects in the pipeline have tried to use the Mills Act to similar ends. The Rowan Lofts and the Tomahawk Building Lofts have both sought Mills Act approval, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office.

[LA/OCman]

Does anyone know the status of the Gansevoort Hotel? It looks like it just sits there and is becoming an eyesore. The website indicates it is "coming soon". This hotel will have an amazing impact on the area near South Park and the Historic Core.

[citywatch]

California.construction.com

Feature Story - February 2006

Empty Office Building Finds Some Love:
1100 Wilshire Converted to Condos

By Greg Aragon

The 22-story triangular spire, hovering over the west side of the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles, sat virtually vacant for nearly 20 years before a trio of developers bought it in 2004. Next month, completion of the $50-million project will produce 230 high-end condominiums in about 260,000 sq. ft. of living space. It took nearly 20 years of neglect before a 37-story office building near downtown Los Angeles found some loving developers.

"We are excited about this project," said Greg Vilkin, president of Los Angeles-based Forest City West Residential. "Being on the west side of the 110 Freeway, it has the best views in Los Angeles-360 degrees in every single unit."

The tower, dubbed 1100 Wilshire for its address, is a 430,000-sq.-ft. (259,469 sq.-ft. of living space) building on the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Bixel Street that was built in 1986 as the Rolls Royce Office Tower. It remained practically vacant until Forest City, along with MacFarlane Partners and TMG Partners, both of San Francisco, purchased it in July 2004 for $40 million from Format Corp., a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics.

"Unfortunately for the former owner, 1100 Wilshire was completed when there was an overabundance of newly completed office space and just before the recession of the early 1990s, both of which dramatically affected the office market in downtown Los Angeles," said David Dressler, chief acquisition officer for MacFarlane Partners. "In addition, the property was at a disadvantage relative to other office buildings nearby because it is separated from the main financial district by the 110 Freeway. It was probably hard to attract a lot of large tenants on a long-term basis."

The $50-million project consists of the conversion of the 496-ft.-tall structure into 230 luxury condominiums for sale and 11,000 sq. ft. of lower-level retail for lease. Floor plans range from 788 sq. ft. for studios to 3,466 sq. ft. for four penthouses. One bedroom, two-bedroom and two-story loft-style plans also will be available, as well as custom layouts, Vilkin said. Prices range from the high-$400,000s to nearly $2 million. Irvine-based Thomas P. Cox: Architects Inc. and Los Angeles-based AC Martin Partners are the project architects. Webcor Builders of San Mateo is the general contractor.

Unlike boxy Los Angeles high-rises, 1100 Wilshire is distinguished by a 22-story triangular tower-clad in blue-green mirrored glass that is perched on top of a 15-story granite and concrete parking structure. Vilkin said rerouting the plumbing systems posed the greatest challenge. "On every floor, and when you do 12 units per floor, you have 24 cores for bathrooms and kitchens," he said. "You have to re-core the building 37 stories high."

Ken Wipff, Webcor's senior project manager, said, "You basically have to stack up all the bathrooms" from the bottom floor to the top. "You don't want horizontal runs in your plumbing because if you take the plumbing down through a floor, you are basically in the ceiling of the residence below," he added. "You don't want to have to go into somebody's bedroom and say, 'Hey, I need to get into your ceiling to snake out my plumbing.' So everything has to be vertical."

With 350 bathrooms, as well as a myriad of holes for kitchens, heating, cooling and electric, Wipff said the project required more than 300 cores on every floor. He said crews used a laser to precisely line up all the holes on the tower's 22 floors. "What we did was lay out a typical floor, drill the holes where we want them, confirm that is where we want them and then use a laser to laser down and up," Wipff added. "What is interesting about this is that if you stand on the bottom floor and look up, you look up 22 floors with 6-in. cores that are dead on."

The conversion began with interior demolition in September 2004 and will be officially complete next month. Currently, the condos are 70 percent sold, with homeowners starting to move in. Vilkin said he expects to have that the rest of the units sold by the end of the quarter. As of December, no retailers had signed leases, he said. But that should change soon since several major residential projects are coming out of the ground just east and southeast of 1100 Wilshire, which should create the critical mass of residents needed to lease additional retail space.

Because the first livable floor is being built on top of the 17-story parking garage, residents of 1100 Wilshire will have panoramic views of downtown Los Angeles to the immediate east, the Hollywood Hills to the north and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. And these vistas have been secured by city zoning changes already in place when 1100 Wilshire was built, which prevent new high-rise construction in the vicinity.

The 1100 Wilshire complex includes 700 parking spaces in four subterranean and 11 above-grade levels. About 570 spaces are earmarked for residents, and 130 spaces are set aside for visitors. Vilkin said that tenants will be given one unreserved parking space per bedroom and the rest of the spots will be for sale for between $10,000 and $20,000 each.

Because the structure was built as an office building "we have twice as much parking as would be required [for a ground-up residential project]," Vilkin said. "And what is unique is that we are selling the parking in this building separate and apart from the condos."

[citywatch]

^ disregard the value of the above story. Times goes by so fast that I forgot it's Feb 2007 today, not 2006.

I read somewhere that up to 40% of the condos in 1100 may still be available for sale, so the proj's spokesman Greg Villkin probably was wayyy too optimistic about a yr ago.

[bobcat]

Downtown Los Angeles Residential Boom Reaches Double-Digit Growth, According to New Report
Tuesday February 20, 1:30 pm ET
Data From Downtown Center Business Improvement District Shows 21% Jump in New Residents, Number of Businesses Climbs 8.5%

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report issued today by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District (DCBID) shows that Downtown Los Angeles' residential and commercial development is growing at an unprecedented pace. The number of new residents jumped 21 percent from 2004 to 2006, while the number of business establishments increased 8.5 percent from 2005 to 2006.

The DCBID commissioned the Downtown Los Angeles Market Report and 2006 Demographic Survey of New Residents to assess the overall economic growth of the area and the economic power of the new residential population. The report is composed of two key components: a comprehensive market profile and a survey of new Downtown residents who have moved to the area since 2000. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) prepared the Market Report, and assisted the DCBID in performing the Demographic Survey. Surveys were delivered door-to-door by the DCBID.

"Downtown Los Angeles is rapidly developing into a vibrant, diverse residential community where people can live, work and play," said Carol E. Schatz, President and CEO, Downtown Center Business Improvement District. "The enormous increase in residents is now propelling a similar growth spurt in smart businesses looking for a great, educated workforce and retailers seeking a growing population with disposable income."

In addition to the 21 percent population rise, the 2006 Demographic Survey reflects Downtown residents' growing economic power in L.A. County. LAEDC compiled data from interviews with 931 new residents during the 4th quarter of 2006. Highlights include:

* The median annual household income was approximately $99,600, compared
to the 2004 median of $96,300. The percent of households with incomes
more than $200,000 increased to 14.6 percent in 2006, up from 8.8
percent n 2004.

* Downtown residents were among the best educated in the county with more
than three-quarters (76.1 percent) holding college degrees. Almost
half (48.5 percent) had undergraduate degrees, while 28 percent earned
graduate or professional degrees.

* More residents seem to own homes in 2006 versus 2004 as the number of
housing units owned increased from 18.6 percent in 2004 to 30.2 percent
in 2006.

* Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of Downtown residents were employed on a
full- or part-time basis, while 18.9 percent were self-employed and not
students. Of those surveyed, 37 percent reported that they were
professional or senior-level staff, while 21.7 percent said they were
senior level executives or managers.

In addition to determining the characteristics of new Downtown residents, the survey also polled residents about their preferences for services and their transportation needs. Results revealed that movie theaters; book, music and video stores; and restaurants were the top three most desired retailers. Respondents also wanted a re-introduction of the trolley system into the Downtown public transportation system.

The Market Report was compiled from a variety of public and private data
sources, as well as specific data gathered by LAEDC. In addition to the
8.5 percent increase in business establishments, other significant findings
are:

* Taxable retail sales totaled nearly $1.7 billion from 2005-2006, up
7 percent from the previous year.

* Average annual wage in Downtown Los Angeles in 2005 was $57,354, the
second highest in L.A. County after the Westside.

For the report, Downtown Los Angeles was defined as roughly bounded by the 101 Freeway to the north, the Los Angeles River to the east, the 10 Freeway on the south, and 110 Freeway to the west.

To view the complete report, please log on to www.downtownla.com.

[luckyeight]

[QUOTE=bobcat;2643065]Downtown Los Angeles Residential Boom Reaches Double-Digit Growth, According to New Report
Tuesday February 20, 1:30 pm ET
Data From Downtown Center Business Improvement District Shows 21% Jump in New Residents, Number of Businesses Climbs 8.5%


LOS ANGELES -- While most downtown Los Angeles residents are young, educated, well-paid singles, more young families are moving to the city's core, according to a report released Tuesday.

More than half of downtown dwellers live alone. Their median age is 31, and the median income was $99,600 last year, up 3 percent from the median of $96,300, according to the Downtown Los Angeles Market Report and 2006 Demographic Survey of New Residents.

"This is very comparable to what we find in pioneer neighborhoods all over the country," said Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, as well as head of the Central City Association. "We start with a sort of young, hip, creative class and, hopefully, then you start bringing in empty-nesters and small families."


The report, commissioned by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, also shows that commercial development is growing steadily.

The number of new residents jumped 21 percent from 2004 to 2006 -- about a quarter of whom moved from the city's affluent Westside.

Additionally, more businesses moved into downtown's high-rises over the last two years, according to the study. Downtown's office vacancy rate stood at 14.3 percent in 2006, compared with a 29 percent vacancy rate in 2004.

"In the late '90s ... there wasn't a lot happening in downtown, and we determined that the way were going to create the need for retail was to create a critical mass of residents, which we are doing," Schatz said.

The report also found that more than 55 percent of those living in downtown also work in the neighborhood, which results in fewer traffic jams on the region's freeways.

More downtown residents own their homes, according to the study, which cites that the number of housing units owned increased from 18.6 percent in 2004 to 30.2 percent in 2006

"We knew people would begin by renting, putting their toe in the water to make sure this was a place they wanted to live," Schatz said. "As they determined that downtown was a place where they wanted to live, they started to buy."

The increasing number of people living downtown was attributed to a sense of rediscovering an area once thought lost to crime and poverty, according to Schatz.

"I think people had written off downtown as a place where people wanted to live," she said. "Now, they want to be on the ground floor of something that's cool and different and making a real city."

The report looked at the area between the Hollywood (101) and Santa Monica (10) freeways, and the Harbor (110) Freeway and the Los Angeles River.

The study also found:

Downtown residents were among the best educated in the county, with more than 76 percent holding college degrees
Taxable retail sales totaled nearly $1.7 billion in fiscal 2005-06, up 7 percent from the previous year
Almost two-thirds of downtown residents were employed on a full- or part-time basis, while 18.9 percent were self-employed and not students
More than a third reported being professionals or senior-level staff, while 21.7 percent said they were executives or managers

The next project of the downtown business improvement district will focus on attracting more grocery stores, affordable restaurants and possibly keep the city-operated DASH buses running later.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said the report should help the business improvement district -- a coalition of property owners who agree to assess themselves to pay for services above and beyond what the city delivers -- attract and retain retailers, who are sometimes quick to write off downtown Los Angeles.

"Downtown residents have a lot of disposable income," Kyser said. "Any retailers looking for new opportunities need to look at this market very closely because I don't think they quite understand what's going on here."

In June, Ralphs will open its first downtown store since the chain started in the area.

Still, more than 84 percent of the survey's respondents said they also wanted a Trader Joe's, while 65 percent listed Whole Foods as their grocer of choice.

"There are 28,900 residents in downtown, so there's more than enough of a population to support Ralphs, and possibly a second supermarket sometime in the near future," Schatz said.

The Downtown Center BID will also launch its "Stay Open and We Will Come" initiative later this year as part of an effort to establish a nightlife in downtown Los Angeles.

"This is now a 9 a.m. to midnight downtown," Schatz said. "I'm hoping that, by the time I retire, it's a 24-hour downtown ... and it's getting there."

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[Codex Borgia]

Downtown L.A. has gained people but lost jobs, report says

The population has jumped 20% in two years, although retail has been slow to follow.
By Cara Mia DiMassa, Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/photo/2007-02/28023318.jpg (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-l_a__live_jacae0nc,0,6398597.photo?coll=la-home-headlines) L.A. Live (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-l_a__live_jacae0nc,0,6398597.photo?coll=la-home-headlines)
http://www.latimes.com/images/standard/clicktoenlarge.gif click to enlarge (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-l_a__live_jacae0nc,0,6398597.photo?coll=la-home-headlines)

http://www.latimes.com/media/thumbnails/photogallery/2006-04/23108062.jpg (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grand25apr25-pg,0,7545829.photogallery?coll=la-home-headlines) http://www.latimes.com/images/icons/photoicon.gif Photo Gallery
Grand Avenue Project (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grand25apr25-pg,0,7545829.photogallery?coll=la-home-headlines)


Downtown L.A. is beginning to look more like uptown — and it's happening much more quickly than even its biggest boosters could have imagined.

A new study of downtown population and job trends, announced Tuesday, reported a more than 20% jump over the last two years in residents, to 28,878.

And with 7,500 units under construction, that number could rise to more than 40,000 by the end of 2008 — rather than by 2015, the previous target for that population milestone.

The study, published by the Los Angeles Downtown Center Business Improvement District, underscores the boom in construction of luxury condos and rehabbed historic lofts around the city center.

But officials hope the number will help downtown boosters in their efforts to lure more retail — which many of the new residents say is lacking.

Some businesses — including grocery stores and bookstores — have said they are waiting to see whether the downtown residential community continues to expand even as Southern California's overall real estate market cools.

"Hopefully, what it indicates is the ability to support more neighborhood amenities," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, who represents downtown, "another grocery store, more things you would want in your immediate area."

The big test, Perry and others said, is whether they can lure the big-name retailers that have so far steered clear of downtown.

A Ralphs grocery store is scheduled to open there in June, but many of the residents surveyed said they wanted a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods store as well.

While the report painted a rosy picture of residential growth, job growth was another story.

The study found that the number of jobs downtown continues to lag — a holdover from an era when government jobs downsized and corporate headquarters left the city center. Downtown payroll numbers for 2005, the last year available, show a total of 418,000 — down from a high of 605,000 in 1995.

But Jack Kyser, chief economist and senior vice president of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., which prepared a portion of the report, said the trend may be reversing, as the number of jobs in downtown began to climb in the first quarter of 2006.

"Employment in the private sector is growing again," said Kyser. "That's very, very important. That reflects workers in construction, that kind of activity."

Carol Schatz, president of the downtown Business Improvement District, said the report underscores the progress downtown has made — but she acknowledged the area still has a way to go before it becomes the 24-hour hub that many of its backers desire.

"This is now a 9 a.m. to midnight downtown," Schatz said, alluding to the large number of bars and restaurants. "But hopefully, by the time I retire, it will be 24-hour. We'll add an hour a year."

Two massive developments might speed up the process.

Much of the new downtown housing is rising around Staples Center, which will soon be home to the sprawling L.A. Live sports and entertainment complex. Work is scheduled to begin later this year for Grand Avenue, a $2-billion Frank Gehry-designed condo and retail hub next to the Disney Hall.

Both Grand Avenue and L.A. Live are billed as bringing more nightlife downtown — though it remains unclear whether it will encourage additional residential development elsewhere downtown.

The population and job numbers were produced by the L.A. Economic Development Corp. using private and public data.

The growth in the number of downtown residents — more of whom are purchasing their units — means they are gaining the political voice they've lacked.

Many residents have backed a recent Los Angeles Police Department initiative that brought 50 more police officers downtown to deal with the area's crime and drug problems, and that has so far helped reduce crime.

But the burgeoning housing market has heightened concerns that the revitalization could come at a cost for the city's low-income residents, many of whom have called downtown home for decades.

The loft boom in the old banking district has reached the corners of skid row, where some old residential hotels are being converted into market-rate housing.

The survey did not distinguish between market-rate units and those deemed affordable. And while it showed that the median income of households downtown was $99,600 — up from $96,300 two years before — only households with at least one income were examined, meaning it didn't count people living on public assistance.

Perry said that she and others would continue to make sure that downtown included mixed-income housing.

"That's not going to change," she said.

"It would be very stupid to focus the entire market on market-level housing…. You don't achieve a social equity purpose, either."

[BrighamYen]

Looks like the homeless issue is something that is being addressed appropriately by lawmakers and law enforcement officials. I believe that there is just too much invested this time around in Downtown (esp. the residential aspect where real estate value$ means so much more than office workers), that we may truly see a day when Downtown LA is significantly cleaned up.

---------------

Law would bar dumping patients on the street
Officials say 55 alleged cases on skid row are being investigated. A police crackdown starts.
By Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein
Times Staff Writers

February 22, 2007

State and local officials will unveil proposed legislation today making it a crime to dump hospital patients on the streets, part of a new push by authorities who are investigating 55 cases of alleged dumping on L.A.'s skid row alone.

The move comes after a string of such incidents — including one involving a paraplegic man wearing a colostomy bag who was left in a skid row gutter — generated widespread outrage.

Authorities have struggled to build cases against those accused of doing the dumping, in part because there is no state law that expressly prohibits leaving patients on the streets.

The Los Angeles city attorney has filed criminal charges against just one hospital, Kaiser Permanente, saying the dumping of a homeless woman on skid row in 2006 amounted to false imprisonment. That legal strategy, however, has never been tested in court, and some legal experts question whether it will hold up.

The new legislation comes as authorities are stepping up their crackdown on dumping.

The Los Angeles Police Department put hospitals on notice Wednesday that officers would immediately arrest anyone they saw dumping patients on skid row, using the false imprisonment charge. The LAPD also plans to assign extra officers to look for evidence of dumping.

"Enough is enough," Capt. Andy Smith said. "We are going to book these guys."

At the same time, federal authorities said they are investigating two L.A. hospitals suspected of dumping the homeless.

Michelle Griffin, branch manager for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said investigators were trying to determine whether the hospitals — which she would not name — violated the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and Medicare Conditions of Participation. Those statutes deal with the way hospitals treat and discharge patients.

If a hospital is found to be in violation of the act, it could be subject to discipline and civil penalties, possibly putting its accreditation and Medicare funding at risk, Griffin said.

"We take these allegations very seriously," she added.

The push to criminalize dumping comes amid a two-year campaign by city officials to halt the practice by hospitals, as well as by some outside law enforcement agencies that have reportedly driven criminals to skid row after they were released from custody.

Los Angeles is in the midst of an aggressive effort to clean up skid row, which has the largest concentration of homeless people in the Western United States. The campaign — which involved adding 50 police officers who over the last few months have made hundreds of arrests — comes as downtown is seeing a boom in luxury condo and apartment development.

The new legislation, by state Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), would make it a misdemeanor for any hospital facility or worker to transport patients anywhere other than their residences without their informed consent.

Individual offenders could be punished by up to two years in County Jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000. Healthcare facilities that violate the law could be slapped with penalties of up to $10,000.

Jennifer Bayer, public affairs director for the Hospital Assn. of Southern California, said Wednesday that her group was concerned about any legislation that would criminalize or impose legislation on hospitals beyond their role of providing "acute medical care."

"The problem goes back to the lack of social services for homeless and indigent patients who end up in hospitals," she said. "We are already spending $2 billion in uncompensated care providing medical treatment for indigent patients. Imposing fines or arresting people is not productive."

Cedillo says his bill doesn't ask hospitals to address housing issues but is designed to stop them from contributing to the homelessness problem by failing to plan for discharging patients.

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said the proposed legislation would make prosecuting hospitals much easier for his office. He noted that the office built a case against Kaiser using the false imprisonment charge — and a second count of adult-care endangerment — but acknowledged it was a "creative" use of the law.

"We believe we are providing clarity in the law, and clarity in law is power to a prosecutor," he said. "Dumping a paraplegic man in the gutter of skid row without any ambulatory device in no more than a hospital gown demonstrates no shade of gray."

He was referring to the case of a 54-year-old man in a soiled hospital gown, his colostomy bag still attached, who was found two weeks ago crawling in the gutter after being dropped off in front of a park on skid row, far from services for the homeless.

Police say that as onlookers demanded help for the man, the driver of the van for Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center applied makeup and perfume, before speeding off. The hospital said it is investigating the circumstances of the case but acknowledged that it didn't follow its own release policies.

Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor, said Cedillo's proposed legislation provides "a better fit for prosecution" than existing false imprisonment laws, because it's more specific.

But she also warned that such a law would be open to legal challenges — and might be hard to enforce. "It is not a magic bullet, but it gives some appearance of action," she said.

Bayer of the hospital association said officials can't solve a vexing problem such as homeless patients with a law.

"There are no easy answers," she said. "It's such a complex issue that everyone must work to solve."

The Kaiser case involved a 63-year-old patient who was discharged early last year from Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower medical center. A short time later, video at a downtown mission captured her stepping out of a taxi in gown and socks and then wandering aimlessly down San Pedro Street.

Kaiser has denied any wrongdoing, saying the woman was discharged by mistake. The hospital has also said it has since revamped release policies.

Meanwhile, the LAPD was investigating a report of another possible dumping case, involving a 53-year-old man who was found about 6 a.m. Wednesday wandering in circles at 4th and San Pedro streets. He was dressed in bedroom slippers, a tattered sweater and a hospital gown.

Police concluded, however, that the man wasn't dumped but rather walked out of a hospital on his own and trekked nearly four miles to downtown.

*


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
richard.winton@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

[citywatch]

The study found that the number of jobs downtown continues to lag — a holdover from an era when government jobs downsized and corporate headquarters left the city center. Downtown payroll numbers for 2005, the last year available, show a total of 418,000 — down from a high of 605,000 in 1995.
That explains why so much office space has become or remained vacant in the hood. Until that changes, there will be alot of pressure on the devlpt of new housing, in either converted or totally new bldgs, to plug up the gaps or in getting rid of deadzones.

[BrighamYen]

^ Wasn't the mid-90s the peak of Downtown's "boom?" I think that's when many large companies were actually headquartered in Downtown, but then merged and broke-up, leaving lotsa empty space which is now being filled up mainly by smaller office leases (like in the 10,000 or less square foot range, as opposed to 100,000 or more like City National Bank did). That makes it more difficult obviously to fill up the spaces (31 million square feet of Class A), but it DOES diversify the tenant mix throughout Downtown, making it more stable and less prone to another office bust. In other words, Downtown LA can be viewed as following what the rest of Los Angeles has become - a place where smaller businesses thrive.

I think as more amenities come online (esp. Ralphs and LA Live), the pace at which companies decide to lease Downtown office space will quicken. If we have a 13-14% vacancy right now, let's do a little math:

31,000,000 square feet of Class-A commercial office space

13% vacancy of that is ~ 4,000,000 square feet

So if we can start attracted companies like Herbal Life which is leasing out 60,000 sf from LA Live, then we can start filling in those spaces.

4,000,000/60,000 = 67 companies


Once an area starts to revitalize, and as more jobs are created, it's amazing how fast space can be filled up. Just look at the Westside, which is now almost entirely filled up!

[bobcat]

I think as more amenities come online (esp. Ralphs and LA Live), the pace at which companies decide to lease Downtown office space will quicken.

That's what most real estate experts think. The Westside is where the offices are located because that's where the execs live and all the amenities are located. This article illustrates that fact but indicates that many believe that will change in the next few years.

WESTSIDE STORY: In L.A. legal market, downtown's no draw.(Los Angeles ). Kellie Schmitt.
The Recorder (Dec 22, 2006)


LOS ANGELES - When Karl Racine, the managing partner of Venable, set about opening a Los Angeles office earlier this year, one thing was certain: It had to be on the Westside.

"In meeting with clients and talking to lawyers, it was clear the activity was moving west," he said. "I would say 95 percent of the lawyers we spoke with about coming over were adamant about not being downtown."

Washington, D.C.-based Venable isn't the only newcomer to plant its stake on the Westside. At least four of the out-of-town Am Law 100 firms announcing moves into the L.A. market this year opted to skip the button-down downtown for the energy - and convenience - of offices in Century City or Santa Monica. The only newcomer to choose downtown was Richmond, Va.'s Hunton & Williams.

In an increasingly competitive market for laterals, many law firm leaders say it's important to offer key recruits an often-shorter commute to what some refer to as a "lifestyle" office.

The Westside "is considered to have more cache," said Stephen Bay, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis, who works with law firm leases. "More of the decision makers live in places like Malibu, Bel Air and the Pacific Palisades and they don't want to drive downtown."

Driven by desirability and a shortage of space, rents for Century City buildings approach $50 a square foot, well above the $33 average downtown. But perhaps the hottest spot is Santa Monica's Water Garden - a building that houses Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan, Greenberg Traurig, and Perkins Coie and goes for upward of $50 a square foot per year, Bay said.

"Santa Monica is as prestigious as any space in the world - there's a lot of credibility to it now," said Stanton "Larry" Stein, an Alschuler partner who said he fought to have the soon-to-splinter firm relocate from Century City to Santa Monica several years ago. "It's really become the hub of the entertainment community and it's an amazing location."

Stein said the campus-like setting of lakes, ducks, seagulls and bridges is enough to calm even the most harried lawyers. Even though space is coveted there, Stein managed to secure the 5th and 6th floor for the Los Angeles outpost of the Dreier firm, a group he's planning to start up early next year.

For many of this year's L.A. newcomers, it was easier to entice laterals with a Westside office, they said.

"We were able to attract very good lawyers that we otherwise wouldn't get if we limited our search to people willing to go downtown," said Roger Warin, the chairman of Steptoe & Johnson, which opened in Century City this year.

Steptoe also brought in a handful of lateral hires from Alschuler Grossman to the new office.

"They didn't love us 3.5 to 4 hours worth a day," Warin said, referring to the time he estimates they would have spent in traffic had the firm been located downtown.

Douglas Emhoff said he was drawn to Venable's Westside office by the clients, culture and commute.

Even though there's an "ongoing urban renewal" in downtown Los Angeles, there is much more going on in the Westside, making it easier to meet clients for dinner after work, said Emhoff, who worked in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's downtown office for eight years.

But not all the traffic is one way. Over the summer, Pillsbury consolidated operations downtown and handed over its Westside space to Goodwin Procter, another of the year's newcomers.

At the time, incoming Pillsbury Chairman James Rishwain said Century City was a "redundancy" and consolidation gave the firm "a positive opportunity to serve clients under a single platform."

While some homegrown Los Angeles firms like Latham & Watkins don't have a Westside office, others like Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and O'Melveny & Myers have dual locations.

For Gibson, Dunn, their 25-lawyer Century City office is more about serving clients than lawyers' lifestyles, partners say.

Gibson's entertainment clients such as investment banks, MGM and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. are based nearby, said partner Joel Feuer, who lives near UCLA in Westwood. At least a couple times a week, he meets in person with clients with offices nearby, he said.

Most of Gibson partner Jesse Sharf's clients are either on the Westside - or from out-of-town - and don't want to venture downtown for meetings, he said.

But even though he lives in Santa Monica and works in the Century City office, he said downtown is more enticing in terms of lifestyle, with more varied eating options, the Staples Center for basketball and hockey, and its proximity to Dodger Stadium.

"I think Century City is fairly sterile and suburban while downtown is more urban and interesting," Sharf said.

Law firm real estate expert Bay said the lines will be blurring as to what area has more cache as Los Angeles spruces up its downtown. With additions such as the Staples Center, L.A. Live and ESPN Zone -coupled with the tight market for space in Century City - plenty of real estate moguls are banking on a pricier future downtown.

In the past three years, the purchase prices for buildings in downtown has about doubled, even though the net rental costs have only surged by about 10 percent.

"If you follow the prices being paid for these buildings, they assume the rents will go up and tenants will be willing to pay those prices," Bay said.

[RAlossi]

^ Interesting article, but not entirely accurate. Many lawyers live or practice in Glendale, South Pasadena/Pasadena, and the Foothill areas. Our court reporting firm does a great deal of its business with Downtown-based law firms.

The entire industry is really spread out as it is though, and DTLA can only hope to be ONE of the major centers for law firms. Beverly Hills, Century City, Downtown, Old Town Pasadena/South Lake Avenue, North Brand Boulevard in Glendale, Torrance, Costa Mesa, Encino, and Woodland Hills are all very big draws for law firms, and many have multiple locations to serve the different regions of SoCal/LA

[dktshb]

^ Interesting article, but not entirely accurate. Many lawyers live or practice in Glendale, South Pasadena/Pasadena, and the Foothill areas. Our court reporting firm does a great deal of its business with Downtown-based law firms.

The entire industry is really spread out as it is though, and DTLA can only hope to be ONE of the major centers for law firms. Beverly Hills, Century City, Downtown, Old Town Pasadena/South Lake Avenue, North Brand Boulevard in Glendale, Torrance, Costa Mesa, Encino, and Woodland Hills are all very big draws for law firms, and many have multiple locations to serve the different regions of SoCal/LA

You're right about Encino and Woodland Hills... there are many law firms on Ventura blvd. west of the 405.

[solongfullerton]

There's law firms everywhere. This article is dealing solely with big time, nationally represented law firms. And nearly all the major law firms in LA are on the westside, which I do find odd since the courthouse is downtown.

[bobcat]

The point of the article is that the very large firms that would be willing to pay the $50/sf rents for office space are mostly located on the Westside, and that in order to attract those types of tenants DTLA needs more "cache."

[BrighamYen]

^ This isn't a ground breaking or new concept. People are HUMAN BEINGS, whether they are an employee or an employer - from cubicle to the corner office. They have desires and wants just like anyone else! Are you working for a company right now and are you a human being still, with EMOTIONS and PREJUDICES? Unless you're a robotic drone, the answer is an emphatic YES!

HUMAN BEINGS operate companies and they choose to establish themselves where it's perceived as safe and prestigious and convenient. Obviously the more high-profile a company is, the more likely a location's cache and status will be considered during location scouting. Why do so many companies from hotels, designers, clubs, to law firms choose to be in the top markets? Well, one thing is they can make the bucks, but another is to give their own company a cache - in essence, the "HALO EFFECT." Which is meant to give the company a sense of status and respect.

Currently, the Westside is where Rodeo Drive is and pretty much most of the 5-Star hotels. It's where celebrities live. It's where you can get a $2,000 appetizer and shop at Kitson and Barneys New York. It's where you see more Mercedes Benz's than Toyotas. That's MONEY. That equals power and prestige.

Now, back to Downtown LA. One thing that Downtown LA has is the high-culture which is very much associated with the upper class. We have the Music Center (LA Opera, Disney Hall, etc.), Colburn, and MOCA. And yes, things like the Staples Center draw crowds because a lot of people like sports. But what is lacking in downtown is general cleanliness, too many homeless, very few executive quality housing, and not enough high-end retail/amenities. Being that I worked at the DCBID, I have a good idea what retailers are looking for. And I can tell you that many are going to be looking at Ralphs and how successful it becomes, and the homeless issue. It would be nice to get rid of those trashy stores on Broadway as well and bring some higher standards downtown!

It'll happen!

[Westsidelife]

^Downtown will have more high-end retail LA Live, Ralphs, and Grand Avenue are complete. Just look at Hollywood/Highland. Those stores would never have located themselves on Hollywood Blvd. if it weren't for the Hollywood and Highland Complex. It'll start at these tree centers and spread throughout downtown.

[BrighamYen]

^ I like your way of thinking Westsidelife! :)


Here's an OLD article on office building on the Westside, giving us some good history on this topic.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DB1331F933A15752C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

January 20, 1991
NATIONAL NOTEBOOK: Santa Monica, Calif.; The Last Of the Giants
By ANDREA ADELSON
GLASS and granite are beginning to sheath two of four office buidldings going up in the 17-acre Water Garden here, a project likely to be the last of its scope for some time because of new density restrictions and a commercial construction moratorium in this cramped seaside community.

"The door shut right behind us," said Jerome H. Snyder, principal of the J. H. Snyder Company of Los Angeles, which is developing the $450 million, 1.26 million-square-foot complex with the Miller Klutznick Davis Gray Company of Denver. It will have one five-story building and three of six stories.

Mr. Snyder persuaded Marvin Davis, the Denver financier and developer, to become a 50 percent partner in the project after new Government rules dissuaded his original backer, California Federal Bank, from participating.

Miller Klutznick Davis Gray developed Fox Plaza, an office tower on property formerly owned by 20th Century Fox in Los Angeles, and recently sold the Pebble Beach golf resort in Monterey.

"In time, the Water Garden will be the same kind of trophy property," said James Miller, a vice president of Miller Klutznick, adding that any possible sale was at least six years away. (****Has it really become trophy property? I think it has, so this guy was right in 1991)

Financing was just one hurdle Mr. Snyder encountered in remaking the former industrial park, sold in 1988 by the John M. and Rosalie M. Stahl Trust of New York for an undisclosed sum.

To win approval, Mr. Snyder agreed to pay the city $13.5 million in fees, which included $6 million for traffic improvements, $6 million for low-income housing and $300,000 for a homeless shelter. (***maybe they should do that in Downtown LA, make the developers put in money to improve homeless facilities)

To ease traffic problems created by the 4,000 people expected to work at the site, the Water Garden will have a landlord-operated ride-sharing program; to aid in the hiring of local residents, there will be a job bank. A health club and childcare center are also planned.

"They would not have done all these things without city input," said Suzanne Frick, Santa Monica's principal planner.

The complex, at Olympic Boulevard and 26th Street, will have pedestrian walkways leading to a 1.4-acre artificial lake 18 inches deep. It will sit atop a three-level, 4,200-space underground garage. Recycled water will be supplied by an on-site sewage treatment plant.

The asking rate for the 666,000-square-foot first phase, to be completed in June, is $33 a square foot, compared with about $30 in new office buildings in downtown Los Angeles, where space is more abundant. Both figures exclude tenant improvement expenses. No space has been rented yet.

The architect is McLarend, Vasquez Partners of Costa Mesa. Environmental design is by SWA Group of Sausalito, and the general contractor is Swinerton and Walberg Company of Los Angeles.


http://www.codepuppies.com/~ben/photos/scenery/watergarden.jpg

[BrighamYen]

^ Interesting that the Westside was averaging around $33 sf in 1991 in prized buildings and has now risen to over $50 sf in 2007.

Downtown LA on the other hand has only gotten slightly more expensive from $30 in 1991 to $33 in 2007.

What will happen when Downtown LA hits $50 sf? Will the Westside continue to climb higher or will there be a shift in balance? HMMM...

[LongBeachUrbanist]

Note to Kellie Schmidt (writer of the article about Westside law firms): Cache is a noun that means "stash". The word that means "prestige" is cachet.

:poke:

[RAlossi]

Are there plans for a station on the Expo Line at Cloverfield (access to Water Garden), or anywhere near there in Phase II?

[danparker276]

Got some new pictures of Eastern Columbia from Anthony Santana:
Pics at the bottom of the album:
http://loftla.com/loftla/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=41

http://loftla.com/loftla/Handler.ashx?PhotoID=599

[Westsidelife]

^Well that's nice. Good to know that even though we're becoming a more urban city, we're still not willing to give up the luxury of having access to a pool. :)

[edluva]

I agree with RALossi. Although the prestigious firms aren't paying big money for downtown, it's not the few prestigious firms alone that drive commercial real estate. It's the dozens of mid-size and small professional firms that cluster in places like Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Century City, along with the dozens of other white collar trades outside the legal industry, that drive class A pricing.

And comparing DTLA with the entire Westside is a bit apples and oranges. DTLA's commercial space (class A) occupies a patch of land perhaps a couple square miles large, which is otherwise surrounded by heavy industry and working class neighborhoods unlikely to provide the "cachet" Schmitt is referring to. The "cachet" of the westside draws from the wealth-effects of an area stretching from the ocean to the miracle mile or thereabouts. It's a region, much as Manhattan is a region within New York City. Some supermarket and a couple of trendy bar/lounges, while definitely a good thing, will probably not bring that sort of desirability to DTLA. We're talking the equivalent of making Brooklyn's office submarket on par with Manhattan overnight.

Which goes back to my broken-record statement again, about how DTLA is not getting its own Michigan Ave, or going "24/7" on account of reaching some "critical" endemic population. Michigan Ave is as much a shopping mall as Beverly Center in that neither of these rely on the patronage of such a limited demographic as those who live immediately adjacent to these centers. The most important difference between Michigan Ave/Union Square and a shopping mall is the mode of transport by which patrons arrive. Otherwise, both are really just "malls" which serve the demand generated on a regionwide scale. That US or Michigan Ave are located in their respective fidi's is only consequential, and not dependent on the fidi's in and of themselves.

[colemonkee]

Got some new pictures of Eastern Columbia from Anthony Santana:
Pics at the bottom of the album:
http://loftla.com/loftla/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=41

http://loftla.com/loftla/Handler.ashx?PhotoID=599
Looks great up there. Tony (Anthony) is another one of my neighbors at the Higgins who's moving on up into the luxurious pool deck life. Very cool guy, and a blast to have a few drinks with.

[RAlossi]

I was on Broadway yesterday and noticed that the FEDERAL COURTHOUSE at 1st/Broadway has a construction fence and the beginnings of scaffolding. The entire Broadway and 2nd Street side of the site is closed to pedestrian traffic, and there's a bulldozer on the parking lot side starting to rip up the asphalt. Is anyone familiar with what's going on??

A bid was released for construction of a brand-new courthouse last year (?) and the only bid to come back was way too high, so the project was sent back to planning, I think. I wonder what's going on here? Demolition/site clearing?

[dragonsky]

Forever 2121

After a Life of Rags and Ketchup, an Arts District Complex Readies for Residents

by Kathleen Nye Flynn

Set among railroad tracks, the Seventh Street Bridge and the Los Angeles River, the new 2121 Lofts, like several nearby housing developments, seeks to turn industrial grit into live/work chic.

Although the 78-unit development is decidedly modern, a trio of breezy landscaped courtyards dotted with orange trees and cacti gardens evoke a sense of classic Los Angeles outdoor lifestyle.

"If you walk in through the doorway," said Michael Shannon, a partner at Concerto Development, which is heading the project, "it's like an old Spanish bungalow: half that, and half gritty new urbanism."

It's been a long road for the collection of century-old buildings on the eastern edge of Downtown near Santa Fe and Seventh streets. They have been used for rag sorting, ketchup tasting and, at one point, possibly as artist Robert Rauschenberg's studio. They have participated in Downtown's residential development since the earliest stages, enduring sometimes tumultuous transitions. Most recently, some former tenants complained about being forced out.

After a $39 million renovation, the project has 59 artist-in-residence lofts (ranging from 750 to 2,000 square feet and starting in the mid $400,000s) and 19 two-story townhomes, which start in the mid-$500,000s and will open in April. It's being touted as offering low-density living in Downtown Los Angeles and has the grounds to prove it: 28,000 square feet of open-air space surround the buildings.

"We had been searching in the area for a different kind of project," said Lapchih Fan, Shannon's partner in Concerto. "We were looking for a place with character outside the core of Downtown where we could take a it a step further."
*

Storage Tank Surprise


The surroundings of 2121 Lofts are solidly industrial. One building looks directly out on the historic railing of the Seventh Street Bridge, which doubles as a roof over some of the project's parking spaces. Just yards away, trains slowly roll by as they head to a washing station.

The complex's concrete warehouse, which dates to the 1920s, once housed a rag-sorting business, where cloth was harvested for thread. One of the development's oldest structures, dubbed the Santa Fe building, was the site for Heinz Ketchup taste tests, according to the developers. Fan said construction crews had a surprise when they unearthed a large storage tank in the basement of the building.

"At first we were like, 'Oh no, what is this?'" Fan said. "But then we realized it was just a tank where they used to store the ketchup."

Shannon said that the building has been home to residents for decades.

"The Santa Fe building was done in the '90s and was one of the first residential conversions in Downtown," he said. "The units didn't have kitchens and some of the residents literally used hotplates, much like old-school TriBeCa type apartments."

In the 1960s, Shannon said, Rauschenberg owned the cavernous, brick-lined Santa Fe building. Years later, the space was occupied by photographer James Fee.

Developers Federal Industrial Properties hired Killefer Flammang Architects in 2000 to transform the warehouse spaces into market-rate rental units. Killefer created the courtyard areas, painting some outside walls sky blue, corrugating others and giving the buildings a modern-but-rugged aesthetic.

Last year, after Concerto Development purchased the property and began the conversion, controversy erupted. Several former tenants said that they were not informed of the building's sale, and then did not receive proper compensation or time to leave their apartments. One resident said he took legal action against the developer and received some recompense.

"I feel kind of duped because I'm one of many who fixed up the place," said former 2121 resident Landon Ryan, who now rents in a nearby Arts District building.

The current developers said they worked with tenants after they bought the building, letting some stay past their leases and arranging relocation plans with property specialists LA City Lofts.

"During the transition I acquired some distinction as the 'rapist of the Artist District,'" said Shannon, referring to an article written about the situation that was posted on the Internet. "But we've made peace with all those folks."

Well, not all of them - especially in a community where some artists worry that they'll be driven out completely by expensive new developments.

"It's great that these old structures are being revitalized, and the architecture is important to the culture," Ryan said. "But it is unfortunate what that does to the people that inspire that culture."

Old Buildings, New Uses


Although the eastern edge of the Arts District has not yet enjoyed the development boom occurring in the Historic Core and South Park, some nearby projects have materialized. About two blocks northeast of 2121 Lofts, developer Linear City opened the Toy Factory Lofts. This month, the company will bring the 104-unit Biscuit Company Lofts online.

Meanwhile, the 2121 buildings are getting a second makeover as Fan and Shannon's first project in the community. Fan, a 30-year-old former investment banker who most recently worked for Downtown development firm Urban Partners, and Shannon, a 56-year-old lawyer who for years had hoped to develop in the area, both own condos in Downtown and said they wanted to create a project that offers more amenities than their current buildings - like, say, a dog park and gourmet kitchens.

Concerto hired Killefer Flammang to bring these design ideas home.

"We were very pleased to work with them because they completely understood the original content and how to keep continuity in the current structures, as well as our intent for the new spaces," Fan said.

The courtyards will be re-landscaped, one receiving a circle of fruit and olive trees called the Martini Grove. The complex will also have a reading lawn and an enclosed dog walking area with a grooming station.

Soon the main entrance off Seventh Place won't be so unassuming - the developers are building a steel-reinforced lighted doorway that will create the effect of a two-story, softly glowing box, Fan said.

Concerto's most extensive addition to the complex - the 19 townhouses in the concrete former rag-sorting building - each have two entrances, one through a courtyard and a back door to a private porch. To allow light into the first floor of each home, Killefer Flammang carved out an interior atrium on the second floor that looks down through a skylight to the dining room below.

"It was so much fun because so many of the units we do are in high-rise buildings that are narrow with light just on one end - that's just how the footprints are," said Alison Maloney, the project architect. "With this one we really got to play."

Even with the renovations, many of the buildings' industrial features remain intact. Inside some units, train track rail stripes the walls. Some ground floor residences exit onto loading docks, soon to be turned into private porches with folding glass doors.

The project includes state-of-the-art Italian kitchens with vented range hoods, convection ovens, wine coolers and Caesar stone islands.

"Both of us are enthusiastic eaters and therefore interested in cooking," said Shannon. "One of the opportunities we had with a low-rise project is that it is not inconceivable having hoods supporting gas stovetops."

The culinary theme runs through the project, the developers said. Residents will have access to an herb garden and the main courtyard will feature an outdoor kitchen complete with a stove and refrigerator.

With completion of the entire project scheduled for September, the complex is gearing up for yet another life. It also recently made its television debut.

"The season premiere of '24' shot here," said Fan. "The funny thing was that [the characters] ran directly from here into 7+Fig."

[MJB83]

There's law firms everywhere. This article is dealing solely with big time, nationally represented law firms. And nearly all the major law firms in LA are on the westside, which I do find odd since the courthouse is downtown.


Not quite. The largest LA firms are downtown (Latham, OMM, Gibson Dunn, Paul Hasting), and large offices of national firms are also downtown (Skadden, Kirkland, etc.).

[funhaus]

Does anyone know what may be happening with MetLofts retail spaces?

An update on my query from January. Apparently the 11th street side of Met Lofts retail has found a tenant. Walking by it today there are banners hanging in the space for "BottleRock" - a Culver City wine bar "voted best wine bar in Los Angeles by CityGuide/AOL."

This is good news, and may be just the kind of tenant the South Park neighborhood needs to spur visible after hours activity (though between the Palm Restaurant's wine bar and the J-Lounge, maybe that's enough wine bars for now!).

http://www.bottlerock.net

Oh, also very recently, the For Lease signs on the Flower Street side of Met Lofts now says "Leased." Any Met Loft residents know what's slated for this space across from the Liberty Grill?

[ksep]

Oh, also very recently, the For Lease signs on the Flower Street side of Met Lofts now says "Leased." Any Met Loft residents know what's slated for this space across from the Liberty Grill?

a "latin themed" restaurant. god, i hope it's not el pollo loco. ;)

[danparker276]

Got a new picture from my deck. A little over exposed though.

http://loftla.com/loftla/Handler.ashx?PhotoID=603

[colemonkee]

Fuckin' sweet view, man. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - you're perfectly set up to have a zip line from your balcony to the rooftop pool area of 1010 Wilshire...

[funhaus]

a "latin themed" restaurant. god, i hope it's not el pollo loco. ;)

Ha! Well, at least it's not another steak house.

Speaking of meat, Downtown is getting a Johnny Rockets (http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/03/curbedwire_rock.php) (location unknown).

And danparker, you have one amazing view!

[BrighamYen]

^ Johnny Rockets has been looking for space for over 2 years. I gave the broker (from a small boutique firm in Santa Monica) a tour awhile ago. I'm not sure where they finally decided to set up shop. My guess is somewhere along 7th Street (possibly the Carrier Center?).

[RAlossi]

Is Johnny Rockets an LA-based chain? If so, cool! Now, if only we can get an In-N-Out...

[ksep]

i think their melrose location was the very first.

[colemonkee]

Is Johnny Rockets an LA-based chain? If so, cool! Now, if only we can get an In-N-Out...
Johnny Rockets is headquartered in Orange County - Lake Forest, to be exact. They're one of our clients at work (I don't work directly on the account), and I didn't know about this until today! I'll see if I can get the inside scoop...

[citywatch]

A form of NIMBYism, aimed at the apt proj planned for the site across from the Galen Ctr & next door to the Shrine auditorium, coming from a devlpr who's obviously trying to maintain as much of a monopoly as possible on the hood around SC.

It's bad enough that projs are being slowed down by the rising costs of construction, or a lack of enough skilled labor, or dropping demand for condos/apts. But for a proj to be undercut by competing business interests makes me :yuck:.

BTW, the Shrine is going to be competing for bookings with the new Nokia theater at LA Live a few miles away, so if they know what's good for them, they'll certainly welcome the devlpt of the deadzone that's been sitting next door to their bldg for a loooong time.


Conquest Appeals Against University Gateway Denied

Conquest Student Housing's appeals regarding parking and environmental violations were denied by the city.

By Katie Hill
Daily Trojan
3/7/07

A city planning committee denied several appeals that threatened to postpone the development of a 1,600-bed housing complex planned for the corner of Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard Tuesday. University Gateway, a private housing complex funded by Los Angeles-based developer Urban Partners, LLC, would house students and low-income tenants in more than 420 apartments. The building would also include a sit-down restaurant, a USC bookstore and health center and other retail shops.

Conquest Student Housing filed two appeals against :whatthefuck: the $135-million project, contesting a parking variance allowing Gateway to construct off-site residential parking at a distance further than the zoning code permits as well as the accuracy of the approved Environmental Impact Report. Attorney Jack Rubens, who represented Conquest at the hearing, said the Environmental Impact Report relieving Gateway of its environmental concerns is "inadequate." "It doesn't disclose the actual environmental impact of the project," he said. "It basically conceals those impacts."

Rubens said Conquest also opposes parking variances allowing Gateway to move 440 residential parking spaces east of the Harbor Freeway - more than a third of a mile from the site. "Under city law, off-site residential parking is prohibited," he said. Rubens said the Planning Department made a mistake in its argument in favor of the project.

While city planning department staff member Patricia Diefenderfer said off-site parking was permissible in accordance with city zoning regulations as long as it was less than 750 feet away from the residency, Rubens said such exceptions apply only to "commercial parking."

Howard Kabakow, a local property owner, spoke out against the project. Kabakow said he is concerned Gateway might cause property values in the neighborhood to decline. :koko: Kabakow said he also worries that "the rental business of small property owners (in the neighborhood) will be destroyed." He also mentioned "environmental damage" and "de-gentrification" of the current neighborhood as some of his fears.

Kabakow said Diefenderfer's claim that the complex would alleviate USC's 3,300 bed housing shortage, according to independent studies, was a bit misleading. "Students have found housing north of campus," Kabakow said. "There is simply not a shortage of housing."

Max Slavkin, Undergraduate Student Government vice president-elect who spoke in favor of the Gateway project at the hearing, disagreed. "You can ask any USC student, 'Is it easy to find housing? Do you feel like you're getting a good value for what you're paying for?' … The odds of the answer to those questions being 'yes' is slim to none," Slavkin said.

Slavkin said high demand for Conquest properties and university housing leaves students looking for somewhere to live with few options. "To say that it's easy to get an apartment is untrue," he said.

The Gateway project is "one of the largest private investments in the history of South Los Angeles," said Daniel Rosenfeld, principal of Urban Partners. Rosenfeld said the committee's actions evidenced the overwhelming support that both USC and the local downtown Los Angeles community are showing in favor of the Gateway development. City Council hearing was the next step in getting the entire Gateway initiative up and running, Rosenfeld said. But Gateway still faces opposition from Conquest, one of the area's largest housing companies.

More than a dozen community members expressed their support for the construction of Gateway at the hearing. Cindy Starrett, a lawyer for Urban Partners LLC, attributed the community support to the more than 50 meetings that have been held to introduce the project to locals and gain public appeal. Proponents of the project included Darryl Holter, CEO of the Shammas Group, which owns the property where Urban Partners, intends to build Gateway.

Holter was particularly enthusiastic about putting a better-quality restaurant where "students could take their parents out to dinner when they came to visit" in the Gateway complex. Holter said the neighborhood surrounding USC pales in comparison to the downtown area of Westwood near UCLA.

Duke Hollister represented the Shrine Auditorium, which previously opposed to the construction of Gateway. Hollister said the Shrine is now "firmly in favor" and "hopes that the project will move ahead at full speed."

Joyce Perkins, a local community member, said Gateway has the potential to "start the economic revitalization south of the 10 (Freeway)."

Rosenfeld said he hopes Gateway will be the first step in creating a bridge between USC students and the local community, creating more of a neighborhood feel. "USC is becoming more and more part of the downtown community, culturally," he said. "The relationship between the university and its students with the surrounding community is very important to our project."

[LongBeachUrbanist]

He also mentioned "environmental damage" and "de-gentrification" of the current neighborhood as some of his fears.

"De-gentrification"? So, like, this project will bring the un-gentrified population to the neighborhood?

[colemonkee]

Conquest is much like Peter Zen in this case: they are NIMBY's almost exclusively due to the proposed developments threatening the viability of their far inferior properties. If they want to succeed, they'll need to adjust in order to continue to compete. Otherwise, good fucking riddance.

[MapGoulet]

Conquest is much like Peter Zen in this case: they are NIMBY's almost exclusively due to the proposed developments threatening the viability of their far inferior properties. If they want to succeed, they'll need to adjust in order to continue to compete. Otherwise, good fucking riddance.

I'm totally with you on that. Can anyone say "Westfield" or "General Growth"? It's corporate protectionism, plain and simple. Using civil litigation to fight percieved threats to competition -- the OPPOSITE of anti-trust philosophy. Heaven forbid someone tries to stir the monopoly pot by introducing competitors!

[MapGoulet]

Conquest is much like Peter Zen in this case: they are NIMBY's almost exclusively due to the proposed developments threatening the viability of their far inferior properties. If they want to succeed, they'll need to adjust in order to continue to compete. Otherwise, good fucking riddance.

Oh, and do I detect a little fiery emotion :hell: creeping out of an otherwise stoic Colemonkee?

:D

[cookiejarvis]

Conquest is much like Peter Zen in this case: they are NIMBY's almost exclusively due to the proposed developments threatening the viability of their far inferior properties. If they want to succeed, they'll need to adjust in order to continue to compete. Otherwise, good fucking riddance.

Not In My Business District. NIMB-D anyone?

[citywatch]

Their Penthouse Perch

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28290532.jpg
Lyons on his balcony with a spectacular view from the living room looking East at the Los
Angeles Skyline. (Ken Hively / LAT)

Two longtime devotees of downtown have expanded their horizons, making the skyline their décor star.

By Bettijane Levine, Times Staff Writer
March 8, 2007

WHEN Morgan Lyons and Martha Harris refer to themselves as "city people," which they frequently do, they aren't speaking abstractly about L.A. They're talking specifically of its urban core, the downtown district where they've lived since 1988, when they left their Pasadena home for a condo at 9th and Flower streets. They were urban adventurers, believers in downtown even then, when the area was still pretty gritty. But the couple envisioned a soon-to-come hub that would rival Paris or New York: a place where shimmering clusters of corporate towers would be matched by equal numbers of elegant high-rise homes anchored by upscale boutiques, sidewalk cafes, locals pushing prams and walking dogs. It didn't happen quite that way. Or that soon.

From the front windows of that first, 1,200-square-foot condo, the couple watched the beginnings of downtown's rebirth. Even now, Lyons proudly ticks off the list of buildings they saw rise: "The high-rises along Figueroa, the Renaissance Towers, the Metropolitan apartments. The Fashion Institute, up until Staples Center in 1999. Somewhere along the way, in the mid-'90s, it all sort of stopped," he says. The lull didn't shake their faith. They were already hooked on a freeway-free life filled with nearby cultural and gastronomic delights, still a secret to most of stolidly suburban L.A.

When Harris, 59, and Lyons, 64, heard of the South Park community planned around 11th Street and Grand Avenue — five residential towers with parks, restaurants, shops and pedestrian paths — they'd lived in their old place 18 years and were ready to take another leap. But before signing the purchase agreement for a top-floor penthouse in the first of those new buildings, they consulted with Team HC, interior designer Hannah Lee and her husband, architect Clarence Chiang Jr. Harris and Lyons wanted to explore design ideas for the space that would be so unlike any they had ever owned. All exterior walls would be floor-to-ceiling glass, leaving little wall area for traditional furniture placement.

The couple, married 28 years, moved into their new digs seven months ago with their two cats. Now it's just a three-block walk to Lyons' office (he's president of Lodestar Management/Research Inc.), and a two-mile drive to Harris' work as senior vice president of university relations at USC. Their new 3,100-square-foot home has two master bedroom suites, four baths, bamboo floors, 11-foot-high ceilings, and all those walls of glass. The public space is one huge, undivided area that includes living room, dining room and kitchen.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28290103.jpg
Martha Harris, who is a senior VP at USC, slides a
large wood door closed in her loft.
(Stephen Osman / LAT)

Harris and Lyons kept everything personal they loved, but gave away the furniture, leaving Lee and Chiang to start from scratch. Both couples agreed that the downtown skyline would be the star of the décor; furniture would be a supporting player. The design team came up with a color scheme of beiges and browns with occasional spikes of color for wood and upholstered pieces designed with quiet, contemporary flair. The main seating area, in front of the fireplace, includes a massive beige L-shaped sectional, a burgundy chaise and a beige, upholstered side chair. All sit on a custom-designed area rug of beige with burgundy detail.

"We kept it simple, so as not to compete with the dynamic setting," Lee says. The dining table, side tables and a carved screen are espresso-tinted oak, all designed and manufactured in China by Lee and Chiang, who divide their time between Hong Kong and L.A., where they first hit the spotlight when they designed interiors for the renovated Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

To bring the kitchen into sync with the rest of the open space, Lee stained the original blond wood cabinets espresso brown, and built what she calls an "appliance garage." It has aluminum roll-up doors that handsomely convert what had been a wet bar into a port for a coffee maker, toaster and other appliances, as well as shelves for china. The master bedroom suites had walls but no doors. Harris and Lyons wanted a bit more privacy for themselves and potential guests. So Lee and Chiang designed and built what they call sliding barn doors: massive ash wood panels with a distressed finish and a black, galvanized-steel edge. Their rustic simplicity blends perfectly with the other textures — concrete, wood, glass, steel — throughout the apartment.

Even the cats have a new kind of privacy. A cat door in the unit's large laundry room leads the felines into a small enclosed bathroom of their own, a kind of closet with louvered door built into, but completely hidden from, one of the humans' bathrooms.

BOTH owners say one of the biggest differences between the old condo and the new is their expanded city (and sky) views. "It's remarkable, and it changes by the hour. We can see South Park and the downtown skyline continue to build out. We can see the mountains, people walking their dogs, or going to and from Staples. We love downtown so much. And now we have this huge view of it all, and can see almost everything being built," Harris says.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28290074.jpg
Interior designer Hannah Lee, and her husband architect Clarence Chiang , were contract-
ed by Lyons and Harris to design their 12th story loft. Here, Lyons chats with Lee outside
one of the bedrooms with the huge wooden sliding doors.

She has long been a fan of local artists. The couple's walls are filled with works that depict L.A., including photos by Julius Shulman, purchased from the photographer in the 1980s. Panoramic photo views of the city are by Pete Jackson, and a pastel by Nancy Popenoe shows an L.A. skyline with the bright red "Jesus Saves" sign, which Lyons and Harris can actually see in the distance from their windows. Glass doors open onto the broad balcony that wraps around the entire apartment and provides a kind of observation post from which to scan the ever-expanding cityscape. Indeed, the sky is dotted at that very moment with huge crayon-colored cranes at construction sites near and far, one of them right outside their bedroom window.

"That's L.A. Live over there," Harris says, pointing across the street to where a $2-billion complex of apartments, restaurants, theaters and 1,100 hotel rooms is rising adjacent to Staples Center. "And more condos going up there and there," she says pointing east and north. "The ambience is so much livelier and vibrant now than even just two years ago…. The energy is amazing."

Yes, but what about the apartment itself? Lyons answers with a chuckle: "We love it, of course. But we still spend most of our time in that area," he says, pointing to the only room in the house with no windows: an entry foyer, which they've lined with bookcases and turned into a TV room and den.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28290073.jpg
In the 3,100-square-foot penthouse, glass doors open onto a wrap-around balcony. The
central area includes living and dining rooms and the kitchen. (Stephen Osman / LAT)

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28291941.jpg
Morgan Lyons, who owns this Downtown condo with
his wife Martha Harris, walks on his balcony with a
spectacular view from the master bathroom.
(Ken Hively / LAT)

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28295860.jpg
The bar at left has sliding industrial vertical doors.

[ksep]

that wrap-around balcony is kick ass. i wonder if those two know about this forum?

[ThreeHundred]

Tonight at 11, Channel 7 is doing a report on the pros and cons of living in Downtown.

[luckyeight]

^ Johnny Rockets has been looking for space for over 2 years. I gave the broker (from a small boutique firm in Santa Monica) a tour awhile ago. I'm not sure where they finally decided to set up shop. My guess is somewhere along 7th Street (possibly the Carrier Center?).

harley davidson been in contact with you about a downtown location.

they are overhauling their image and store nationwide with new branding
and glitz.....

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

[danparker276]

For that downtownla.com / la weekly condo tour this weekend. Is it worth it to take the shuttle? Does it come around often? Or should I should drive/walk.

[danparker276]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=consumer&id=5098165

There's the pros and cons thing. They show the 1100 pool in the video.

[funhaus]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=consumer&id=5098165

There's the pros and cons thing. They show the 1100 pool in the video.

Cool. Thanks for the link. The former UPS building Neil McDermott was walking through was Flower Street Lofts.

[citywatch]

Godblessbotox posted the following pic a few days ago on SSC. It shows the soon to be completed Mkt Lofts condo proj & the still yet to rise Meurelo condo bldg across the street.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/416186785_c305957928_b.jpg




And I've not heard much of anything about the conversion of this bldg (http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pp78vz54btb2&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=6973802&sp=Point.pp78vz54btb2_Delano%20Lofts) on 6th St, right next door to the Library Lofts, & across the way from the 42 floor 611 W 6th highrise, which also is to be switched to condos in the future. This is the former Grand Pacific bldg, now known as the delano lofts, a block east of the Standard hotel & Pegasus apt bldg:

Delano Lofts (http://delanolofts.com)

[ksep]

title guarantee building

nice rental lofts. solid building. great view of the park, but way expensive.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/418442338_1a5f16f85f_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/131/418442336_14589e7423_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/418442340_4f2c16de62_o.jpg

santee village

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/125/418442343_bcba333551_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/76/418442354_67ca3284aa_o.jpg

2121

very interesting. "rustic industrial". feels more like a village than santee village. cute and artsy. perfect for anyone in search for their inner hippie.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/418443891_7371c09e4c_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/418443880_aee55f0344_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/418443888_29068c42f2_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/418443894_3cb92b92b8_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/418443896_e8d74ef846_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/418443902_d0e4ae6925_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/418445911_3b2862718a_o.jpg

the biscuit company lofts

i like how big and airy this unit is. if only it had concrete floors.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/133/418445922_a893fc5b65_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/172/418445919_f15204ee0e_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/418445917_995edd941e_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/418445914_c71c57e29d_o.jpg

barker block

one of my favorites. a gift from the concrete gods. only wish it would be a little closer to little tokyo.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/418449237_2232aed672_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/418449213_71750c7516_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/418449216_d570c59215_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/418449221_78d6af3b79_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/418449230_972a4ace53_o.jpg

rowan / el dorado

they closed down an hour early at 5pm, so the only noteworthy thing i saw was this:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/418449243_ee1459585d_o.jpg

[colemonkee]

ksep, thanks for the pics! Title Guarantee really looks like it's coming along! Did they say when they expect the first move-ins?

Biscuit finishes look very nice. That building should really liven up that area. Royal Claytons will be a much more happening place than it is now (which is pretty good, imo).

I really hope they wait to open Sushi on Spring when either the Rowan or El Dorado lofts start move-ins. With Little Toyko right down the street, it seems like we'll have too many choices for sushi.

[ksep]

^ don't know about the move-ins at the title guarantee. but speaking of royal claytons - there will be another unique, non-chain restaurant right across the street in the bisquit lofts. they have a large banner up anouncing it. it's called CHURCH AND STATE.
personally, i hope they open sushi on spring as soon as possible, cause there is no such thing as too many choices for sushi. ;)

[citywatch]

One of the bloggers who wrote about the weekend tour said the owner of the Title Guarantee bldg told her rent for a rather modest sized apt in his bldg will go for almost $4,000 a month. I hope such a high rate is because of greed & not the soaring cost of land, labor & construction. However, if it's the latter, that means devlprs must be under growing pressure to make their projs both pencil out & to also not scare off potential buyers or renters.

Whatever the case, & even though it will create more competition, I'd think the owner of the TG bldg would want the devlpr of the proposed Park5th proj next door to his property to begin work ASAP. Many of the tenants who can afford pricey apts will want pricier, nicer surroundings, not just all those big parking lots that presently sit between the TG bldg & metro417.

[MapGoulet]

One of the bloggers who wrote about the weekend tour said the owner of the Title Guarantee bldg told her rent for a rather modest sized apt in his bldg will go for almost $4,000 a month. I hope such a high rate is because of greed & not the soaring cost of land, labor & construction. However, if it's the latter, that means devlprs must be under growing pressure to make their projs both pencil out & to also not scare off potential buyers or renters.

Whatever the case, & even though it will create more competition, I'd think the owner of the TG bldg would want the devlpr of the proposed Park5th proj next door to his property to begin work ASAP. Many of the tenants who can afford pricey apts will want pricier, nicer surroundings, not just all those big parking lots that presently sit between the TG bldg & metro417.

Fortunately, the owner of the TG Bldg is part owner/investor in Park 5th, so the two projects will be complimentary -- and integrated together in their urban design.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

^ i didnt know that, thanks. so, anyone know the damn timeline for Park 5th. i get excited everytime i think of this project. what a way to get rid of that damn parking lot that just Suffocates the corner.

[colemonkee]

^ That's the first time I've heard someone say that a parking lot suffocates anything.

MapGoulet, props on sleuthing that info. Makes me feel more confident about the whole Park 5th development. Though I do think the Title Guarantee owner will have a bit of sticker shock when he goes to rent that property out. I think his asking prices are a bit high, and may correct a tad.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Well, maybe im looking at it from a Urbanist perspective. I see so much potential for that area.

[colemonkee]

^ I'm with ya. Just thought the choice of words was interesting. :D

[yeah215]

I figured I would put this here. If it needs to go somewhere else, feel free to move it.

L.A. Police Initiative Thins Out Skid Row
Crime Is Down and Businesses Are Hopeful, But Some Complain Policy Harms Homeless

By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007; A03

LOS ANGELES -- Drug addicts called it "The Show." Every day and night, with no freezing weather to slow it down, a circus of prostitution, crack-smoking and schizophrenic collapse played out on the streets on Los Angeles's Skid Row.

Four thousand homeless people thronged 50 blocks in easy view of the city's proud civic institutions -- the banks, the Los Angeles Times, City Hall. Often desperately drug addicted, mentally ill or both, they slept in homeless shelters or under tarps tied to shopping carts that lined the sidewalks. Some just lay down on the urine-soaked ground when they got tired.

Hospital vans dumped the indigent from gurneys to the gutter, causing scandals periodically when they were caught on videotape. The local fire station's paramedic team was the busiest in the country. Skid Row, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton has said, was "the worst situation in America."

Things are changing. Last year, a combination of police strategy, newspaper exposés, political will and loft-building developers pushed Skid Row to the top of the city's agenda. The result is a controversial -- but unquestionably effective -- crackdown.

In the latest application of the "broken windows" approach Bratton famously applied to New York, police are targeting petty crimes to discourage violent crime and other serious violations.

"The behavior on Skid Row was 'anything goes,' " said Capt. Andrew J. Smith of the area's police station. "Personally, I think we need to have the same standards of behavior as they do in Brentwood or West L.A.," well-heeled parts of the city.

Since the police department's Safer City Initiative began in September, an extra 50 police officers have worked Skid Row. Trees are trimmed for better lighting. Police write tickets for jaywalking and public urination and have made more than 1,400 drug arrests. During the daytime, they enforce an ordinance against sleeping on the sidewalk.

Now a dark smudge about five feet high stains the buildings like a bathtub ring, showing where tents and tarps used to be. Violent crime in the first week of March is down 36 percent from last year; property crime is down 38 percent. Half as many people now sleep on the streets there as did five months ago, a police census found.

A pair of social workers staff the police station, urging drug addicts to enroll in rehab programs instead of going to jail. The city attorney's office is investigating patient-dumping cases with an eye to prosecuting hospitals that leave patients on the street.

Whether the crackdown is a blessed relief or a harsh attempt to criminalize homelessness depends on who is talking.

Business owners love it. Skid Row is home to processing plants and storage facilities that supply seafood to major retailers and fine restaurants. Workers there must spray their shoes with alcohol when they come to work because of excrement on the ground outside. Conditions in the area have cultured tuberculosis and drug-resistant staph infections.

"This first step has given us hope," Estela Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Association, a business group, said of the Safer City Initiative.

As Smith took a walk through the neighborhood recently, longtime residents of subsidized hotels approached him to thank him for making the area more livable.

But some who run shelters and programs for the homeless in the area say police harassment is chasing away people who need help. Those advocates say Skid Row became so troubled because of a decades-long policy to concentrate the region's homeless services in one area.

Mark Casanova, executive director of Homeless Health Care Los Angeles, said the new policy is only dispersing the homeless.

"We're doing nothing but cutting off access to services," he said at a recent Los Angeles Police Commission meeting.

There are also complaints of police harassment. The American Civil Liberties Union is asking a court to extend an injunction that bars police from stopping and questioning Skid Row residents without cause for suspicion.

"The police just say, 'You can't be here anymore,' " Shannon Snyder said as she sat on a curb last week. Snyder and her boyfriend and their cats have lived on Skid Row's streets for 10 months. "They say, 'You have to move.' When we say, 'Where do we go?' they say, 'We don't know.' "

Public defenders are upset because drug arrests that once would have sent an addict to a rehab program are now being charged as dealing. "It seems that the goal is to send these people to state prison," said Rigoberto J. Arrechiga, a public defender who handles Skid Row felonies.

Arrechiga and others point to new housing developments along the edges of Skid Row as a motivation for the crackdown. "Who wants to pay a million dollars for a loft and see homeless people sleeping on the street?" he asked.

Civil liberties complaints are not unusual with the "broken windows" approach, but Los Angeles police are well trained, said George Kelling, a criminologist at Rutgers University who developed the theory with social scientist James Q. Wilson of Pepperdine University. Kelling, a consultant to Bratton, said an influx of middle-class residents would not necessarily be bad for the area's poor.

"You want to make sure gentrification isn't driving people out and the missions aren't driven out," Kelling said. But "when people are moving in and grocery stores are moving in, that means jobs. Economic development is not something you want to sneer at."

Some observers believe the changes on Skid Row will be short-lived as long as homeless services are concentrated there. Michael Dear, a professor of geography at the University of Southern California, points out that one-third of the city's shelter beds are on Skid Row.

He said only 25 of 88 cities in Los Angeles County spend money on homeless services. The rest, Dear said, offer "Greyhound therapy": a bus ticket to Skid Row.

[SC_00_05]

I just wish some homeless would decide to live, use drugs, and defecate in front of the perpetually bleeding heart ACLU lawyers' houses. All of a sudden, they may not feel so inclined to criticize the cops in dealing with them.

[BrighamYen]

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS:



http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-heroin15mar15,0,3141083.story?track=ntothtml

Downtown drug gang is toppled
LAPD arrests 31 alleged leaders and seizes 45,000 heroin balloons.
By Richard Winton
Times Staff Writer

March 15, 2007

For decades, the 5th and Hill gang allegedly was the biggest drug dealer in downtown Los Angeles.

The leaders lived in the suburbs and other parts of L.A., where they produced thousands of heroin balloons at their homes and then had middlemen deliver them downtown, police said. There, day laborers, homeless people and even some children as young as 12 allegedly helped peddle the heroin.

The LAPD had struggled to destroy the gang, frequently arresting low-level dealers only to see them replaced immediately.

But on Wednesday, police said that after a months-long crackdown, the gang — and with it a main source of heroin in Los Angeles — had been dismantled.

Police said they recovered 45,000 balloons of heroin during the 10-month investigation. They also found 85 pounds of tar heroin, they said, enough when diluted to fill half a million balloons.

Officers arrested 31 people who they alleged were leaders of the gang, as well as scores of alleged street sellers who worked for them.

They reached the kingpins, detectives said, because of video surveillance tapes that tracked the movement of drugs in and out of downtown.

The LAPD's much-touted crackdown on skid row crime has led to 5,400 arrests and a 30% drop in crime since it began in September. But the alleged demise of the 5th and Hill gang offers a glimpse into how drug dealing was able to flourish downtown for decades.

The gang thrived because its leaders stayed far away from the actual drug sales, LAPD Capt. Andrew Smith said.

Authorities believe that the gang got the heroin in bulk from Mexico. The drugs would come to the homes of the gang's leaders in Santa Fe Springs, Fontana and South Gate. There, authorities allege, women meticulously processed and diluted the heroin, packaging it in single-dose "balloons."

Downtown turned out to be an ideal spot to find dealers because of the low-income immigrants and people down on their luck there. Smith said the gang could offer some of them better money than what they could earn doing manual labor.

The gang typically charged $5 to $10 per hit of heroin, with the dealers storing balloons in their mouths to avoid detection. When they made a sale, the dealers would spit out the balloon and give it to the customer, Smith said.

Young teenagers — some related to the dealers, other found on the downtown streets — were used not to sell the drug but to move it among sellers, Smith said. The teenagers were given the risky job of conveying significant quantities of drugs to various street corners.

But 5th and Hill used the couriers' ages to its benefit, police said.

"They took advantage of the fact that they were children and knew we could not bring serious charges against them," Smith said.

The gang got its start in the 1970s as a loose band of thugs who committed street robberies downtown. By the 1980s, the gang had evolved into a huge source of heroin in drug bazaars spread across skid row. By the mid-1990s, the gang controlled many of the key intersections along 5th Street and Broadway, where people from across Southern California came to buy heroin.

Detectives said 5th and Hill's customers were not all from downtown. Many were tracked back to the San Gabriel Valley, Hollywood, South Los Angeles and beyond. An LAPD detective who impersonated a 5th and Hill drug dealer nabbed actor Brad Renfro last year when he tried to buy eight balloons of heroin.

The gang, Smith and others said, was not known for feuding with other gangs, but it did use violence to protect its business.

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Kathy McAnany said 5th and Hill employed "enforcers" who would threaten and beat up rivals as well as their own dealers who got out of line.

"About two years ago I and another officer rolled up on a beating of a homeless guy by one of the gang's enforcers," she said. "He was putting a … whooping on him."

The arrests come as the LAPD enters the seventh month of a major crackdown on drugs, crime and blight in downtown.

It is part of a larger effort by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton to revive the skid row area, which has the largest concentrations of homeless people and drug dealing in the city. More than 20% of all Los Angeles drug arrests occur on skid row. While the crackdown has resulted in a surge of arrests, it has also met with ire from the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims that police are harassing homeless people and unfairly arresting some of them.

The LAPD assigned 50 extra officers to downtown in September, and this deployment helped bolster the attack on 5th and Hill, Smith said.

Police started arresting hundreds more suspects a week. And slowly, Smith said, they got low-level dealers to identify middlemen, who then ultimately connected them to top leaders.

Detectives got lucky thanks to the growing number of downtown surveillance video cameras. Once they got a line on the middlemen who were bringing the drugs downtown, police used two dozen video cameras connected to the Central Division station to find their car license plates and track their movements. This eventually led them to the kingpins, Smith said.

Among those arrested, the LAPD identified Pedro Sanchez-Limon, also known as Hector Rodriguez, as the gang's leader and major supplier. They said Alberto Blanco, also known as "El Moro," was his right-hand man, and Jamie Chacon Diaz, also known as "Archie," was the gang's money collector. Abel Flores, also known as "Barbs," was identified as the gang's chief street enforcer. They face multiple charges of selling drugs and conspiracy.

Sanchez-Limon and Diaz had been deported previously but reentered the U.S. illegally, authorities said, and Blanco had been deported twice. Detectives said the gang leaders have long criminal histories.

Detectives admit that the downtown drug trade continues.

"While we haven't wiped out narcotics sales in the Central [station] area, we have put a major dent in them," said Capt. Jerry Szymanski, head of LAPD Narcotics.

"A lot has been said about us going after those users," he said. "Well, what we haven't been able to say is we have been going after a major supplier."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
richard.winton@latimes.com

[citywatch]

This is why it's so good that historic old bldgs in the hood, most of them long dusty & abandoned, are being salvaged yrs & yrs after the fact. Long overdue, but better late than never:


City's Old Names Grace Trendy New Residences

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28615420.jpg
Art Astor looks out at Broadway from his unfinished loft in the Chapman Building. It's
the same window he gazed from as a boy visiting his father's law office. His father would
"give me a dime and send me off to the movies while he worked," Astor said. (Anne
Cusack / LAT)

As stately downtown buildings of yesteryear are reborn as high-end lofts and condos, some storied pasts are being dusted off too.

By Cecilia Rasmussen, Times Staff Writer
March 25, 2007

As downtown's new residential conversion marches deeper into old Los Angeles, architects and developers are tapping into history, paying homage to pioneers and perhaps to a tree. Some of the building names — Brockman, Blackstone, Douglas — were practically forgotten in the years when downtown sank into decay. Now, many of the buildings are enjoying a revival as they're converted into high-end lofts and condos. Downtown's mostly young new residents tell one another, "I live at the Higgins" or "at the Douglas."

Art Astor isn't in that demographic. He's 82, and he may be one of the few who bought a piece of downtown for reasons of nostalgia. He owns a sixth-floor corner loft in the newly refurbished Chapman Building at 8th Street and Broadway. "My father had his law office here from 1930 to 1960," Astor said in a recent interview. He owns four radio stations and a private Anaheim museum of vintage cars and antique radios and telephones.

Astor recalled going downtown every Saturday with his father. From the office window, he could see every theater along Broadway. "He'd give me a dime and send me off to the movies while he worked," Astor said.

"All of his mail was addressed to A.M. Astor at the Chapman building," Astor said. "Street addresses weren't necessary. Everyone knew the Chapman Building."

His father, who changed his name from Astor Arakelian to A.M. Astor, was an Armenian who immigrated to America in 1910, at 21, to escape slaughter in Turkey, Astor said. "His parents were killed by soldiers right in front of him, when he was about 4 years old," he said. "He ran to a neighbor's house and hid under her skirt. She turned him over to an orphanage, where he was educated by Methodist missionaries." Once in the U.S., Astor said, his father "worked as a soda jerk while putting himself through USC law school."

The Chapman, a 13-story beaux arts building, was constructed in 1912, more than a decade before Broadway became downtown's jazziest entertainment district, lined with motion picture palaces. The Los Angeles Investment Co. built it at a cost of $1 million. Designed by architect Ernest McConnell, the building was said to be fireproof. It has mahogany doorways, sweeping marble stairways and wrought-iron letters "LA" marking each stair railing. "It's built like a battleship," Astor said, referring to the strength of the materials.

In 1920, Charles Clarke Chapman — Fullerton's first mayor and the chief benefactor of Chapman University — bought the building for $1.6 million. The so-called Orange King of California — who built his fortune on citrus and real estate — made it his headquarters. He added bronze elevator doors ornately embossed with the letter C. At the Chapman, "everyone advertised with gold lettering on the windows," Astor said. But in the 1930s, business was so slow that his father "was almost swatting flies." That is, until the day a poorly dressed elderly woman walked into his office with a brown paper bag.

The woman, whose name Astor has forgotten, told the senior Astor that every day she'd meet a man in Pershing Square. They shared coffee and muffins and became friends. One day the man didn't show up, but someone else did: a stranger who handed her the bag. Her friend had died the night before, he explained, leaving her everything he owned. As the stranger walked away, the woman opened the bag and saw "stocks and bonds worth nearly $400,000, even in the late Depression."

As she walked out of the park, the woman looked up and saw Astor's name and sign on his office window — "A.M. Astor, Attorney at Law." "She had no idea that her friend had been wealthy, and my father became her executor."

Greg Fischer, an aide to Councilwoman Jan Perry, wields such knowledge of downtown's historic past that you'd think he'd lived there since the early 1900s. He can rattle off details about old buildings as if they were family.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-03/28615476.jpg
Citrus and real estate tycoon Charles Clarke Chapman, once mayor of Fullerton, put his
mark on his downtown building's elevator doors after he bought it to be his headquart-
ers. (Anne Cusack / LAT)

Here are a few of downtown's residential projects that have pioneer names:

• Brockman Building, 530 W. 7th St. In 1912, mining magnate John Brockman staked half a million dollars that 7th Street would become the heart of downtown's shopping district. He was right. The 13-story renaissance revival building at 7th Street and Grand Avenue was designed by architect Harrison Albright. Brockman leased several floors to J.J. Haggarty clothing store. By the mid-1920s, the sidewalks and electric streetcars were bustling with shoppers. Brooks Brothers traditional men's clothing store anchored the building for decades.

• Douglas Building, 257 S. Spring St. Thomas Douglas Stimson, a Chicago and Seattle lumber baron, industrialist and financier, made a fortune before retiring to Los Angeles in 1890. He turned to banking, built the most expensive mansion in the city and erected a 42-room boarding house at 3rd and Spring streets, called the Stimson Block. He dreamed of another grand office complex across the street, handing the task to San Francisco architects James and Merritt Reid, whose credits include the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. Stimson died in 1898.

His family continued the project and etched "Douglas" deeply into terra cotta over the entrance, probably in honor of his middle name. But it could also have been a nod to the type of tree — Douglas fir — whose wood was shipped from Stimson's timberlands in Oregon and Washington and used to decorate the interior.

• Blackstone's Department Store Building, 901-909 Broadway. Nathaniel Blackstone, former business partner and brother-in-law of department store founder J.W. Robinson, began building the flagship of his own emporiums in 1917. The six-story beaux arts building at 9th Street and Broadway was designed by architect John Parkinson. In the 1920s, Blackstone hired beauty specialists to give tips on hairstyles and makeup, provided customers with mah-jongg lessons and offered classes in interior decorating and landscape gardening, according to Times stories of the era. Blackstone died in 1930.

• Roosevelt Building, 727 W. 7th St. Named for President Theodore Roosevelt, the renaissance revival office building opened in 1927. The Roosevelt was once a popular address for doctors and dentists. Before Christmas in 1943, an aggrieved patient shot and killed his surgeon, then killed himself. In 1946, the state Supreme Court ruled in Hunt vs. Authier that the slain surgeon's heirs had the right to collect damages from the killer's estate. Victims' families have filed wrongful-death suits ever since.



^ I thought I read somewhere a few yrs ago about a ghost haunting one of the offices or hallways in the Roosevelt. When LASF buys a loft there & moves in, maybe he'll find out. :D

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

ill let you know!

[bobcat]

Unless the tower has a spire there's no way it'll be as tall as Library Tower, but oh well. Also, another 5-star hotel in downtown? And there's a small bit about Houk renovating the Variety Arts Center for plays and musicals.

http://www.downtownnews.com/content/articles/2007/04/23/news/news01.jpg
Downtown Tower Could Be Tallest in Western U.S.

Plans Call for Park Fifth Near Pershing Square To Soar Up to 76 Stories and Create 750 Condos

by Kathryn Maese

On a parking lot just north of Pershing Square, plans are underway to create what could be the tallest structure in the western half of the United States.
This parcel edged by Fifth, Olive, Hill and the Metro 417 Building could house one of Downtown's tallest towers. Developer David Houk hopes to break ground on the Park Fifth project in October.

Developer David Houk is working on a condominium and hotel project dubbed Park Fifth that he said would be at least 70 stories, and possibly 76 floors, perhaps making it taller than Downtown's 72-story Library Tower - currently the tallest building west of the Mississippi.

The quiet giant of a project, which would turn nearly half a block bounded by Fifth, Olive, Hill and the Subway Terminal Building, into a mega development, has reemerged after more than two decades on the drawing board.

"Most of our approvals are in place and we're doing a new EIR," said Houk, who heads Park Fifth Partners. He added that his financing is also lined up. "Our goal is to start digging in October."

Houk, a former theater owner who last year purchased South Park's Variety Arts Center, said he hopes to open Park Fifth in 2010.

According to documents Houk has filed with the city, a building entitled for up to 76 stories and housing 750 condominiums would front Hill Street. Another 40-story high-rise at Fifth and Olive is earmarked for a five-star hotel. The 234-room facility would take up the first 15 floors of the smaller tower, with the upper levels devoted to luxury condos with hotel service.
*

"We're down to two hotel operators," Houk said. "We're in discussions."

The project would include 14,000 square feet of shops and another 18,000 square feet of restaurants (including a swath of outdoor seating) facing the north end of Pershing Square. Six levels of parking would be built below ground with 1,100 spaces.

Houk, a longtime Downtown player, began assembling the land and securing entitlements in the late 1970s and '80s under his Houk Development Company. Initially he said he purchased the site with the intention of restoring and operating the 1906 Philharmonic Auditorium at Fifth and Olive, which had been abandoned when the orchestra moved to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1964.

Those plans were later scrapped and the structure was torn down in 1985. In the office building boom of the era, Houk sought to create a 700,000-square-foot tower as part of a project called Pershing Square Center. The development was slated to include a hotel and retail.

Just as financing for the project came together, the recession of the early 1990s hit, and the ambitious development was put on hold indefinitely.

Area Upswing


Houk's new vision comes as the surrounding area is experiencing an upswing. The Title Guarantee Building, which takes up a corner of the parcel at 411 W. Fifth St., was sold and is being converted into 74 apartments by Daniel Swartz. It is expected to open this year.

In 2005, developer Forest City Residential West debuted the Metro 417 apartments in the 1925 Subway Terminal Building. A mid-block paseo separating Park Fifth from Metro 417 would provide access between Olive and Hill streets.

Houk, who formerly owned the Pasadena Playhouse, has become more active Downtown in the last year. In December he purchased the Variety Arts Center at 940 S. Figueroa St., a prime piece of real estate that will figure prominently into efforts to create a hub around the L.A. Live entertainment district.

Houk plans to start a year-long restoration of the 1,000-seat theater and produce new plays and musicals. The project is expected to get underway later this year.

On April 30 the Community Redevelopment Agency will hold a public meeting on Park Fifth's environmental impact report, starting what will likely be a six-month process before it comes before the board for approval, according to city officials.

Detailed plans for Park Fifth are expected to be released in the next few weeks. Leo A Daly is the local architect, while New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects is handling the overall design.

"It's designed to take advantage of Pershing Square because right across from the park they've created all the windows and retail to look out at it and pull the look of the park in," said CRA project manager Lillian Burkenheim-Silver. "It's very street friendly and transit oriented with major bus lines adjacent to the property that they will connect the building to with a pretty strong presence."

Houk would not speculate as to whether the project would be Downtown's biggest, especially since the main tower could shrink as low as 70 stories, depending on how the project pencils out.

A handful of ultra high-rises are in various stages of development in Downtown, including the 54-story Convention Center hotel next to Staples Center (scheduled to break ground the week of April 30) and a 50-story structure designed by Frank Gehry as part of the Grand Avenue plan. Also announced, though still in the planning stages, are the 50-story Zen tower at Third and Hill streets, and the 60-story City House project at Grand Avenue and Olympic Boulevard.

Park Fifth does not have to acquire "air rights" to exceed zoning height limits because Houk has already done so. In the 1980s, Houk was one of the first developers to purchase air rights for a high-density building Downtown as part of the Pershing Square Center plan.

Though Houk would not comment on the cost of the mega development, he said, "We have a very well-funded partner," adding that Afrinam LLC, a joint venture between Namco and Africa-Israel Investment, will provide the financial clout to get Park Fifth off the ground.

Locally, Namco Capital Group recently purchased Downtown's 469-room Los Angeles Marriott for $115 million. Meanwhile, Africa-Israel has recently bolstered its U.S. portfolio, with a $210 million purchase of a Wall Street building slated for redevelopment into condos. The company also plans to develop more than $1 billion of residential, commercial and parking on a collection of parcels it acquired in Miami.

Houk said he is not concerned about the current housing slowdown and how it could affect Park Fifth.

"We're not delivering units until 2010," he said. "We think it will be a different world in 2010."

Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.

[colemonkee]

^ Great news! Financing in place, building as of right, EIR process starting soon. Can't wait to see the new renders. KPF has done some good work. The only question is, when will LAB post them? ;)

On a side note, what a terrible picture to go with the article. For a semi-professional newspaper, the photo looks very amateurish. You'd think they could do better than that...

[citywatch]

It's very likely the writer is confusing the number of floors with the height of a bldg. IOW, a 70 or even 76 story bldg of apts, condos or hotel rms with lower ceiling heights will be shorter than the 72 floors of the Library tower bldg's with its ceiling heights typical of larger, taller commercial space.

And maybe that photo is terrible because it's the newspaper's way of saying the space where the Park 5th proj is to be built currently is deadzone parking lots, & they've gotta go, go, go away ASAP! :D

If this proj really does breakground later this yr, that will be amazing, a dream come true. It will instantaneously energize the Pershing Sq/Biltmore hotel area.

[luckyeight]

[QUOTE=bobcat;2782773]Unless the tower has a spire there's no way it'll be as tall as Library Tower, but oh well. Also, another 5-star hotel in downtown? And there's a small bit about Houk renovating the Variety Arts Center for plays and musicals.

http://www.downtownnews.com/content/articles/2007/04/23/news/news01.jpg
Downtown Tower Could Be Tallest in Western U.S.

Plans Call for Park Fifth Near Pershing Square To Soar Up to 76 Stories and Create 750 Condos

My friend was recruiting me to help him put these two towers last year.....

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

so can you get some more details for us? anew rendering? :)

[LongBeachUrbanist]

The EIR will be presented to the public on 30 April. I imagine there will be renderings and other images available then.

[RAlossi]

By the way, guys, it looks like the entire eastern portion of Block 8 is going to be starting construction/demolition of the parking lot on the north side. I hope I'm not jumping the gun on this (that would be terrible), but I'm going to check it out some more in a bit. The earthmovers are sharing space with the north side, which could mean nothing at all...

I was there yesterday evening and got that impression.

[RAlossi]

Just checked the Block 8 site. There's only two rows of parking left on the entire east side of the block. About 3/4 of the eastern half of the block is being cleared for construction. I think that means Related is starting both construction projects at the same time -- which would mean the 22-story condo tower is going to start soon!

[Easy]

Just checked the Block 8 site. There's only two rows of parking left on the entire east side of the block. About 3/4 of the eastern half of the block is being cleared for construction. I think that means Related is starting both construction projects at the same time -- which would mean the 22-story condo tower is going to start soon!

I walked by there today as well and had the same impression. Thanks for the confirmation!

[citywatch]

Just checked the Block 8 site. There's only two rows of parking left on the entire east side of the block. About 3/4 of the eastern half of the block is being cleared for construction.Thanks for the eyewitness account! Almost as good as being there, & totally unexpected. I pictured that new construction site, first described several wks ago, as sitting all by itself, surrounded by parking lots to the north & west, for months & months to come.

I just realize I'm not sure how much of the Related Co's original amt of land on block 8 was sold to other devlprs. If that didn't include all the land along San Pedro St, then your description of additional changes to the property may, in fact, mean Related is being more ambitious than I'd thought they'd be. If so, I like to think that's because response to their Hikari apt proj, & sales at their competitor's Mura condo proj (http://www.pulte.com/homefinder/community.asp?commorg_acctcode=3541), have been so good, they're willing to go full speed ahead.

[RAlossi]

^ I believe Related owns both San Pedro St. parcels. That's just an educated guess on my part though.

[citywatch]

I think you're correct. Although all phases of this proj are important, & I'm happy any part of it is moving forward, I haven't been quite as excited about it because I thought the 1st phase was going to be a low rise, wood framed, burban type of bldg. Nice but nothing to go...
http://www.forums.naturalparenting.com.au/images/smilie/jawdrop.gif over. However, if the proj also is going to include more than that, meaning that "tower" refers to a bldg much taller than 5 or 6 stories, then...

http://www.forums.naturalparenting.com.au/images/smilie/jawdrop.gif


DT News: The six-acre site in Little Tokyo known as Block 8 has been split into four parcels by owner Related Cos., which once planned to build on the entire block. Two of the parcels were sold to other developers; Related will develop the remaining two. The first phase is a still-unnamed 230-unit luxury apartment tower on San Pedro Street; Related plans to break ground by April.BTW, this proj is one of the rare instances when a devlpr's predicted groundbreaking date was accurate. That alone means the Related Cos deserves an award.

http://www.tca-arch.com/proj_new/proj/block8f/block8.jpg

[ThreeHundred]

Citywatch is happy. There must be some rift in the space-time continum.

:psycho:

[RAlossi]

Interior demolition has begun on the Chinatown Lofts adaptive reuse project at the northwest corner of Alpine and Alameda (northeast corner Alpine/Spring). This is a great project for this area that's in serious need of more investment.

From the Downtown News Development update...

808 N. SPRING ST.

Developer Kor Group, which has undertaken housing projects in the Historic Core and the Arts District, is still in the planning stage for the conversion of a 150,000-square-foot building at 808 N. Spring St. in Chinatown. In 2005, Kor paid $9.2 million for the structure and filed permits to turn it into as many as 123 lofts. The 10-story property is the tallest structure in Chinatown. C2

[Steve2726]

The EIR will be presented to the public on 30 April. I imagine there will be renderings and other images available then.

:previous: This was in reference to the Park Fifth tower. Was there any additional info?